Making a Storyboarder Shot Generator Storyboard of an Iconic Movie Scene

Making a Storyboarder Shot Generator Storyboard of an Iconic Movie Scene using VR

Objective:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take a specific existing iconic movie scene and recreate it, shot for shot using Storyboarder Shot Generator and Shot Generator VR. The end result should be a timed sequence that tracks exactly to the iconic movie scene.

Iconic movie scenes: https://github.com/wonderunit/storyboarder/wiki/Iconic-Movie-Scenes

Requirements:

• Storyboarder running on a computer
• Oculus Quest
• A human brain

Why?

• People that see the iconic scene and your storyboard sequence side-by-side will see immediately how Storyboarder is useful in creating scenes.
• It will show just how easy it is to create a scene in VR.
• It will show us (Wonder Unit) what we need to do to make Storyboarder more easy to use.
• It will show us what additional 3D props we need to create.

Important Principles:

You are not making an animation, or a movie, you are making a storyboard sequence. You should display the least amount of information to present the scene to the viewer. This means, when you lay out the scene, you just need to fill in what's important. For example, in a courtroom scene, you don't need to add characters for every person in the audience. If there is a pencil on the desk, unless anyone interacts with the pencil, you don't need to include it in the scene. If the chair model doesn't exactly match the shot, it doesn't matter. Dress the scene minimally. If there are pillars or hanging lights, do you need to add them in the scene to get the idea across? Probably not.

Separately, only add boards if you really need to. Start by creating a board for each shot. Often times, when you are boarding digitally, you will want to "animate" a scene. You will add tons of extra boards to animate a camera move, or a character moving. You only need important key frames! Often, one board per shot is good enough if the camera doesn't move. If a camera pans, you need 2 boards: in and out. If the camera moves, you might need more boards. If a character moves from one mark to another, you might need to insert another board. Basically, if you need another board for a shot, there should be a really good reason!

You don't need to worry about lighting. Even though lighting exists in Shot Generator, it's not important for this task.

Lastly, this should feel fairly easy. It shouldn't feel like a chore. If it does, there's probably something we need to change about Storyboarder to make the process easier. Please let me know if you have any ideas for changes.

Getting Started: Familiarize yourself in VR

For the first 10 minutes, just mess around in VR and learn how the controls in VR work.

1. Create a new shot in Storyboarder, click on Shot Generator (it's the white grid image in the top right on the side.)

2. Click Edit in VR. Put on headset, go to the browser, enter the ip address usually something like http://192.168.0.1:1234, and click the Enter VR button.

3. Once in VR, look down at your controllers. On the right hand, there is a "?" icon. Using the trigger of the opposite controller, point at the "?" and click trigger on it. This will pop up the tutorial. There are 8 or 9 screens that explain how to do everything inside of VR. Make sure you learn all the stuff.

4. Play around! Add objects, move them around! Add characters, pose them!

5. When you're done, make sure you lift the headset off and in Shot Generator, click the Save to Board or Insert as new board. This saves your work to a board. You can close Shot Generator to go back to Storyboarder.

To edit a board: Click on a board in storyboarder, and click shot generator on the top right. Make edits and then click save to board.

Tip for editing in VR: Often times, you can take the headset off and then edit further in shot generator on the computer. If you go back into VR, MAKE SURE YOU REFRESH THE BROWSER PAGE. Otherwise, it will overwrite what you did on the computer. You will get the idea pretty quickly.

Creating a scene

1. Experience the iconic scene

• Watch it a few times.
• What's going on in the scene?
• What's the space like? How big is it? What's the furniture in the space?
• Who is in the space? Where are they? How do people move around in the space? What are the marks?
• Where are the cameras placed?
• What time do the cuts happen?

2. Break down the iconic scene

1. Take screenshots of each shot.
2. You can import them into Storyboarder.

3. Draw the scene's layout on paper

• What's the rough size of the room?
• Where are the people in the first shot?
• Where are the tables and chairs? Is there a door?
• Where are the camera's placed in the scene?

4. Lay out the scene in VR

1. Create a new shot in Storyboarder, click on Shot Generator

2. If the scene takes place in a room, click on "Scene" on the top left list. Then, below in the properties pane, click "room" and specify the rough size in meters. If the scene is outside, just keep it as is.

3. Click "Edit in VR". Put on headset, enter the IP address, and click enter VR button.

4. Once in, if you are not familiar, do the tutorial by clicking the "?" button on the right controller.

5. Walk around the space. Where do you have to place your characters? Just add them where they need to be. Roughly pose them how they should be to match the shot.

6. Add objects like tables and chairs.

7. Where are the cameras in the scene? Place them and roughly position them.

8. Is this the scene layout you need for the rest of the sequence? Are you missing anything that's important? Add it. But don't be super worried, you can always edit the shot later!

5. Insert your first shot

1. Take off the headset.

2. Select the correct camera in Shot Generator.

3. Click Save to board

4. Close shot generator.

5. You just made your first shot.

6. But you probably see that the shot isn't exactly the right angle. Or maybe the pose of the character is off. In shot generator, you can reposition the camera using the "ASDW" keys to move, "RF" to elevate, and "ZX" to roll. You can also use the mouse to pan the camera. You can make small changes to the pose in shot generator. Or you can go back in VR, Make sure you refresh the Quest browser, and pose the character so they look absolutely perfect!

7. Once you're done. Save the shot.

6. Make the second shot

1. To make the next shot, you can open the last shot, change the camera, and click "Insert as new board" on the top right of shot generator.

2. This just made your next shot! But again, it's probably not perfect, and you can make it better or go into VR to edit the pose.

7. Keep on adding more shots

1. Add the next shot: Camera placement, Framing, and Posing.
2. Repeat until you have all your shots done.

8. Review your shots

• How is the framing? Does it match the source shot?

• Go back in and make sure each shot is good:

  • Framing:
    • Camera position
    • Camera rotation
  • Character pose

9. Should you add more key frames to shots?

1. Watch the source scene and your storyboard sequence side by side.
2. Should you add more key frames to your shots?

• If the camera pans, it might be important to add the last position
• If the camera moves, it's probably important to insert another shot and move the camera
• If a character moves, it might be important to insert another shot, and move the character
• If a character changes pose, it might be important to insert another shot and repose. -- but only if it's important!

10. Watch your sequence again. Add meta-data.

1. Watch your sequence. By now, it should be pretty good! Make some more small changes if you need to.
2. Set the duration of each board in the sidebar of Storyboarder to match the timing of the original scene.
3. Add dialogue text in sidebar where appropriate.
4. Press play. Does it match up well to the original scene? I hope so!
5. Then you can export an animated gif or a video of the scene!

You're the best!

Send me your scene and let me know how we could change Storyboarder to make the process easier!!! If you have any questions, email me at [email protected] or text me at 917-696-5465. Thanks!