I love doing car commercials- I feel like I draw cars well, and quickly. Well, my speed was put to the test when I was called to board this commercial.
These are “shoot boards,” meaning these are the last draft of the storyboards before shooting starts. Often they are hurried, and rough, because at the last minute, things have changed, and boards must be revised ASAP. I think this is the hardest job in the storyboarding field, because the director (whom you must confer with closely in order to make the boards accurate) is often unavailable, or sharing time with others, and is extremely stressed even when around. And you are coordinating with other production designers and wardrobe and casting and location scouts so that everything looks right. And you have producers that need an exact ETA on when you will have them done, because you are holding up the printing of the production book, of which storyboards make up an incredibly important part.
Most of what I just described doesn’t really apply to this commercial. It was just me and two directors trying to come up with shots. But they needed a LOT, and I only had 8 hours. So it was fortunate that I have a pretty flexible style in terms of being able to draw very detailed and refined when needed, and also being able to create rough drawings quickly that still look good.
Looking at the final spot, it appears that not all the shots we devised were needed, which was not surprising.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27P2vka-shU
This was my first look at this new Corvette, and I must say, I want one!
Leave a Reply