IN[FOCUS] 2010 presenter Joe Simon elucidates on his journey from mass producing to offering a more select artistic product in the latest episode of FilmFellas.
A special thanks goes out to Steve Weiss and the Zacuto Team for shedding some light on what we do. Support Zacuto by checking out and purchasing their gear, in particular, consider the Z-Finder for aiding in focusing with your Canon 5D/7D – it’s a must!
Wedding Filmmakers and IN[FOCUS] 2010 presenters Patrick Moreau and Ron Dawson mix it up with Kevin Shahinian. Enjoy!
IN[FOCUS] 2010 presenter Joe Simon preaches the good word about the respect wedding filmmakers get these days, and his ability to fill in for absent photographers when he uses the Canon Mark II 5D!
Part II//////Storyboarding for wedding cinema
In Storyboarding Part I I talked a bit about storyboarding in general and its usefulness in breaking down shots for more narrative/ film style work. In part two I would like to talk about how storyboarding can be a hugely important tool in wedding cinema as well. The question is, how do you storyboard for a wedding, where nearly everything is unpredictable and unrepeatable?
We have been storyboarding for weddings since we began shooting cinema a couple years ago. At the time, these storyboards were more or less just basic layout of what kinds of framing and shots we were looking for. But now they have evolved into a crucial tool that we use for nearly everything we shoot.
While storyboarding for traditional narrative films helps illustrate specifics shots, moments and key-frames. Storyboarding for wedding cinema can be used in a different way that is more specific to the nature of the live event aspect. The storyboards are used more for inspiration and ideas as well as reminders of unique and creative angles, compositions, and possible framing and composition options.. The storyboards simply provide a visual guide for your ideas and also help you remember what shots you had in your mind while envisioning how sequences will look and flow. We have been using storyboards on nearly every cinema wedding since we started, and I have found that by spending a few hours sketching out ideas the day or two before a wedding can save a huge amount of time and streamline everything on the wedding day.
The best way for me to illustrate how I use storyboards for wedding cinema is by some examples that I have here with me. I scanned a bunch of notes and drawings from the idea / brainstorming sessions that Danielle and I had from both Sarah & Kurt and Preben and Nicole’s wedding.
We have always wanted to incorporate some After Effects work in our Same Day Edits and always developed some hugely complicated effects sequence that would need to be edited over multiple days. Could we then call these “Same Day Edits?”. The answer was simply, NO.  So we took another approach of heavily storyboarding out the effects sequences we envisioned…..and then (yes, crazy) doing all the After Effects work on the wedding day in order to call them SDE’s.
Here are the storyboards for Sarah & Kurt’s SDE. We sketched out a basic  rough idea of what framing and order of shots we wanted for their gift-giving sequence. We also sketched out some ideas for the opening and ending sequences which we wanted to have symmetry – to tell a mini story.
While talking with Kurt before the wedding, we thought of the idea making a mix tape for Sarah, and since their favorite song is the Kings of Leon “Use Somebody,” we decided that this would be a perfect chance to tie it all in.
Here are the storyboards:
Here is Sarah & Kurts SDE:
/////SARAH&KURT * SDE////////////////// from Casey Warren | MIND CASTLE on Vimeo.
/////Some non-technical:
Kurt + Sarah = amazing people
/////Some technical:
Camera: 100% with Canon 5D MK II
Lenses: Canon 24mm 1.4L, Canon 70-200mm f2.8L, Canon 135mm f2.0, Voightlander 58mm f1.4.
Techniques: diegetic to non-diegetic opening and sound transitions. Color to color transitions. After Effects used at the end.
—————-
For Preben and Nicole’s SDE, we had even more detailed storyboards. A couple of weeks before the wedding we met with Preben to go over the schedule and as he was leaving he mentioned to us that he had a disc with hundreds of vintage photos from Roche Harbor (the wedding venue). We had been to a couple resorts before where you could literally hold up a photo from the 1920’s, peer around it, and see that same place, nearly untouched  today. We thought that this would be the concept to integrate into their wedding…the passage of time and things past to present. Furthermore, Nicole had restored Preben’s grandfather’s watch and gave it to him as a gift on the wedding day. Along with the letter she wrote him, we tied the past to present idea into their wedding SDE all the more.
Here are the storyboards:
Here is Preben & Nicole’s SDE
/////PREBEN&NICOLE * SDE////////////////// from Casey Warren | MIND CASTLE on Vimeo.
Blog Post: Click here
Camera: 100% Canon 5d MK II
Lenses: 2x Canon 70-200mm f2.8L, Canon 24mm f1.4L, Canon 135mm f2.0L, Voightlander 58mm f1.4
Other gear: Cinevate swing away mattebox, Proteus cage and mounts, Pegasus LTS (slider), Satchler Camera support, Steadicam Flyer LE
Other Software: Adobe After Effects for Rotoscoping and film effects
You can see that these wedding storyboards have a bit less detail and are less intricate than the ones in Part I.  This is because, on the wedding day, the scenes won’t exactly match up due to the live event nature. It pays to keep things down to the bare bones of the scene to tell the story.
Overall, storyboards can be an incredibly useful time saving tool on wedding day, especially when there is little time to waste. Also, storyboards used to any degree, help with the pre-planning process overall. They really help refine and focus ideas and concepts. From simple shot ideas to longer complex sequences, they can be an essential tool to practice in the art of wedding cinema.
~Casey Warren
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///////////////Storyboarding: Part I of II//////
 Storyboarding is an incredibly useful tool within all genres of filmmaking. From documentary work to event filmmaking, storyboards provide a visual reference for the action that propels the movement of the story. Unlike writing out a shot list or just having general ideas of what shots and framing you want, drawing shots out on paper truly illustrates how each frame is juxtaposed with the next.  The purpose of this entry is to introduce you to the usefulness of storyboarding, and my next entry will apply storyboarding to wedding filmmaking.
Sometimes I use storyboarding to quickly transfer an idea I have in my head onto paper. Â Sometimes I have an intricate and lengthly sequence in mind and I want to see how each frame will edit with the next. With storyboarding, there can be infinite levels of complexity within each sequence, Â so, to streamline the process I think of storyboarding as keyframing.Â
Applications like Final Cut Pro, Motion, After Effects, Maya, (the list can go on) all utilize keyframing – the setting of a point at the beginning and the ending of an action and allowing the computer to interpolate the action that will occur between those two points. I visualize storyboards as keyframes – they only show the crucial moments of a scene or sequence. Then, when I actually film the sequence, the actions of the people will fill in the moments between those keyframes.Â
This concept is even more relevant in wedding and event filmmaking where things happen unpredictably; however, the storyboard is not so much to create exact shots, but rather for planning out ideas and sequences and how key moments will edit and link together.Â
As wedding filmmakers we like to let things happen naturally, capturing true moments, emotions, and stories. Â Therefore, it might seem counterintuitive to this approach to attempt to storyboard. Â Instead, it actually provides a well of ideas to draw upon throughout the day.Â
But before I show you how I have storyboarded an upcoming Same-Day-Edit (Storyboarding part II, coming next month), I’d like to show you how I storyboarded a narrative corporate project for Cinevate,  first aired at NAB. This commercial was part of a complilation of 5 different commercials made by other wedding filmmakers in the industry. (Ray Roman, Matt E, Joe Simon, and Patrick Moreau/Konrad Czystowski/Michael Wong).Â
If you look closely, you can see how a few things changed from the storyboards to the actual film; yet, you can also see how the general flow of shots remains strikingly similar. After taking the time to storyboard, I forgot to bring my drawing to the shoot….but the exercise of storyboarding apparently imprinted the shots and the flow onto my brain.
All the better to pre-visualize in whatever work you do.
Enjoy! ~ Casey////MIND|Castle Studios
//////////////dream.create.inspire///////
Â
CINEVATE // THE DURUS UNIT from Casey Warren | MIND CASTLE on Vimeo.
This is awesome Casey!
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Casey is simply epic awesomeness!
Wow, these storyboards are A-mazing. I have been following your work for some time now ( I am hoping to get engaged soon *:) and I LOVE it! its even better to get a glimpse at the process behind it all as well. I cant even imagine all the work that goes into an SDE, you literally show A FILM ON THE WEDDING day! You guys (and gal) are simply amazing at what you do. Keep it up and Im hoping *fingers crossed* that I get engaged SOON so I can have you come be a part of my day.
Also, this infocus thing looks really neat! I am finding an interest in shooting myself, although in just a beginner its been really fun to pick a camera up and see what I can do with it. Hopefully I can come to infocus and see you guys there!!!! cant wait!!. :P
*~Katie~*
Joseph,
Thanks for your compliments and support! Glad you enjoyed the post.
~Casey W.
Katie E.,
Come out out to infocus to learn and take your pick of the best cinematographers on the planet for your wedding! It might be too hard to pick just one!
jones
Casey – Thanks for giving us a glimpse of what goes on in that mind of yours. Part 1 & 2 of story boarding has been so inspiring… we are excited about putting together an SDE next week and look forward to sharing it with you.
Casey and Danielle,
You both have an AMAZING talent in your story-boarding work, photography, and in your films. Thats all I can say! you inspire me!
If I can get the time off from work I would love to come to IN[FOCUS] just to meet you guys
and all the other talents in the industry that are there too! Its so exciting that there is going to be an event like this with so many creatives involved.
Come and see us, Lori – we’d look forward to having you.
what if you can’t draw??? I have a problem drawing the drapes! I can barely draw a bath, let alone storyboard an event – what to do?
Joseph,
Thanks for the epic compliment :) See you at INFOCUS? ;)
Katie,
I am glad you enjoy the Storyboards! Ill have a bunch more with me at INFOCUS! hope you can come check it out :)
Its great to hear that your getting into filmmaking as well…..its an addiction, once you pick up a camera you cant stop shooting. At least thats how it worked for me :)
~Casey W.
Raymond,
Hey! its great to hear that you liked the storyboard! I remember I bought a book along time ago that was the art of storyboards from the movie Toy Story….very inspiring book…from then on I was hooked on storyboarding.
Cant wait to see your SDE. You and Joyce going to hit up INFOCUS???? it would be AWESOME to see you there.
~Casey W.
Casey,
Stumbled upon this blog from yours. I am a HUGE fan of you + Danielle’s work. Its so cool to see you involved with something like this event thing where you can teach other people about what you both do. There needs to be more things like this in the industry. I am in the photo industry myself and there are a ton of events out there for teaching photoshop, how to shoot, workshops and so on…and FINALLY theres something dedicated to event video shooting. I am hoping to start shooting a bit of video myself (as I jsut got a mark 2) and your post on storyboarding really clicks with me because I like to doodle and draw too. looks like a great way to wrap my head around how to go out and plan for a shoot. Since I just started, video shooting seems a bit over-whealming for me and I think if I give story boarding a try, It will take some of the confusion away and make things a bit more seamless and planned.
Anywhoo, great seeing some of your story boarding work, and to hear a bit more on the behind-the-scenes of mindcastle, very inspiring to say the least :)
.J.
Lori,
Thanks! Its very cool to hear that our work inspires you!
Yeah! see you at INFOCUS for sure! Just take a couple “sick” days from work, hehe :) :)
Again. thank you for the amazing compliments.
~Casey W.
Dave,
For me, Its not necessarily about the quality of the drawings or how intricate they are. Its more about creating a structure and plan for what and how your going to shoot something. It can be as simple as stick figures and blobs for houses, trees, etc…, but as long as it gets the idea of the sequence across, then your good to go :)
I use storyboarding for more of a visual reminder of both how I want the composition of a single shot to look, as well as how that shot fits into the context of the sequence as a whole.
I sometimes storyboard when im driving (heh)….and those frames that I sketch out are usually the very bare bones of the idea that I have in my head…even though they are extremely simple, they can still tell a mini story. With that, the quality of the drawings becomes arbitrary.
~Casey W.