Directing the Story

Directing the Story

by Francis Glebas
Released October 2012
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136138690

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Book description

Francis Glebas, a top Disney storyboard artist, shows how to reach the ultimate goal of animation and moviemaking by showing how to provide audiences with an emotionally satisfying experience. Directing the Story offers a structural approach to clearly and dramatically presenting visual stories. With Francis' help you'll discover the professional storytelling techniques which have swept away generations of movie goers and kept them coming back for more. You'll also learn to spot potential problems before they cost you time or money and offers creative solutions to solve them.

Best of all, it practices what it preaches, using a graphic novel format to demonstrate the professional visual storytelling techniques you need to know.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Preface
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Part One
    1. 1. The Goal: Why Do We Watch?
      1. Why Do We Watch Movies?
      2. 1001 Nights of Entertainment
      3. What’s at Stake Is Nothing Less Than Life and Death
      4. Dramatization through Questions
      5. 1001 Nights Entertainment Revisited
      6. Critique: Is It Too Late to Turn Back?
      7. Entertainment Explained
      8. Opportunity from Criticism
      9. What Is the Audience Doing?
      10. Reverse-Engineering Approach
      11. Why Do We Watch and More …
      12. Promise to the Reader: Intuition Illuminated!
      13. The Secret of Storytelling Is Story-Delaying
      14. Points to Remember
      15. References
    2. 2. Common Beginner Problems
      1. Where Do You Begin?
      2. The Catch-22 of the Character-Driven Intuitive Approach
      3. What Can Possibly Go Wrong?
      4. What Do Directors Direct?
      5. The Speaking Metaphor
      6. Show and Tell
      7. Every Shot Is a Close-Up
      8. What Is a Story?
      9. What Is Character?
      10. Critique: Introducing Scheherazade
      11. Points to Remember
      12. References
    3. 3. The Beginning Basics
      1. History and Function of Storyboards
      2. Various Types of Storyboards
      3. Production Process
      4. The Beat Board
      5. Storyboarding Overview
      6. Story Reels
      7. The Refinement Process
      8. Pitching
      9. The Gong Show
      10. How to Tell a Story with Pictures
      11. Breaking Down the Script: What Are Story Beats?
      12. How to Storyboard a Scene
      13. Staging the Action
      14. Critique: Scheherazade’s Storytelling
      15. Points to Remember
      16. References
    4. 4. How to Draw for Storyboarding: Motion and Emotion
      1. Only 99,999 to Go …
      2. From Stick Figures to Balloon People
      3. Walt Stanchfield’s Gesture Drawing Class
      4. Caricature
      5. Designing Interesting Characters
      6. The Story Drive of Emotions
      7. Drawing the Four Main Emotion Groups
      8. Miscellaneous Drawing Tips
      9. Drawing for Clarity and the Use of Clear Silhouettes
      10. Mort Walker’s The Lexicon of Comicana
      11. Technical Aspects of Storyboards
      12. Critique: 1001 Drawings
      13. Points to Remember
      14. References
  9. Part Two
    1. 5. Structural Approach: Tactics to Reach the Goal
      1. Once upon a time …
      2. Critique: Developing Character Relationships
      3. Points to Remember
      4. References
    2. 6. What Do Directors Direct?
      1. How to Get Attention
      2. The Map Is Not the Territory
      3. Selective Attention
      4. Keeping Attention
      5. Keeping Structure Invisible: Tricks of Attention
      6. The Power of Suggestion
      7. How the Brain Organizes Information: Gestalt
      8. Director as Magician
      9. Hierarchy of Narrative Questions
      10. Critique: Scheherazade Directs Attention
      11. Points to Remember
      12. References
    3. 7. How to Direct the Eyes
      1. Visual Clarity
      2. What I Learned from Watercolor Artists: The Missing Piece of Design
      3. Where Do I Look?
      4. The Design Equation
      5. Directing the Eye with Composition
      6. A Magical Effect: How a Picture Makes You Feel
      7. Light and Shadows
      8. Points to Remember
      9. References
    4. 8. Directing the Eyes Deeper in Space and Time
      1. What Is Wrong with This Picture?
      2. What to Use: Telephoto or Wide-Angle Lenses?
      3. How to Use Framing to Tell a Story
      4. Camera Mobility
      5. Alternative Approaches
      6. A Trick for Planning Scenes
      7. Proximity
      8. Point of View: Subjective Camera
      9. The Town of Dumb Love and SketchUpTM
      10. Beware of Depth Killers
      11. Points to Remember
      12. References
    5. 9. How to Make Images Speak: The Hidden Power of Images
      1. A Fancy Word for Clues
      2. Why Should You Care about Clues?
      3. How Movies Speak to Us
      4. The Mind Makes Associations
      5. Crime Story Clues and Signs
      6. Significant Objects
      7. How Images Ask Questions
      8. Speaking Indirectly
      9. Everything Speaks, If You Know the Code
      10. Semiotic Square
      11. Semiotic Analysis of the Scheherazade and “Dumb Love” Stories
      12. Points to Remember
      13. References
    6. 10. How to Convey and Suggest Meaning
      1. Continuity and Causality: How We Put Juxtaposed Images Together
      2. Multiple Types of Causality
      3. Screen Geography: Letting the Audience Know Where They Are
      4. Eyeline Matches
      5. Time Continuity
      6. History of Film Editing
      7. Why Do We Have to Tell Stories?
      8. The Film as Time Machine
      9. Why Cuts Work
      10. Why We Speak the Narration to Ourselves
      11. Points to Remember
      12. References
    7. 11. Dramatic Irony
      1. Who Gets to Know What, When, Where, How, and Why (Including the Audience)
      2. Can You Keep a Secret?
      3. Pendulum of Suspense
      4. Places for Dramatic Irony
      5. Critique: What Does the Sultan Know?
      6. Points to Remember
      7. References
    8. 12. The BIG Picture: Story Structures
      1. Primitive Filmic Structures and Propp’s Story Functions
      2. The Hero’s Journey or the Neurotic’s Road Trip
      3. Three Levels of Story Analysis
      4. Mentors
      5. Paradigms of Changing the Impossible to the Possible
      6. Ending, Beginning, and Turning Points
      7. Types of Scenes
      8. What Happens if You Move the Structure Around?
      9. Points to Remember
    9. 13. Aiming for the Heart
      1. Do We Really Identify with the Hero?
      2. Fears, Flaws, Wants, and Needs
      3. Love Stories: What Keeps Lovers Apart?
      4. What Is So Scary about Horror?
      5. The Rubberband Theory of Comedy : Aiming for the Backside of the Heart
      6. So Many Crime Shows
      7. Emotional Truth
      8. Music and Color: Not Meaning, but Meaningful
      9. What Is It All About?
      10. Happy Ever After
      11. Piglet’s Big Compilation
      12. Why We Watch Movies, Revisited
      13. The Story Knot and the Formula for Fantasy
      14. Emotional Engagement of a Story
      15. Points to Remember
      16. References
    10. 14. Summary: Recapitulation of All Concepts
      1. Asking Questions and Getting Answers
      2. Reference
    11. 15. Analysis and Evolution of the Scheherazade Project
      1. Story Evolution: Making It Clearer and More Dramatic
      2. Thematic Analysis and Dramatic Structures
      3. Story Parallels and Repetitions
      4. Hierarchy of Narrative Questions of the Scheherazade Story
      5. Cuts for Length or to Make the Story Move Quicker
      6. Changes Made to Make the Story More Dramatic or Resonant
    12. 16. Conclusion: Now We Must Say Good-bye
      1. What They Don’t Tell You
      2. Tips for Keeping Your Dream Alive
      3. Things Are Not Always What They Seem
  10. Bibliography
  11. Index

Product information

  • Title: Directing the Story
  • Author(s): Francis Glebas
  • Release date: October 2012
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136138690