In his blog, Seven Camels, the storyboard artist Mark Kennedy gives some tips about directing the
viewer's point of focus when developing story. Often, a story sketch will be on screen for a second of screen time (or less) and it is vitally important that the viewer grasps the meaning of what you are trying to say in an instant. So a big part of doing this is knowing
how to get the viewer's eye go where you want them to look and not focus on the unimportant parts of the sketch.
'For our first example, I did a quick, crummy drawing of a guy taking a picture of a bird in a forest. I did this sketch with
two objects of interest (the guy and the bird), which, by the way,
is a big "no no" when you're doing story sketch. One of the cardinal rules of story sketch is that you should
only have one idea presented at a time.
Each new idea needs a new sketch. Otherwise, the audience is confused and doesn't know where to look.'
Adding
detail to an area of a drawing can help draw the viewer's eye to that area of the picture.
The eye will always be drawn to the area of greatest
contrast first. The maximum amount of contrast possible in any drawing or painting is absolute black against absolute white. If there's an area with black against white in a picture, the eye will always go there first.
Anything in the frame that contrasts everything else in the frame will do
Just because you create a shot like the one above, and it works as a story sketch, it doesn't mean that it works as a film frame. Once the film is finished, the whole frame will be in full color and the trick above will be useless. If it's important that the audience focus on the man in brown, you
have to insert a close up of him first…
or start close on him and pull back to this wide shot…or something else that does the job of telling the audience to focus on him.
Perspective is always an easy way. If you have strong lines created by the vanishing point of your drawing, use that to point to what we're supposed to be focusing on. Draw everything in a composition to point where you want it to point in order to get the viewer to look at what's important.
Use line weight to minimize confusion and enhance readability.
Consider the
lighting when you're boarding a scene, and what will be possible and impossible.
Depending on the mood you're trying to achieve, a harsh contrasty light might be best (for example, in a scary or dynamic action scene) or a soft, gauzy light might be better (for a romantic or lighter type of moment). All these things should be considered by the storyboard artist as they think about a scene.
