Storyboarding Returns on 20 March 2019

Digby Dragon storyboard using PanelForge

Storyboarding is back. Our next evening class in storyboarding starts at our central London campus at 190 High Holborn on wednesday 20th March 2019.

This 8 week evening class is led by Francesca "Chess" Adams,  a story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.

Chess brings her experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge.

Francesca "Chess" Adams

What's this class all about?
This storyboard evening class is an introduction to the art and craft of storyboarding, taught by an industry professional. There will also be a live industry brief to give our students experience of what an industry storyboard test is actually like.

Who is it for?
Anyone who wants to learn storyboarding, whether for live action, animation, commercials, or your own independent projects.

What's involved?
The course is spread over eight evenings. We believe strongly that learning involves doing, so every class involves simple in-class exercises, completed with speed and spontaneity, to get your creative juices flowing. Then, each week, you'll get a more complex homework assignment to complete and bring in for review the next week. This way, you're getting meaningful feedback on your work over the full eight weeks of the course.

Francesca Adams boards at Blue Zoo Animation

Summary
Course: Storyboarding
Duration: 8 weeks
Start date: 20th March 2019
Principal Tutor: Francesca Adams
Price: £995

Course Detail (subject to tweaking)
Week 1 - General Introduction to Storyboarding: Introductory Exercises. Creativity, ideas and inspiration for stories. Gesture drawing, fast sketches, and research.
Week 2 - Creating images which tell a story: Single images that tell a story. Gag drawings. Situations and character-driven ideas.
Week 3 - Standard industry storyboarding process: Script, beat boards, story reel and animatic. Movie structure analysis. Camera and Layout. Reverse-storyboarding a pantomime sequence.
Week 4 - Character Design and Art Direction: Introduction to principles of design and visual development.
Week 5 - Structuring a Scene: How to break down script pages. Progression and punctuation in a sequence. Staging.
Week 6 - The Performance: Story beats, narrative structure, pacing, cinematography.
Week 7 - The Animatic: How to edit, cut and time storyboards in Premiere, to create a storyboard animatic. Music, sound effects, voice over and dialogue.
Week 8 - The Pitch: How to pitch your storyboards. Acting, performance and delivery.

There will also be a session on Panelforge, the 3D storyboarding software pioneered by Blue Zoo.

What is expected of students?
You'll be expected to attend at Escape Studios at 190 High Holborn one evening a week from 7:00pm-10:00pm

Why study storyboarding?
Skilled storyboard artists are always in demand, and industry tells us that there is a serious skills shortage here in the UK. Storyboarding is a complex craft that involves the ability to tell a story visually using both traditional drawing and also (increasingly) 3D skills. Storyboard artists must also understand acting, performance, cinematography - and also have a sense of fun and entertainment about their work. Above all, they must learn to be clear. Great board artists often become directors - storyboarding is a route to the very top of our industry.

Success Stories
To see one of our recent Success Stories, read this post about Escapee Fred O'Rourke.

Official page
To find out more, take a look at the Escape Studios official storyboarding course page here.

Inspiration
Finally, to take a quick peek behind the scenes at Pixar, and see a story pitch by the late (and much-missed) Joe Ranft, one of Pixar's most awesomely talented storyboard artists, watch the video below. Storyboarding hasn't changed a whole lot in the years since it was pioneered at the Disney Studio in Burbank. It's still about story, story, story.





To sign up, find the official page here.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2019, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.