Camera shots

Camera shots

Storyboards are quite useful for deciding on camera shots, as well as on any pans and zooms. Typically, Flash animated shorts and games do not have as many different camera shots as a traditionally animated cartoon, but a new camera angle here and there can be refreshing and can help con- vey emotions within a scene. There are several traditional camera shots that describe the camera’s distance from the character. In a storyboard, these roughly translate to how much space a character consumes in a particular frame.

Figure 1.42

A wide shot.

. Wide shot (or long shot). This is a shot that shows your entire scene or stage. It can also be called an establish- ing shot. You will usually see this as the very first shot of a film because it does a good job of setting the scene for your movie. When used in other parts of a story, the wide shot can be used to emphasize a character’s

isolation (Figure 1.42). . Medium shot. This type of shot is “closer” to the

subject than a wide shot. If the subject is a character, the medium shot would be from about the waist up.

Figure 1.43

A medium shot.

The medium shot can also serve as a transition from

a wide shot to a close-up. If you don’t transition using

a medium shot, going from wide to close-up may be disorienting for the viewer (Figure 1.43).

. Close-up shot. This shot is very close to the subject and tends to show your character from the shoulders up. The Stage could potentially be filled with your charac- ter’s head. It’s a very useful shot for showing details of expression and emotion (Figure 1.44).

Figure 1.44

A close-up shot.

. Extreme close-up shot. Use the extreme close-up spar- ingly, especially in any animation. Since animation contains less detail than live-action photography, an animated character’s face may be slightly less engaging than that of a real person (Figure 1.45).

. Two-shot. This is a shot in which the frame encom- passes a view of two people (Figure 1.46).

. Over-the-shoulder shot. This is a great shot to use when two or more characters are interacting with each other.

Figure 1.45 An extreme close-up shot.

It gives the viewer a solid visual understanding of who

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is where in the scene. The over-the-shoulder shot is an effective way to transition from one shot to the next (Figure 1.47).

In addition to considering the camera’s relative distance from your characters, you should also consider the cam- era’s angle when viewing your characters.

Perspective angle

Figure 1.46

A two-shot.

The camera’s perspective (or point of view) determines the angles at which objects are displayed within the frame and creates spatial depths for the scene. The simplest way to imply a camera angle is to add angle lines in the back- ground. Angled lines can add depth to an otherwise flat scene (think railroad tracks trailing off into the distance). Angled lines also serve to draw a viewer’s eye to specific points in your composition.

Different angles can alter the interpretation of a given Figure 1.47 shot or serve to reinforce a mood that is being conveyed An over-the-shoulder

shot.

with other elements (e.g., music, dialogue, and actions). The angle you choose can convey a certain relationship between two characters or between the character and the audience. One angle can make your character look power- ful; yet another can make your character appear meek and helpless (Figure 1.48).

Figure 1.48 Note how the four different angles depicted invoke four different emotions.

Animation with Scripting for Adobe Flash Professional CS5 Studio Techniques

It can be difficult to render characters at an angle if you’re used to drawing them straight on. Rendering characters from various angles can also generate more work for the final animation because it entails creating more new draw- ings instead of reusing symbols. Even when rendering

a character essentially flat, consider angling your back- ground to add depth to your scene (Figure 1.49).

Figure 1.49 Note how the background texture and angled lines lend depth in this frame.

For more tips on perspective and storyboarding in general, visit http://animationmeat.com/notes/televisionanimation/ televisionanimation.html. This page contains notes from Brad Bird (director of Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille) on composition, notes on “Storyboarding The Simpsons Way” by Christian Roman (story artist on The Simpsons and Toy Story 3), as well as layout notes from Hanna-Barbera (producers of Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, and several others) and Spumco (producers of Ren & Stimpy).

Now that we’ve covered the aesthetics of a storyboard, let’s look at an example!

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