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| Story Scene |
I’m taking a class at CCA called “Visual Storytelling”, taught by Mark Andrews of Pixar fame. We are learning how to compose visual imagery/shots that support the story (film), and clearly convey visually what is happening. The idea is that when the intensity of the storyline increases, the visuals must support and complement that increase in intensity — everything needs to work together to reinforce the story. This reminds me of drumming and playing in a band — many of my teachers have related the importance of playing in support of the song/music…it’s not about you, your flashy chops, individual voice etc., it’s about the music and the cumulative end result. Anyway, here is one image I made for this class…one of the mistakes I made here is having a composition of 2 equal pieces (on opposite sides of the page), instead of primary, secondary and tertiary info, where there is a clear hierarchy (need this so the audience knows where to look and what the ONE key idea is, emphasizing ‘one’ because there should be a single storytelling idea per shot). It also would be improved by using the composition rule, ‘rule of thirds’. Other things to consider when drawing the shot: What is the POI (point of interest) ?, Where are we (this can be tertiary info)? Strive for clarity in posing (the pose of a character can convey volumes, think ‘iconic poses’, like Rodin’s”The Thinker”). Don’t make the audience decipher what is happening.