Datasheet

The Stages of Production  5
entering into production without a good plan of attack will not only cause trouble, but
also stunt the growth of your project.
In the real world, preproduction is part of every CG animation project. For the tuto-
rial projects in this book, the sketches and other files supplied on the book’s web page
are your preproduction; however, try to gather as much information as you can about the
objects you’ll create beyond what is presented. Having different perspectives on a subject
is the key to understanding it.
The Script
To tell a story, CG or not, you should put it in words. A story doesn’t need to contain
dialogue for it to benefit from a script. Even abstract animations benefit from a detailed
explanation of timings and colors laid out in a treatment (because there is likely no dia-
logue). The script or treatment serves as the initial blueprint for the animation, a place
where you lay out the all-important intent.
The Storyboard
A storyboard is a further definition of the script. Even a rudimentary storyboard with
stick figures on notebook paper is useful to a production. You break the script into
scenes, and then you break those scenes into shots. Next, you sketch out each shot in a
panel of a storyboard. The panels are laid out in order according to the script to give a
visual and linear explanation of the story. Storyboards are useful for planning camera
angles (framing a shot), position of characters, lighting, mood, and so on. Figure 1.1
shows a rough storyboard for a character falling asleep while watching TV.
Figure 1.1
A storyboard helps
define the action.
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