Production Blog #5: Drawing Caspian Part 2

Federico D’Allesandro (Storyboard Artist)

For any given shot, all kinds of animation could be happening, from facial expression changes to character and camera movement – sometimes all at the same time! For instance, let’s say the script calls for Susan to pull out an arrow and fire it into a bad guy. Rather than simply covering the action, I want to make a meal out of it and try to bring that moment to life by putting on my animator’s cap. In a wide shot, I animate Susan whipping around, seeing her expression change from scared to determined. I animate her arm reaching back, pulling an arrow from her quiver and stringing it to the bow as she steps forward, while simultaneously the camera pushes in for dramatic emphasis. Cut to an angle over Susan’s shoulder and I animate the Bad Guy charging forward. Susan fires and we see the arrow zip through the air, sending the bad guy sprawling to the ground just in front of her as she dives out of the way. The whole scene will be drawn like this, and after the editors get their hands on it and work their magic, hopefully it’ll look and feel like watching a movie. The idea is to give Andrew something that simulates the experience of watching the movie so he can see how the story is flowing, and make changes to the script accordingly. As this process continues, the story is improved, the scenes take shape, and the storyboard artists all get gold stars and weekly celebrations in their honor (well, not really, but we wouldn’t turn it down).

Caspian and Glenstorm

Lucy in the Forest

Lucy being pursued

Read the whole interview at Narnia.com.

Thanks to QueenNellie for the head’s up!