Shotbox

Our thoughts and references on story development, storytelling, storyboarding and all this kind of things.

[shotboxab]

A month ago we released a prototype to our Beta tester.

Now it's time to share it with the world !

Shotbox 3d viewport is a webGL tool for creatives to quickly build a set or stage for storyboarding, previz and lighting/camera setups.

We hope to push it forward really soon and integrate it into the main app.

[shotboxab]

This is awesome !

[shotboxab]

Cartoon network gathered a fantastic crew for their summer Ident. 

Each of the team got 10 seconds of the track and shared the same 4 colours. If you don't know them look at their work : 

http://vimeo.com/eamonnoneill

http://vimeo.com/lecrcr

http://vimeo.com/rubberhouse

http://vimeo.com/alexgrigg

http://vimeo.com/impactist

http://vimeo.com/weareawesome

[shotboxab]

Help us out !

We would like to know a bit more about our beta testers, their thoughts on the Shotbox workflow and its future.

Here is a small questionnaire. It takes less than a minute to fill in and is extremely helpful !

Go to the questions !

[shotboxab]

Pro-tips !

As we reached 450+ in our first week out in the wild internet we wanted to give a couple of pro-tips to our beta testers !

• To Snap to seconds in the timeline by holding down the CMD button (mac) or CTRL (pc).

• To Share your work by copy/pasting the URL of the export page.

• If you want to change the style, layout, typeface of your exported PDF it can be opened and edited in Illustrator.

• For formatting text, use *word* for italic and **word** for bold.

And once again we wanted to thanks everyone to try it out !

[shotboxab]

Our public beta is out!

Finally, we can share our beta to the world. 

Go and try the best way to start a production, upload your work, time it, invite collaborators and generate videos and storyboards, breakdowns, shotlists (and more...) in an instant.

Here you go : beta.shotbox.se

For more information : www.shotbox.se.

[shotboxab]

A really interesting study of color choices and layout in 101 Dalmatians.

http://colorfulanimationexpressions.blogspot.se/p/101-dalmatians.html

[drawnblog]

This is BIG news. Museum for illustration, comics, digital arts, and all kinds of movie arts. Proposed for San Francisco.

[framexframe]

Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro / Tonari no Totoro

[shotboxab]

Really nice tumblr showing small animation sequences frame by frame.

[thedavidoreilly]

Not sure if this is interesting for you guys. 

Around 6 years ago (gasp) I did a bunch of lectures on animation theory. One subject was how textures of movement have evolved over the years, alongside the more obvious progression of design.

I made these videos to illustrate more clearly how contrast in timing was something that has a clear progression from the 30s to the 90s. The timechart below each clip represents relative change in space between drawings - from the ultra linear early animation - to the soft bouncing of Classic era Disney - to the exaggerated Warner Bros style, brought to it’s peak by John K (in my opinion). 

Sorry about the quality on these gifs. I’ll post more stuff like this if theres any interest.

[shotboxab]

A classic. Always good to listen to !

[shotboxab]

Former Pixar storyboard artist gives tips.

Emma Coats published a set of 22 guidelines on her twitter back in June 2012.

Here are some:

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

All of them: http://www.pixartouchbook.com/blog/2011/5/15/pixar-story-rules-one-version.html

And here is her blog: http://storyshots.tumblr.com/

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Here is a puzzle game called "Storyteller" by Daniel Benmergui, should be released by the end of the year. Really looking forward to try it out.

For more informations : http://www.storyteller-game.com/

[shotboxab]

Ron Gilbert wrote a set of rules for Adventure games

The creator of Monkey Island 1 and 2, Day of the Tentacles, The Cave, wrote in 1989, a set of rules he learnt while making Maniac Mansion. 

Some quotes : 

"Story games are not movies, but the two forms do share a great deal.  It is not fair to completely ignore movies.  We can learn a lot from them about telling stories in a visual medium.  However, it is important to realize that there are many more differences than similarities."

"I have created a set of rules of thumb that will minimize the loss of suspension of disbelief."..."If I could redesign Maniac Mansion, all the violations would be removed and I'd have a much better game."

Go and check them out : Grumpy gamer

And...play THE CAVE.

[shotboxab]

Production scheduling boards from Aardman's Animation on 'Pirates ! In an Adventure with Scientists".

[shotboxab]

A great source of inspiration and reference for us.

FX board cards from Blade Runner published by  http://www.ridleyville.com/#/FX%20Storyboards

[shotboxab]

Exodus is now online ! 

It was directed by Magnus Östergren for Trapcode.

Shotbox has been used during the all development and pre-production.