Final stages of Carcass: Storyboards

We were asked to produce  a notated storyboard of 12 frames depicting a scene from the script Carcass to get a feel for what is needed in a professional art department.

This is my first attempt:-

A few things that I have learnt from Carcass and the storyboarding workshop:-

Pictures are not enough. There’s a vast amount of coding, notes and information that needs to be added  to help the filmmakers do their job. The images need to convey information to the camera people, art director, props, lighting as well as director etc. So each department needs a certain kind of visual. This information needs to be placed at the side of the numbered image/frame so that everyone knows in what order each frame is to be filmed and exactly how it will look to the audience.

One of the good things about storyboarding for me is they are usually hand-drawn which uses my current skills. My usual  style has to now be adapted to a more sketchy approach which is much quicker and allows for whole scenes to be drawn out in an hour or two rather than a day. This is something that I need to practice once I have a firm idea of what is required notation wise.

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The role of the production designer: The creative trinity

I have been researching the role of the Production Designer for both the Carcass project and my on going final project. Both use the skills of the designer in producing the sets, concepts, use of location and props design plus theoretically take on board the relationship between the Director, Director of Photography and Production Design known as the Trinity (LoBrutto,V., 2002,). I’ve broken it down into a simple form, showing the script/story at the centre of the creative process.

One of the main roles of the Production Designer is to assist the Director in their vision of the story and to provide various possibilities for filming i.e. camera angles, revealing the meaning of story, a visual representation of symbolism or metaphors that work on a subconscious level. For Carcass, we have to produce a series of designs without physical interaction with a Director who would probably have a definite idea of how they want to represent the story.  The designer would then discuss, re-design, accommodate the wishes of the Director within the constraints of budget, much like theatre.

On Carcass we have to make a lot of decisions based purely on the script and discussions within our design group. My personal project will probably be similar.

Notes taken from The Filmmakers Guide to Production Design (LoBrutto,V., 2002)