Storyboard For Motion Graphics
Creating a Suspect Board
To follow with my Sherlock intro idea, based on A Series of Unfortunate Events, my first job was to create a storyboard. The episode that this title sequence is for is S1: Ep1 'A Study in Pink' so my images and ideas came from content in that episode. I made a list of all the characters in the episode who are important, major actors and began to form an order of appearance in the title sequence. I then drafted out where I would place them on the suspect board so I could get started. I also wanted to include backgrounds on all the characters, using imagery to represent their backstories, which required further research.
To continue my list I filtered in where I want to show the crime scenes and some further ideas for what clips I may want to use. I took my inspirations from the Series of Unfortunate Events titles and the order clips and characters appeared there, keeping to the plot of Sherlock, making things flow in line with the episode.
I needed to create a believable suspect board, just adding characters and crime scenes like the plan above was very basic and when created looked incredibly bare. So I looked into the character development and background of each person.
For John, I included pictures of his army background, the gun in his drawer to show his anxiety and possible PTSD. Also, his blog that his therapist convinced him to start; which is the method in which the original stories where relayed.
For the bad guy in the episode, I needed to be vague as you can’t give away the ending in the titles. I added the pill bottle, a London street and taxi. I also wrote the question Sherlock asks mid-episode on a napkin for effect and to make the suspect board more life-like.
Sherlock's character is the most intricate in the show, there are lots I could include for him. I went with his website, 'The Science of Deduction', which is what started it all. Included a skyline of modern London and the Baker Street sign. I also had a mixture of his “know-it-all” text messages either as pictures, on a phone and in writing. A few post-it notes of chemical equations gives the idea they’re his notes he feels are important.
Detective Lestrade, on the other hand, is more of a basic character, you don’t get to know much about him over the series, so I used the space to show some other less important characters that he works with.
Another character is Sherlock's brother Mycroft. We don’t want to give that away just yet as he comes across quite suspicious in the episode. I included a picture of camera footage and a little note of what Sherlock would deduce about him.
Mrs Hudson is Sherlock’s landlady, so plays quite a big part in the show but also has a very disturbing background. The episode is about pills and drugs and her past is filled with a similar thing, does this mean she could be suspicious or is it something to do with Sherlock.
The last one is Molly, she is a scientist who works with Sherlock. She is very clever but also very shy due to her feelings towards him. I included pictures of her lab and a morgue, also handwritten notes about the drug being used to kill people.
Final Suspect Board
This is the final outcome. It took a lot longer than I expected to create but I think it’s very good, it’s very busy but that's what I was going for; I wanted it to symbolise how much goes on in Sherlock’s head.
I added all the thread and pins to finish off and to get an idea of what I will be moving around when filming. Each colour pin and thread has a different meaning.
- White- Place of crime scene
- Blue- Character
- Green- Evidence
- Red- Murder weapon/ pills
- Yellow- Deductions and further questions
When I animate it will be zoomed in on the different sections. So you only see certain parts at a time and the bits I want you to see. I'll follow the threads along to each section, moving them about and using similar angles and shots from the Series of Unfortunate Events titles.
Storyboard
To finalise my development I created a storyboard, I needed each character to come up on the screen with the actors and actresses names. Using the list I made to figure out the order and then has a section for each storyboard of the image and type placement for each character.
I also wanted a mixture of clips, the ones I created with the suspect board, clips from the programme and possibly other stock videos to fill in any gaps. So I added these into the storyboard as well, I’ll decide whether they are needed when it comes to putting it together.
I’ve included a scene at the end with a character called Moriarty. He isn’t in this episode but is a very big character, so I need to find a way of including him without too many spoilers.
Brief
To plan, design and produce photo stories and motion graphics compositions using industry standard software, applying fundamental techniques such as compositing and match moving. Creating a final video piece of between 1 and 5 minutes in the form of opening titles, product visualisation or an educational video.