Friday, June 15, 2007

So the story goes...

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. Mostly story and writing stuff. And I decided, since I want to do story, I should probably have some story stuff on this blog! Here's a couple of excerpts that I thought were cool. This one is from Joseph Campbell:

"The wonder is that the characteristic efficacy to touch and inspire deep creative centers dwells in the smallest nursery fairy tale- as the flavor of the ocean is contained in a droplet or the whole mystery of life within the egg of a flea."

So cool. That the smallest story can still capture the essence of life!

This next one is from a book by Stephen King called On Writing. Which is awesome and I recommend it to anyone that is interested in story. I read it between my first and second year at CalArts and it's one of the things that really turned me on to storyboarding and the power of visual storytelling. Here's a part I thought was neat, about the process of coming up with a story:

"I believe that stories are found things, like fossils in the ground. Stories aren't souvenir tee-shirts or GameBoys. Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer's job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Somtimes the fossil you uncover is small; a seashell. Sometimes it's enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all those gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, short story or thousand-page whopper of a novel, the techniques of excavation remain basically the same."

Isn't that the way it feels when you're boarding out a film? You uncover one chunk but there are holes in other places, and you just have to discover them! So they all fit together as a story! Pretty awesome.

So here are some of my story boards from my portfolio this year. Some are much rougher than others as you can see! Alas. Haven't decided if I will put the rest of them up here or not. Hopefully I'll get some new stuff up here soon.







P.S. I love Surf's Up. Go see it. And support it. And love it too.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Heidi,
These boards are awesome. Put the whole thing up, fer cryin' out loud! I love the passages about story, especially the dinosaur bits, that stuff is gold. Stephen King, you're aaaalright.

SHANE PRIGMORE said...

Beautifull. It was cool seing you guys at the Rat sneak preview briefly. Good luck this summer.Kick some crazy butt!!

Jennifer Hager said...

Hey dude! You updated!! Yeah you reading all these books inspires me to read books too. I'm dragging through Cambell still. Why does anyone need to write like that? Its like translating hyroglyphics into meaning. I probably spelled hyroglphics wrong didn't I?

Heidi Gilbert said...

Thanks Austin! Maybe I will! Yeah I thought of you when I read that paragraph. Story + T. Rex = Austin.

Thanks Shane! It was cool to see you guys too! I love the smallness of this industry! We can all be nerds together!

Jen, it's hieroglyphics. :)

M. Hassan said...

hello Heidi Im Dody ^^
I'm happy to see your Awesome blog
and from the boards let me really wanna to see your movie, despite I dont understaned them ^_*

Morrison Family said...

Heidi Jo!!
I have been thinking about you...and now I have found you (i think...) These are awesome!!
Emily Wallace Morrison

Marcos Mateu said...

These are really clear boards, depicting actions that appear to be fairly simple but that are in fact very difficult to stage in a natural and convincing way. Cool!

Casey said...

I love it. I took a look at this to try to teach myself a thing or two about storyboards.