Chapter 9 Project Development 173
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Two-shot Her medium closeup His closeup p p Her over-the-shoulder shot
Character fully lit y
Character with lights
“turned off”
The program can adjust
depth of field to match
different lens focal
lengths, apertures, and
distances from subjects. j
Original three-dimensional
version “Cartoon” rendering Pencil sketch Colored ink drawingg g
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 rearranging 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 (often shortened to previs, pronounced “pree-viz”)
storyboard programs take considerable time and effort to master. Even for a skilled user, assembling
environments and props, and selecting, modifying, dressing, and posing actors is time consuming. If
a fiction program has, say, eight major characters and takes place in six 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, pre-visualizing is so powerful that many directors and cinematographers learn and use it
just to experiment.