By trying different camera setups, you can show different angles and see how they will cut together
in editing.
You can approximate the actual lighting on the set or at a location.
After re-arranging shot orders, sometimes cutting back and forth between shots, you can produce
storyboards complete with shot labels and descriptions. In addition to fully “three dimensional” views,
frames can be rendered in a variety of more traditional 2-d formats.
Like all complex software, pre-visualizing storyboard programs take considerable time and effort
to master. Even for a skilled user, assembling environments and props, selecting, modifying, dressing,
and posing actors is time consuming. If a fiction program has, say, 8 major characters and takes place
in 6 locations, you can build and store all the components beforehand and then quickly load them,
as needed. But, if a commercial runs through 20 characters in 12 locations in 30 seconds, the work
involved in using this program may not be cost-effective.
Nonetheless, this pre-visualizing (or “previs,” as these programs are called) is so powerful that many
directors and cinematographers learn and use it just to experiment.
Two shot. Her medium closeup. His closeup. Her over-the-shoulder shot.
Original three-dimensional
version. “Cartoon” rendering. Pencil sketch. Colored ink drawing.
The program can adjust
depth of field to match
different lens focal
lengths, apertures, and
distances from subjects. Character fully lit.
Character with lights
“turned off.”
Chapter 9 Project Development 171