Let’s chat about... Story PoptFoLiosIs This Right? | remember being a fresh-outta-school Menecue-) muro Se-Temta Ure cell lls together my portfolio... AND 1 HAD NO IDEA WHAT | WAS DOING. For that reason, and because several folks have asked, | am going to try and do a little breakdown of what | PERSONALLY LOOK FOR in a candidate for storyboards now that | am directing.Before | even start, | want to preface with... EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. PN Mela Ue eea else e ta ley supervisors have different priorities. Unfortunately, there is no one success- guaranteed way to put together a portfolio... it all depends on you... and WHO IS LOOKING AT YOUR WORK.But! | will try to give some super general things | always look for in a strong board candidate. SO LET'S GET INTO IT!EASY TO NAVIGATE Before I even get into the boards, let's talk about presentation! This might not seem like a big deal but sending a portfolio that is confusing or ela mM DU etc le me tees LT) person looking at your work... BEFORE THEY’VE EVEN SEEN IT. It's a good idea to make your portfolio page extremely easy to navigate. The easier it is to find things, the better!RIGHT TO THE POINT ADT we) oy Ne BRM ele SSL try to send a link that opens up to your STORYBOARDS FIRST. Tee MCU Le A recruiter/supervising director can meander eM LM Sac en SLC As a fellow generalist, | get the wanting to showcase your other interests... But it’s a good idea to send out links to specific parts of your portfolio if applying to a specific position! [again, just from what I have observed]COMPOSITION Probably the first thing | look for in a board portfolio is SHOT CHOICES and STRONG COMPOSITION. Storyboarding is all about cinematography and a strong storyboard should show you know how to place a camera in interesting and effective ways.PERSPECTIVE Another one of my top tier things | want to see: A clear understanding of perspective is integral to boards! Having a good sense of how to properly put things in perspective is very good to see!USING DEPTH One of the signs I look for in a sophisticated board sample is an understanding of pda atle mye Ro mms mm TS FG... having characters interacting with objects in their environment... USING THE ENVIRONMENT TO FRAME THE ACTION-- this manipulation of space and of composition along the Z-axis goes a LOOONG way to tell a director if someone has an eye for film!DRAFTSMANSHIP SSM eSelac mute mule la Le this is still a very good thing to see. Having solid drawing skills will allow board artists to DRAW MORE EXPRESSIVELY... so directors/supervisors like to see that. La oN T em MGT 1 luLa Aorta tals Nf talented board artists who aren't maybe the BEST draftsmen... but they are MASTERFUL when it comes to setting up CUM rat NTR NCB CoaACTING! SUPER IMPORTANT- Acting is the crux of what boarding is and is every bit as important as cinematography. Having boards that SHOW YOU CAN DRAW A CHARACTER FEELING and behaving in believeable [and/or] comedic [and/or] appealing ways is something | know most directors look for right off the bat.A GOOD FIT When supervising directors look at story portfolios, they are looking both at the caliber of the work AND trying to analyze whether the person they are seeing will be a GOOD FIT for their show. For example, Looney Tunes boards would teeta Cee te Les-Lee la ttt a would be a good fit for Voltron or Castlevania. It is important to make a story portfolio Ure CM RLM mutate boarding you are going after! So if you are looking for action shows, boarding a sick fight sequence would be a good way to get their attention!Wanna Board ‘Em All But what if you want to board for both Looney Tunes AND Voltron? That is fair-- a lot of us have disparate ante 4 In this case, just make sure that your board portfolio reflects your interest. It needs to eA tMurlire CM olen meccla clo Na squash and stretch, Tex Avery style boards... and also have an anime style, highly cinematic board. Multiple samples showcasing different skills will show you can handle different things. THAT SAID...LESS IS MORE There is such a thing as too much work in a portfolio! And 3 strong boards can be A THOUSAND TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE than 20+ so-so samples. If you are making a reel, TRY TO KEEP IT UNDER A MINUTE. [most people stop watching after a minute anyway if | am honest **] Directors/Supervising Directors can usually tell if a board artist has potential in the first 3 to 5 shots--- SO MAKE THOSE FIRST SHOTS COUNT!CLARITY The last major thing I look for in boards is CLARITY. | want to be able to understand what is happening and what the characters are feeling and doing EVEN WITHOUT PA ha Nelo) (ok When you are boarding, you can test the effectiveness of your board this way: Yee LCR UN ey ai-| the sound? Can I follow the basic story?How can | improve? Storyboarding, at it’s core, STAN (ce And to get better at storyboarding, you need to employ the same steps you would OMT) eo Me Mee LaceleAT EL Ce - WATCH FILMS - Not cartoons, LIVE ACTION FILMS. Analyze cinematography, think about why certain shots appeal to you? Why are they effective? -OBSERVE - Seriously study the way things move. Analyze how things jump, how they fall, how they turn-- ACT THINGS OUT to feel the motions in your body.How can | improve? -RESEARCH/ REFERENCE - There is a wealth of knowledge at our disposal on the internet! Look up books-- feo ah MYL lol ole-vL col Mey MT tL les you like! And if you are ever boarding something complicated [ie sports, dance, parkour, animals, etc] LOOK FOR REFERENCE! REFERENCE IS EVERYTHING when it comes to improvement and even on the Proud Family, | will often send my board team videos to help show them what | am looking for.DRAW DRAW DRAW At the core of it, the only way to get BETTER at boarding is to do it MORE. Yom Tectia olerlee Milano etl Ma] boarding to songs or to podcasts-- PRACTICE boarding to audio and without! The more you board as you study, the better-- and FASTER-- you will get.BOARD WHAT YOU LOVE EM avary ey SLU UC ME POURED PASSION into something they've boarded... TOM MAT mie CML what to board for a portfolio piece, | recommend doing something that SPEAKS TO YOU.... not just doing PUT MeL Laie SRE eee Especially in the age of social media where directors/recruiters and producers are looking at art on Insta and Twitter, doing what you love can be a good way to get noticed! Maree recommend applying for jobs haha]And that’s my spiel! Brome fey emul maul Tae Rotate Mer thd www. toyarave.com/day-to-day-series AT amas!