What is An Animatic?
Right, OK. So an 'Animatic', is where you have still images which are edited together and shown through in sequences with either dialogue, soundtrack or both, usually this isn't the finished product but a rough copy. Those still images are usually taken from the story board.
How have these Animatics developed?
It was only just a few years ago where these animatics were produced by literally filming the storyboards. Over the last ten years though, animatic production has become much more advanced and has developed a more serious manner. They are now developed with the aid of computers and animation in mind.
With this advancement in mind everything to do with these are now done a computer, and from this the animatics have become much more digitalis-ed and complex. Some animatics of today look almost as close to what would be the finished product.
Types of Animatics
In today's standard the best type and most favorite has to be 2D and 3D. There are also different types of Animatics a director can use, this including they can also have hand drawn animatics.
Below is an Animatic from Iron Man 3:
If your now a bit unsure on what an animatic actually is I will show you another video explaining to you Animatics:
Which Elements of The Final Film Should Be Included In The Animatic?
Within the animatics there are things that should be included in this being that it should also be in the final cut. Things included being the Ident's, those are the names and titles you see at the beginning of a film.
Below Is The Intro From The Film Cry Baby Which Shows Clear Idents.
So anyway as I was say about animatics is that the Production company must be on there, the ones who actually produced the film and the title must be on there somewhere but where you placed the title on the animatic you must have it in the same place in the film. With the dialogue, soundtrack, and special effects they must be in the same place in both the animatic and the film.
Advantages of Producing an animatic Before Shooting.
Right, so a huge advantage of producing an animatic before filming is the fact that everyone knows what is going to happen when on set and it is very straight forward on what everyone must do. The camera operator knows what camera shots and angles must be needed. The actors and actresses know there dialogue. Editors will know transitions and what sound effects must be needed. If all this was never there then production would probably take a lot longer than expected and very time consuming, and for some things they might be missed out which could possibly be a huge plot hole in the film and leave the whole audience confused, but because they have something to follow they won't miss anything out and at least they have an idea on what the finished product will look like.
Real Life Examples of Animatics:
Although this is not technically a film but a music video it still holds the same concept:
Now the actual finished product:
My next post will be about the animatics for our opening of the thriller.
