Storyboarding Differences - Feature VS Series -

when you're working as a story artist or a storyboard artist what are the biggest differences between working for feature and working for a tv production and i'm talking about animation here i can tell you that there are some differences being involved in a few of them but i will only be talking about it coming from a western animation production point of view and my experience being involved in some of those western animation productions [Music] [Music] hey guys this is one of the most common questions i get is about storyboarding what are the differences between storyboarding for feature animation and television slash series animation and as someone who has worked in both tv and feature animation i can tell you that there is a lot of similarities but i can also tell you that there's a lot of differences too ranging from the storyboarding process the approach to it the work style and even how the production operates i'll also talk about the advantages and disadvantages in both worlds so for this video i'm going to be adjusting that first of all i need to adjust what these formats mean what is feature animation and what is tv animation and if i were just to summarize it feature animation are movies theatrical releases films shown on the silver screen whereas tv or series are recurring episodes episodes get released at a certain rate these can be story driven episodic driven or just character driven animated feature films usually hit the 75 minute to the 90 minute mark whereas tv some episodes can just be 11 minutes some can be 22 minutes or even 45 minutes like their live action counterparts in america feature film studios are like disney feature pixar animation studios dreamworks feature paramount whereas in tv we have cartoon network disney tv nickelodeon warner brothers the list goes on besides time format we also have to address that a lot of these studios and animated productions have different genres some are action some are comedic some are for early childhood some are for adults i think i'll talk about working in different genres for animation some other time but i'm mostly just going to focus on the differences between feature and tv animation production for storyboarding next i want to talk about what the storyboarding team looks like for each of these productions for feature and for television animation in feature animation storyboard artists are usually just called story artists and they work under as someone known as the head of story the head of story is someone that works closely with the director or the co-director of the project they're basically the bridge between the directors and the story team now the role of a head of story is quite nebulous they could be a super storyboard artist they could take on a lot of scenes they could shape the overall style of the boarding team it really depends on the production but from my experience they help manage the story team and set the overall style for boarding and from my experience during a round of a feature film there's usually about three to five story artists on the same production sometimes there could be more sometimes there could be less sometimes i never meet half of the other storyboard artists because they come onto the project on a different time either earlier or later than i now for series or tv production there's a lot of storyboard artists the storyboard artists work under the episodic director and there's multiple episodic directors for a show usually that's the case but there's also the position of a story revisionist they're usually green or relatively new in the industry but they're the ones that work closely with the director after the first pass of an episode is done they help with corrections or revisions or retakes the episodic directors work under the supervising director of a show usually the case for my experience and the supervising director makes sure that all the other episodes are in track are coherent and are hitting the mark and then the supervising director works under the showrunners sometimes there's no supervising director sometimes the showrunners work closely and directly with the directors most artists who want to become storyboard artists start at story revisionists because they learn about the pipeline and the process of boarding and there's a lot of work for storyboard artists and story revisionists in the world of tv and series animation next i'm going to talk about the storyboarding style and this will just cover up the drawing style the editing style the boarding style etc in the world of feature animation that can be really diverse i've been in productions where they don't really care about the proportions having characters stay on model they don't care if it's well drawn more so that it's clear although i've been in productions where they were very careful about having the drawings read super well they're tight they're close to the model and they're fully lit but from my experience it's usually more loose again it depends on the director and the head of story what they prefer sometimes when i'm on a feature film i always ask them which storyboard artist or story artist should i look at and if i should draw like them to make all of our jobs easier the boards from a feature production don't usually match up with the final image of the final film layout's been changed settings have been changed and overall placement has been changed so again they're a bit more loose on that in tv animation there's a lot more parameters that one should follow the drawings should be more on model or close to the proportions of the actual design the set and the characters because the vendor studio is dealing with the animation production they're going to stick closely with whatever we send out as story artists and this is why their story revision is in tv they're going to help address those notes if some of the storyboard drawings aren't close to that tv animation boards don't have to be fully toned or lit sometimes the characters are just color coded and it's just like an outline of the layout and stuff like that some storyboards are fully posed out to the point where it's almost fully animated i have a lot of thoughts about that and i'll get to that on another video but a lot of the language of like putting arrows of characters moving and walking it's usually indicated in tv in feature it's not really a thing but in tv you see a lot of notes like a pan here a background foreground element moving here things like that there's a lot more indication for that and that's usually to help serve the vendor studios dealing with the animation production side oh also a thing that i forgot to mention with feature animation the character designs and the layout of the sets are still being figured out whereas in tv there's already a basic layout and the character design set so next i want to talk about the quota and the scheduling for the work for future animation i will say it's a bit more loose meaning that people tend to feel it out during the production so it's not like you're given a set amount of days where it's like okay within three weeks you should be done with this sequence it's not like that sometimes i'm on a sequence for a few weeks but it's usually been a month at least for me i usually try to have a check-in with my directors that have story weekly like once a week i'll pitch them a version of what i've been working on so far and they'll give me notes to address or to change and then within that same month i would probably pitch it to the team once or twice and then after i'm done with that sequence i move on to another one or revise someone else's sequences so the structure is quite loose compared to tv from my personal opinion and experience i would say that feature has been a lot more relaxed and not as stressful it's way easier for me to maintain a work and life balance on feature productions but again i'm talking about this in the point of view of a story artist not a head of story or director however i will say that the work really spikes up the work piles up as you get closer to screening so screening is usually an in-house studio screening with executives producers the director and the team of the production where you watched an edit of the film together in animatic form so story artists are usually crunching alongside with the editorial and we have to work closely with the editorial in case they need panels right on the get-go and right on the spot so that's when you know there's late nights and we're just crunching it that's just the nature of like making it before screening so from my experience the workload can be quite nebulous when it comes to tv animation however things are a bit more straightforward and punctual so i'll give an example 22 minutes story artists have to finish boarding that episode within let's say seven weeks it's usually six to eight weeks but i'll say seven there's usually about three story artists working on that episode so maybe you're each given about eight to nine pages the first four weeks is the first pass some people call it the thumbnail pass but i like to just call it the rough pass the staging is there the storytelling is there it's board synced up to the script and sometimes to the sound file and after those first four weeks you check it in with your director or the show runner or whatever and after the first four weeks of the first pass you pitch it to the episodic director and the supervising director gives their notes then you're cleaning up those boards for the next three weeks and cleanup was usually just like addressing revisions redoing some stuff and maybe tidying up the drawings making them more on model so they can be sent out to a vendor studio and then usually you're put onto a new episode after that time and then story revision is still stick around to address more revisions more retakes and more drawing notes so i will say when it comes to tv things are a bit more consistent there's always an expected rate unlike feature where sometimes there is an expected rate or sometimes you just don't know when things are going to wrap up but again it really depends on the tv show itself so sometimes you know an 11 minute episode someone can board it within two to four weeks for a 22 minute episode maybe six to eight weeks and for a 45 minute episode about eight to twelve weeks and that's just the initial storyboarding phase so next i want to talk about what's expected from a story or storyboard artist for feature and tv animation for feature animation you know again it's quite loose but from my experiences there's just a lot of meetings and a lot of meetings are brainstorming sessions so an example of this would be like if a character seems really boring or if a character has problems we spend hours in the conference room trying to figure out how to make this character more engaging or more believable sometimes we're exploring different gags or sometimes we're exploring themes so there's a lot of parts where we do feel like we're involved in the writing process and how to fix or help out the story since we are part of the story team sometimes you're launched on sequences that are not going to be in the film so i remember having to do sequences that were for a commercial spot to promote the film for tv spots or sequences that was just meant to explore how a character did certain gags or how a character portrayed something there's a lot of exploration and experimentation when it comes to feature boarding tv however again is straightforward you just board you get a sequence you board it out but then again it depends on the show so for example a show can just give the story artists a prompt and then the story art is just basically bored it out kind of forming the script on the get-go but if the show is script driven so meaning that the script is already written you're basically just boarding to the script okay now let's talk about the process of pitching and pitching is where you present your storyboards to your client to your director or your boss i talked about this when i talked about my boards for sonic 2. but from what i learned pitching is far more common than in tv you present your panels like an animated slideshow you act the characters you get into the mood you illustrate the timing by your voice by your acting this is just so that the director and the people who are editing the film get an idea of what you have in mind for the overall feel in tv it's more common that board artists time out their own animatics they include all the voice recordings they time out the panels and just send it off they don't really have a pitching process from what i know and i've been on a few tv productions and pitching is not as common as it is in feature unless the production itself is helmed by a feature person and they want to maintain the feature style of working into a tv production pipeline but if i were just to summarize it in feature you just pitch it board by board you act out the characters you act out the feeling whereas in tv you time out your own boards and you send it off alright let's talk about the release because i think this is also a big factor that's quite different in feature it can take years before a movie comes out another thing that could happen in a feature production is that you board on a previous version and then suddenly that one gets scrapped or it gets rewritten and then suddenly there's a new version without your work in it at all sometimes the film gets cancelled i worked on a film back in 2016 and it didn't come out until 2021 there's a version of puss and boots 2 that i worked on back in 2014 and a different version helmed by a different director and overall production is being released soon without any of my involvement in tv it's not as common that things just get re-scrapped or cancelled it wasn't until netflix started cancelling their shows left and right that genuinely surprised me because tv shows or series they don't usually just get cancelled on the spot especially when they're already boarding it preparing animatics for it and far into production but in tv it's usually known that your thing is going to come out there's an expected time or date and that's important because you know that you're going to get credit for it and credit is quite important that's another cv or resume for your line of work so i feel like those are the biggest differences as you can see there's some advantages and disadvantages in both worlds and you might be asking where should you start what's the best place to be at etc and i have opinions about that depending on your goals and overall scenarios and circumstances most beginning story artists look at story revisionist jobs for tv shows because there's a lot of job openings for storyboarding work and tv and storyboard revisionists are a great way to sort of break into the storyboarding world getting an idea of what it's like but not overwhelming you with completely new scenes i think tv is a good place to start i started feature and from my experience i learned more about the pitching process being a cinematic storyteller and thinking about visual storytelling and when i was a trainee at feature i also learned about structures how to structure your boards the overall story of a feature and how to break down a scene the problem is when i was fresh and green to the storyboarding world and feature and then moved to tv quickly i had to learn some hardships i didn't really know how to draw the tv way i didn't really think about proportions i didn't think about scale and layout because it's not really important in feature there is a layout and previous team for that i don't think one is better than the other but just from where i'm at right now i like boarding i like getting my stuff done i like getting things out there and working in series just allows me to get my boarding chops out there since feature there's a lot of rehashing revamping and rewriting so for the sake of storyboarding and just getting things done i feel like tv is a place where that might be good for that if you want to be more involved in conversations meetings talking about story talking about characters and development things like that then feature might be a good place for you but i feel like these two kind of intermingle the walls are becoming to blur and a lot of the work styles are becoming to blend so wherever you land just make the best out of it anyways that's all by [Music] interested in learning hand-drawn animation or learning how to finish an animated shot from beginning to end have a look at the store where you'll find the complete introduction to 2d animation video course tutorials and other resources learn classical animation approaches drawing lectures techniques and other process videos visit the store through the link in the description below anyways that's all by

Channel: Toniko Pantoja

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Id: wjSlr11X36c

Length: 16min 15sec (975 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 14 2022