For all well planned movies, there needs to be storyboards. Storyboards are an important element for all cinematographers who wish to plan out how they are going to shoot the scene of the film. The Storyboard is a tool that is used by multiple people on the film set.
For this post I will be looking at the Storyboards from scenes which are famous for their camera movement and techniques. This will be useful as it will give me an insider view point to how the storyboard artists imagine how camera shots in scenes should be portrayed
Storyboards are important as they help different positions on set, such as The Director who would use storyboards to help them picture the scene, The cinematographer would use the storyboards as a guide to how the camera should be composed for each shot, the producer may use storyboards to understand what is needed for each scenes Mise en Scene and an Editor will use storyboards to help them edit the scenes together along with the script or even creating an edit using the frames from the storyboard which is known as an Animatic.
Jaws Storyboards (1975) – Joseph Alves
Above are some of the official storyboards used in the production of the 3rd act of the original shark monster movie from 1975 known as Jaws which was Directed by Steven Spielberg. Analysis of the storyboards shows that storyboards for Hollywood films are extremely detailed. Typically In a storyboard you will find a drawn out and composed frame which is numbered with a description of what is happening in the frame.
Traditionally the storyboard frame will take the shape of a rectangle to simulate the shape of the camera frame. Most modern cameras shoot in 1920 x 1080 frame size, so this means that the storyboards for that camera shoot must also follow the same frame size. This helps the cinematographer to frame the composition and transfer what is seen in the storyboards to the camera monitor.
Another note here is that the storyboards for Jaws are hand drawn. Whilst in today’s day and age it would probably be quicker and easier and more professional to illustrate the storyboards digitally through a computer programme, I believe that the storyboards for Jaws have that practical feel to them. This makes them feel unique and makes me want to hold them in my own hands.
Compared to the cinematography of today, Jaws’s production would be considered basic. When compared to the Hollywood movies of today which utalise CG digital camera creation and visual effects. It is easy to see that the frames in the storyboards for Jaws were not considering using much movement as the frames in Jaws are often stationary or slightly shaky for dramatic effect. In Jaws we do not see the camera track around characters or do the crazy movements popularized by the next generation of filmmakers such as Micheal Bay – (Transformers franchise 2007- 2018), Zack Snyder – (300 (2016), Watchmen (2009), Joss Whedon (The Avengers (2012), Serenity (2005) or Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker (2008), Detroit (2017).
This is all from the limitations of which the production of Jaws had with the placement and technology of cameras in the 1970’s. The production of Jaws most likely did not have the technology we have today for Hollywood films, so to counter this, Spielberg and his crew needed to be more creative.
In this shot we see that the camera was strategically placed on a moving platform which is part of the scene to create the motion of movement without actually moving the camera. This scene is great as it started the trend known as ‘The Spielberg Oner’ which would later be built upon becoming more and more advanced in later films.
In conclusion Jaws is one of the most famous Hollywood blockbusters of all time. Jaws set the original foundation for the style of what a modern day Hollywood Blockbusters should look like. The film has inspired many films after it and become one of the films that started the that concept that Hollywoods films would take on a new form. After Jaws, Hollywood dropped the Musical and romance genres. This lead Hollywood film makers instead to take a shine to the idea of making thrill rides, fictional and fantasy films through experiences such as Alien (1979) and Star Wars (1977). Spielberg’s film Jaws had not only changed how Hollywood would produce movies but also changed western cinema as an art form ( The start of the Blockbuster). This could only have been done through the vision of Josephs Alves’s storyboards.
DFPR3105 - Advance Specialism 