What are storyboards for?
Storyboards have a similar role to comic book panels. Comic panels may not always be an appropriate model for storyboards – not even for the many films being made now based on comic book heroes – but both graphically progress the writer’s story. Storyboarding shouldn’t be confused with pre-visualisation, although the two departments often work hand-in-hand. When a director briefs the storyboard artist on the narrative of a scene, the pre-vis team constructs the scene based on the boards. If the director gives either department plenty of freedom, the pre-vis supervisors and storyboard artists have to be capable of co-directing. Boards are the ‘roadmap’ ensuring that the film crew shoots a film’s story according to the director’s intention. It would be a serious mistake for a director to hand his film over to his DP without storyboards. Alfred Hitchcock, for example, relied heavily on his storyboard artist to control suspenseful sequences and direct the viewer’s attention effectively. Wa
