Really depends on what you're shooting as to whether storyboarding is worth the time it takes. I suspect many on this forum will tell you then rarely/never do storyboards. They figure things out in their imagination before the shoot and adjust shots accordingly once they arrive on site.

If we're working with a client developing a story to shoot -- e.g., "how to sell a new product line at Christmas,"or "lets show how we handle your dead pet's remains when we harvest its bones for grafting," we may make stick figure drawings, or use art store posing mannequins -- the little wooden articulated dolls -- to move groupings around cardboard "sets."

We also find it very helpful to visit the venue where the shoot will take place and take stills that reflect the proposed shots. This helps solidify what the client wants
and provides an opportunity to discuss removing clutter, rearranging furniture, etc.

Storyboards can help you firm up your thoughts regarding a shoot, and can serve to communicate with a client. In most instances, though, I work with what I see when I arrive on site rather than take time to storyboard.

Jack

"Do you storyboard?"

Yes, always.

Unless you want to cast your fate to the wind . . .

always, but with flexibility (ie. general 'overview' with suggested shots (stick figures here too!)).

even when i'm shooting an interview for tv i always ask the producer/director what sort of 'feel' they want, cu's, mid's, etc., wobblecam (UGH!!!), cutaways, reverse shots, etc.,

it's also the first thing i try and drum in to my students heads - KNOW WHAT YOUR SHOOTING, and WHY!!!! they soon learn when they come back with an hour or so of useless footage.....

Something’s you can’t storyboard
Create a shot list for things you can’t story board like events etc.
This might help

http://dependentfilms.net/files.html

Easy enough to draw something that cannot be shot.

Bob.

There are no rules about how a story board must be created. If there were, it would be OK to break them.
The point is to have a plan. One of the benefits of having a plan is that it forces you to verify in advance that there's a story. Otherwise, you might go out and shoot for a month, then put all the footage in Vegas, only to discover that there's no story.

Assuming we're talking about narrative drama then the script is what defines the story, well it's the step before the storyboard.
There's several arguments against using a storyboard.
It limits your thinking on the day and as I said the storyboard can contain shots that cannot be taken you need previz to check for this.

As a non creative taking an objective view I see the #1 rule as being there are no rules. A large part of the craft is deciding what the rules should be. You can ruin the thing by having no rules as much as you can by having them. The biggest disasters seem to occur when no one knows if there are any rules i.e. how the production will work.

Bob.

Then there are the times when you have both a script and storyboard and get everything set up for the shoot as planned only to have the director come in, take one look and say "that's not what I wanted".
Grrrr!!

Mike

I use the iPhone app called Storyboard by Cinemek. It is amazing what you can do with your iPhone camera with this app. Emails you a PDF with your storyboard when you are done.

Mike

liquid... gee whiz, you've been a member since 2003 and no one knows your name... (sigh)
_ _ _
Regardless of the method used for any sort of story... every one will contain three elements - the same three elements ... yep, you guessed it ... a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Performances have pieces of varying lengths from a safety film on heavy equipment; music videos have varying lengths from feature length films... but every genre will have a setup, a conflict, and a resolution ... name them whatever you like, it still boils down to preamble, action, and conclusion.

Do they need to be diagrammed in advance...? not necessarily. Do they need to be planned in advanced...? probably. Does the entire story need to exist before the first bit of video is recorded... absolutely! Video is the telling of a story in a visual medium ... just because it is easy to record that story does not mean the story is interesting enough to watch in its entirety. The storyteller must make it interesting enough. Some stories are a little more difficult than others to tell in such a way that the viewers watch the entire story from beginning to end.
Performances are usually watched in their entire sequence at least once. After that, most viewers skip through to their favorite parts (normally the parts in which they appear as well).
Good movies may get interrupted from time to time - but the viewer usually returns to watch the remaining scenes in their proper sequence... or begin watching it again.

This discussion is always an interesting subject since so many viewpoints arise...

Depending on the tools and time allowed, the story may be sufficient or compelling ... do you use one camera from the back of the auditorium ... ? do you use three ... ? The story can become more complex and more detailed with more video from different perspectives and viewpoints. Do you have the time to introduce and interview the performers about their dance/song/character before the performance begins? The story is the same, but the complexity and detail included might bring the viewers back again and again... no?

Until that time ... Earl J.

Earl_J,
You're right, I haven't been very friendly have I; I apologize for that. My name is Matthew Lipscomb, I live in Montreal Canada, and I'm a father of one beautiful little girl.
I've been a member for a long time, but I've mostly used the forum for my work as a musician with Acid. These days, I'm leaving behind the world of audio and going more into video because it combines my two main passions in life--music and photography.

Most of my experience working with Vegas was editing simple YouTube videos for a friends political blog which can be found here www.brasschecktv.com; however, I actually got paid for doing it, so I had to learn a lot about editing, and my product of choice was Vegas since I was already familiar--and loved!--Acid. Thanks to this work I discovered that I love video as much as if not more than music and that both are intertwined and have much in common especially when it comes to editing and the tools involved-- like Vegas and Acid-- in creating final products.

Because of my experience with Vegas this past year I realized that I need to do two things; get better at using more advanced features to learn how to edit more professionally, and learn to shoot good video. I'm making big strides on both of these goals. Many of these gains are directly attributable to the very generous and helpful people on these forums.
My short term goal is to develop my video editing business for Realtors which can be seen here at www.silverlithomes.com this should be accomplished within the next couple of months. My Long term goal is to produce music videos, hence the question about storyboarding. I shot some of the scenes for a video I'm working on this past weekend, and I"m going to share them on the forum for comments soon.
I hope you know a bit more about me, and at least know that I truly appreciate and read every word posted her by each of you.

With a music video the story exists in the music and lyrics so your role is to interpret that. I would suggest the question of storyboard or not depends on the nature of your illumination of the story.

You might simply take the band to some suitable location and have them be themselves along to the music and just shoot what happens. You've got the music on the T/L so you pretty much already know what goes where. You can build various cuts, shuffle things around and have a ball.

On the other hand you might be building sets, have a big crew and many extras. You'll very likely have a storyboard, shot list, gear list(s), previz etc and a considerable budget.

Or you might go on the road with the band for weeks or months shooting concerts and then build a 'live' music video from all the footage. Asset management could become a way bigger issue than having a storyboard in this scenario.

Bob.

Bob is getting at the bigger question which is "How do I get organized?"

A storyboard is just one part of it, of course. It's good to practice doing them but they can also bog you down so the rule of thumb should be to only organize as much as you need to. If you can make the movie with just a script and a shot list that's great.

Usually, storyboards communicate information to many people. If you have a lot of people to communicate with then the need for storyboards becomes more apparent.

There's a saying of one of the German filmmakers that the planning stage of a film is the aesthetic part of the job and the actual shooting of it is the athletic part.

Rob Mack

Vimeo has just emailed me... I think they emailed others too LOL. One of the tutorials is on Storyboard Basics. I wish I could draw as well those storyboard artists. But stickman drawings should also do the trick.

Checkout storyboard http://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/4/storyboarding-basics/link