Title Sequence: 'BBC Three News' Storyboarding

Storyboard generation for BBC Three 60 Seconds News title sequence

The process of making a storyboard for BBC Three 60 Seconds News was really fun because it was fast paced and I was able to think more about ideas of communication, time and technology as it is in this present time. For primary research I watched the show and the things it includes; what news it chooses to share, how we as viewers are addressed, how it looks visually (making sketches of this in my book) etc. I found it to concentrate mostly on social matters and tabloid news and the set was completely animated, nothing but the reporter was real. Images would be shown on animated tablets and in the background you could see floating mobiles, TVs and computers. Therefore, I wanted to create a title sequence that explored the idea of communication, travelling information and technology. However, I also wanted it to reflect the fast pace of 60 Seconds News. 

I made a few storyboards (seen above), but found my third attempt to be most successful (bottom left). However, I found it to be too simple within its use of colour. Therefore, moving forward with this idea I would like to look into changing the colours used within the title sequence. 

Metamorphosis: Final Storyboard

Section of final storyboard

Frame-by-frame (left) and experimentation (right)

Photos are authors own

My final storyboard includes Gregory the caterpillar sleeping in his hammock, snoring, when suddenly a can of bug spray enters the frame and sprays him. Gregory dies, shrivelled and black. We are then taken into the spirit world where Gregory "awakens" as a butterfly in his room. He is confused at first, flapping his wings in an attempt to make sense of this new world. Gregory notices that he has antennas, pushing him into further confusion. Then he sees the caracas of his dead body and is fearly shocked. He looks forward and gulps as he fades into blackness. We leave him in his most fearful state to evoke the strongest emotional response from the audience. The process of rectifying the storyline was quite stressful, as it was hard to walk away from my initial idea and think afresh, but it was rewarding to put together something that made more sense and in turn produced a more effective narrative. I am still wary of whether the ending is as effective as I hope it to be, but that is something I may work on after the final showing and critic.

The experimental stage of the project was very helpful in finding a medium that best complimented the concept. I played around with paper cut outs, 3D stop motion and hand draw animation, and found hand drawn animation to be the most effective, because of how expressive and personal it is. It will also give me a chance to work illustratively within animation.

In order to make the production stage of my animation as smooth running as possible, I have created a rough frame-by-frame plan of my story, including different transitions and frame panning. 

Final Rastaman 6 Film Stills

These 6 images are my final visual embodiments of the Rastaman story I presented in my sketch book in my previous post. They are layout here like a comic book would be. I'm overall quite proud of my final 6 images. However, in the last image there is a goat slowly disappearing, which isn't very clear at all.

Storyboard Development: Rastaman

This is my developed idea of the 6 still images of my Rastaman storyboard. In this version Rastaman lies on the floor of his apartment after he OD's on cocain because his wife left him for a Doll. The Doll then feels as though she needs to do something to help Rastaman and presents him with a flyer, which advertises 'The Path to Enlightenment' -  a course up a mountain that offers enlightenment at the summit. Rastaman contemplate the idea and decides to go. However, when he reaches the mountain he finds that it is covered in cocain instead of snow and he must resist temptation in order to reach enlightenment. As he climbs the mountain he can no longer resist the drug and ends up OD'ing and collapsing. Rastaman awakens hours later, weak, to see the blurred outline of a goat in front of him. He grabs onto the goat in hopes that he will drag him to safety. The goat then drags Rastaman to the top of the mountain where he finds enlightenment and it is revealed to him that the goat was a hallucination that symbolised the strength of his own will power. 

Storyboard Idea: Cat Vs Wasp

This story flows from top to bottom.

1) There are two cats who are friends and a wasp and spider who are friends, living in the park. However, the two groups are enemies. 2) One day one of the cats squashes the spider and it dies. 3) The wasp goes back to his tree and plots revenge. 4) The wasp charges at the cats ready to sting them with poison. 5) The cat squashed the wasp and killed it, as a little girl obsessed with hello kitty walks by. 6) The girl spots the cat and steals it to make her very own live hello kitty, leaving the other cat to live alone.

This story is basically an example of the saying "what goes around, comes around". The cats were heartless towards the lives of the wasp and spider and in the end they were forced to live alone or as a play thing. I feel like the story isn't as strong as the previous two and is also quite childish, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not what I was aiming for. 

Storyboard Idea: No Face

This story flows from bottom to top.

1) No Face is living in the black obis of the ocean, but decides to venture out onto land to share his poetry. 2) No Face meets a man on the beach who tells him how good his poems are and that he could sell them for him. 3) The man on the beach takes credit for the poems and ends up rich from No Face's work. 4) No Face goes back to the sea and calls upon a siren to help him get his rightfully earned money. 5) One day, the thieving man is relaxing on the beach with all his money and the siren approaches him. Whilst he is entranced by her presence, No Face steals the money from right underneath him. 6) No Face goes to the big city with all his money and becomes a successful poet.

The like the issues tackled here. The fact that No Face hasn't a face, therefore he expresses himself through right. He also has no access to much of an audience so he goes of in search for one. He encounters the greed of the word above and calls onto his family to help achieve his goals. It's definitely an uplifting story. One that is basically a comment on how a talent has found it's voice and identity in a harsh world. However, I don't feel that the struggle No Face encountered brought enough tension and anticipation to the story.

Storyboard Idea: Rastaman

This story is ordered from the bottom square to the top. 1) Rastaman is happily married to his wife in the city. 2) Rastaman finds his wife cheating on h with a doll in the shower. 3) Rastaman's wife leaves him for the doll. 4) Rastaman goes on a quest to Mount Coke - a mountain covered in cocain - to ease his pain. 4) On the way to the top, Rastaman meets an intriguing ftm (female to male) transgender male. They climb the mountain together. 5) When they reach the top they have fallen in love and live the rest of their days there.

I found this idea interesting because it tackles quite serious concepts eg doll obsessions, drug addiction and gender identity/sexual orientation. However, I hate stories that send out the message love conquers all. If I were to rewrite this I would definitely change the resolution to the story and make more of a internal change within Rastaman.

Storyboarding

These are three separate storyboards my group and I created using characters and places we have connected to or have experienced in our lives. Crossing their paths to produce new, inventive stories.