Storyboard and Shotlist

Before shooting any production, a storyboard and shotlist are very important parts of the process. Storyboards are a series of sketches and a planning tool to allow you to visualise a piece of work before beginning to shoot it. They can be incredibly detailed or diagrammatical. You should focus on the key frames and moments that make up your sequences so you can recreate them in the production process. Action dependant films often use a lot of storyboards as they can be fast paced and incorporate several people and props/equipment which requires extensive planning and thought. Storyboards can be used at all stages of the process including conception as a way of conveying the concept for a piece. However, they are mostly used during preproduction to enable each department to work out what will be required.
There are three main styles for a storyboard. These include a graphic style which is the most detailed version and used in action dependant films to allow the crew to work out exactly how each shot will be carried out. Diagrammatical is the next style and the most widely used. It is less artistic but still gives you an idea about the design of a shot. The last style is plan view which is one drawing for each scene and is viewed from above for camera positions and angles.


To create a shot-list, you must include a variety of shots to create diversity and interest for a piece of work. Some of the most commonly well known shots are as follows:

-Extreme long shot (ELS)
-Long shot (LS)
-Wide shot (WS)
-Medium shot (MS)
-Close up shot (CU)
-Extreme close up (ECU)
-Tilt shot (Panning)
-Crane shot - move without using depth of field
-Pan shot - from fixed position
-Tracking shot - camera follows something
-Dolly shot - using tracking device, not on rails

My Storyboard

I decided to choose more of a diagrammatical approach for my story board because I felt that this would allow me to understand what each shot was showing and the most important aspects of it. I think if story boards are too specific then this doesn't allow you to picture anything different that what you have planned when it comes to actually shooting your film. I divided my page into four shots, as I thought this left a relatively large box for each shot. I wrote the shot number and location at the top and some directions under the sketch. This helped me to assess where I will be filming each shot and what I would be looking at. I found story boarding quite helpful as a way of organising how I want the events of the video to unfold and how I would like my shots to cut in and out from each other. I will take them with me to film to help me remember the shots I would like to include in the video and to ensure I don't leave anything out. Here I have taken photos of the first and last pages of my storyboard which show how I laid out each shot and labelled them so that I could tell what each shot would require in regards to location, shot and the surrounding environment.




Location: Flat 

- Medium shot - bedroom, grabbing items and walking out of the door
- Long shot - walking down the stairs
- Long shot - walking through hallway
- Medium shot - walking towards door, shot from behind
- Extra long shot - Front door from outside, leaving and walking towards the street

Location: London - Streets

- Tracking shot - From behind walking up street
- Long shot from the side starting to run up the street
- Medium tracking shot - road in front, showing point of view
- Extra long shot -  crossing the road
- Tracking shot over the shoulder
- Extra long shot - walking fast round the corner
- Extra long shot of the tube station


Location: Tube Station/St Pancras 

- Medium shot from behind walking up the stairs to the station
- Long shot walking through tube station towards exit
- Close up showing concerned expression
- Medium shot walking towards barriers
- Long shot of her walking through the barriers to the platform
- Long shot of train coming into the station
- Long shot - getting on the train from the inside