This week, my main focus was to further develop the storyboard based on the written version completed in Week 4. I started to draw the storyboard by hand and organise the overall timeline of the animation.
At this stage, I translated the written descriptions into visual compositions, including camera distance, the relationship between the character and objects in the frame, and the approximate duration of each shot. Drawing the storyboard helped me to understand the pacing of the story more clearly, instead of relying only on written ideas.
While sketching the storyboard, I marked an estimated duration for each shot, such as 2–3 seconds or 3–4 seconds, and began to separate slower moments from faster, more emotional sections. For the middle part of the animation, where the mood changes, I plan to use shorter shots and simple transitions, such as black frames or quick cuts, to create a tighter rhythm.
Through this process, I realised that some shots that worked in the written storyboard were not necessary when visualised. After drawing them out, a few shots felt repetitive or disrupted the pacing, so they were either removed or combined during the timeline planning stage. This helped me understand that storyboards are not only a storytelling tool, but also an important way to control pacing and workload early in the production process.
Overall, Week 5 helped me gain a clearer understanding of the structure of the project and prepared me for the next stage, which will focus more on animation and shot testing.
In-class Learning
WEEK5
This week’s tutorial helped me further clarify the presentation method for my project. Serra advised that I don’t have to rely on specific characters to tell a story, as objects and spaces themselves can also serve as “characters”. By documenting the changes of the same scene at different times — such as the disappearance of food on the table before and after a party — human presence can be implied without directly depicting people. Serra also suggested that I treat the process of change as a visual study through repeated shooting or time-based footage. This discussion made me realize that I need to simplify the format and focus more on the relationship between change, absence and narrative.