Datasheet
Figure 1.2
A character sheet
Writing a Script
Whether a CG project has a ton of dialogue or doesn’t have a single spoken word, both the
project and you will benefit from having at least a rudimentary script. Even abstract ani-
mations can benefit from a script that presents a highly detailed explanation of timings
and colors, whether that script is typed neatly or scribbled on a cocktail napkin.
A script serves as your intention. Without having a clear intention of what you wish to
say with your film, your production time may as well be spent lying on a lounge chair
drinking iced tea; you will not get much done in either case.
Storyboards
A storyboard is the next step in defining the action laid out in the script. It shows the tim-
ing and framing for the camera, as well as the action and dialogue (if any). To create an
effective storyboard, you should dissect your script into scenes, and further dissect the
scenes into shots, with each shot presenting a distinct view from the camera or a distinct
cut of action. Each storyboard panel describes what is happening in that shot. The panels
show you the overall action of the project in a linear, shot-by-shot fashion, and how it
should come together in editing.
Even if your storyboards are simple ones composed of stick figures, they are important
to preproduction.
Concept Art
Conceptuals (also called concept art) are the design elements that are needed for a CG
production. If you don’t have concept art, whether it’s your own drawings or photos
or images grabbed from the Internet, you are in trouble. You must have an idea of
how you want your CG to look; otherwise, you are just burning calories and not saying
anything.
If you have CG characters, create character
sheets for each character that show them in
three different neutral poses: from the front,
from the side, and from an angle called a
3
⁄4 view.
You can even sculpt reference characters in
clay or Play-Doh if you need to have a better
idea of how they should look in 3D space. In
Figure 1.2, you can see a character sheet gener-
ated for a student-produced short at The Art
Institute of California at Los Angeles.
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