acting with pencil: the process of storyboarding a stage ... · a journal of theatre & media...

A Journal of Theatre & Media Studies Vol. 1. No. 2, April, 2016

208

Acting with Pencil: The Process of Storyboarding a

Stage Multimedia Drama Production in Nigeria.

I. E. Kadimo Oqua Department of Theatre and Media Studies

University of Calabar, Calabar.

Kadimo.Oqua@yahoo,com ; [email protected]

Abstract

It is obvious that Nigerian movies have widely won accolades for

creating jobs and boosting the Nigerian entertainment industry‟s

economy and popularity. It is obvious too that no Nigerian movie has

won any Africa Film award, talk less of an Oscar. This may be because

the production techniques with which these movies are churned out are

faulty. There are few reasons for this. It is because the pre and post

productions procedures are most of the time, rushed for economic

reasons. For instance, in the pre-production, certain techniques like the

storyboard are not harnessed. This study attempts to show directors

that with storyboard, the director of a movie or stage multimedia

production can effectively execute the project and earn the desired

results. This is due to the fact that storyboard serves two basic

purposes. First, it acts as a process tool. This means that the process of

creating a storyboard helps the movie or stage director to visualize the

final project before it happens. It allows the director to work out

visually the camera angles, how shots are framed in a video, or in the

layout of element in multimedia production. This article uses two

research methods for this work. The survey surveyed and

experimentation with the use of storyboard to visualise and realize the

filmic excerpts of Arnold Udoka‟s Long Walk To A Dream .In this, the

play excerpts were storyboarded, shot, edited and screened as an

integral part of the stage production. The storyboard aided in final

visualization of the stage presentation of the play at the University of

Calabar Arts Theatre. The study therefore envisages that if storyboard

is employed by movie directors and stage drama directors in this

digital era, the mode of their presentation will change. In stage drama

directed in multimedia, it may give the director a new vision and

further change the face of stage play directing in Nigeria. The study

recommends that old and upcoming movie and stage directors should

mailto:Kadimo.Oqua@yahoo,com

mailto:[email protected]


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use storyboard as a notable aesthetic and practical element in the

production of movies or stage multimedia drama. This will go a long

way to projecting Nigerian theatre in the 21st century and beyond.

Key Words: Storyboard, multimedia, screenplay.

Introduction The staging of elaborate scenes and techniques of the pageant

managers, also known as actor-managers, flourished from the Medieval

period till the Renaissance. However, after World War II, the actor-

manager slowly disappeared, and directing became a full-fledged

artistic activity within the theatre profession. According to Russel

Brown, “the management of large numbers of „extras‟ and complex

stagecraft matters necessitated an individual to take on the role of

overall coordinator” (Brown 334). This gave rise to the role of the

director in modern theatre. The director, originating artistic vision and

concept, and realizing the staging of a production became a norm rather

than exception. However, the title „director‟ of the modern day theatre

director can be said to have originated from the staging of elaborate

spectacles of the Menninger Company (large scale theatre productions)

usually staged by George II, the Prince and Duke of Saxe-Meiningen.

(Wilson 118). After Duke II, great forces in the emancipation of theatre

directing as a profession around the world became common. From then

on, notable 20th century theatre directors like Constantine Stanislavski

(Russia), Bertolt Brecht (Germany) and Antoine Artaud (France)

emerged. Others in different parts of the world include Peter Brook,

Peter Hall (Britain), Giorgio Strehler (Italy) and David Balesco

(America).

In Nigeria, the introduction of theatre and the popularization

of the theatre director was also highlighted. Hubert Ogunde was the

one of the foremost theatre directors in Nigeria. From Ogunde‟s time,

live theatre “was” a communicating, thrilling and a rewarding

experience to theatre lovers and enthusiasts until the introduction of

digital technology which gave protestation to the use of multimedia in

theatre directing. Causey Matthews (182) explains that the

implementation of multimedia capabilities in computers is the latest

episode in a long series after cave paintings, hand-crafted manuscripts,

the printing press, radio and television. Therefore, stage play directors

in Nigeria must also enhance their performances as a whole via

technology. According to Tay Vaughan, (56) the theatre has evolved

through several phases and these phases have occurred at different

times in different cultures. As society develops, man‟s ideas,


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technology and communication also evolve. The new media concept

called multimedia, has emerged in the 21st century theatre phase.

Multimedia, the combination of drama and film on the live stage, is one

of such presentation techniques that can be used to create theatrical

experience that neither live action nor film alone can achieve.

Conceptual Clarification

What is multimedia one may ask? From common knowledge, the word

„Multi‟ means many and „Media‟ is the plural of medium. However,

Rosemary Klich on her part in an online article opines that:

Multimedia includes performance where media

technologies are brought into the theatrical frame as a

feature of the mise-en-scène, and secondly to refer to

the area of new media performance, where a live

performer may not be present but a high degree of

performativity and liveness are achieved. (167)

A storyboard is thought of as a visual script which may act as a

blueprint for the “look” of the complete project; what the director will

see on the television screen, computer or the projector screen and hear

the sound of the stage multimedia production. A storyboard shows not

only the individual shots or screens but the sequence of the play as they

appear. On one hand, according to an online article by Herrell and

Fowler, a storyboard can come in many shapes and sizes depending on

the project requirements, the director and the storyboard artist (Pg. 7).

On the other hand, Andrian Mallon postulates a storyboard can be

defined as a sequence of visualized shots that contains key visualization

points and audio information (440). Mallon explains in an internet

article that the storyboard expresses, in one way or another, everything

that can be seen or heard or experienced by the end-user of the

multimedia program. Defining it, Mallon agrees that a storyboard can

also be an expression of everything that will be contained in the

program -- what menu screens will look like, what pictures (still and

moving) will be seen - when and for how long? Storyboard also

contains what audio and text will accompany the images, either

synchronously or hyperlinked. Summarily, storyboard is a shot-by-shot

plan of how the film or end product would look and sound in real time.

Method of Data Collection

The method of data collection used in this research include the

theatrical modes of play production combined with the approved film


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procedures. These play production making procedures include choosing

a script, getting a venue for rehearsals and production, call for audition,

casting, the rehearsal process and final production. On the film

medium, sections of the chosen play script were converted into

screenplay. One section of the screenplay was storyboarded for shoot.

After the shoot, the storyboard effectively helped the editor of the

movie in the post production processes. The plays used for this research

include Arnold Udoka‟s Long Walk to A Dream (2012).

Moving From Script to Screen

For a multimedia production, sections of the script must be put into a

movie. So the director needs to know how to translate the words of the

play script into effective picture and sound. According to Zettle, this

translation process is called visualization – seeing the script in picture

and hearing the accompanying sound (Zettle,431). Zettle agrees that

there is no sure-fire formula for this translation. It only requires the

creative imagination and artistic sensitivity of the director and a lot of

practice. Zettle opines that the best way to practice visualization is for

the director to keenly observe his environment and the events around

him e.g. how people behave in a certain situation and places. The

director must mentally note what makes one event different from the

other. This will help the director with this visualization process – the

translation from script to screen (picture and sound) and sequences.

The director of Arnold Udoka‟s Long Walk To A Dream carried out

visualization and translated some scenes of the play into screenplay,

picture and sound in the bid to realize the stage multimedia style of

presentation. The multimedia production was presented in the

University of Calabar Arts Theatre on November 22 to 24, 2012 and

directed by the author of this piece. Next is the screenplay as visualized

by the director. This screenplay led to the storyboarding of the

production.


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MOVEMENT FOUR

SCENE 5

LOCATION: Church Premises

TIME: Early Morning

CAMERA SHOTS: Ext/Int

CHARACTERS: Reverend, Senator Ibinabo, Miene,

Senator‟s Driver, Senator‟s Orderly, A

Mystery Lady and the Church Congregation.

1 Camera establishes the exterior of the church as a praise

song is heard. CUT to Church Interior.

LOCATION: Church Int

2. REV. EKAIKAW: Amen? Our reading today is taken from

the book of Isaiah chapter 42, verses 1 to 4.

The Reverend repeats the Bible verse then starts reading.

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul

delights; I have put my Spirit…

3. AS HE READS, CAMERA PICKS SENATOR IBINABO

HURRYING INTO THE CHURCH. THE JOURNALIST,

MIEN. FOLLOWS CLOSELY. THE SENATOR AND

MIEN SIT SIDE BY SIDE.

4. REV. EKAIKAW SLAPS A MOSQUITO ON HIS FACE.

5. CAMERA PICKS A YOUNG LADY WALK INTO THE

CHURCH. SHE WEARS A FLOWING GOWN. HER

FACE IS HARDLY EXPOSED. A BIG HEADTIE IS

WRAPPED FROM HER HEAD ROUND HER NECK. SHE

CARRIES A WEATHER BEATEN HANDBAG WHICH

SHE DROPS AS SHE TAKES HER SEAT TO THE FAR

LEFT OF THE SENATOR.

6. And that is how life, beauty and joy are snuffed out of our

lives. But one day, our light shall shine again.

7. CONGREGATION: Amen!


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8. CONGREGATION: (Sings.)“ Jesus conquered the world and

gave us victory”.

9. AT THE SECOND STANZA OF THE SONG, THE

MYSTERY YOUNG LADY IS SEEN LEAVING THE

CHURCH. SHE LEAVES WITHOUT HER HANDBAG.

CUT TO

Location: Church Exterior

Camera Shots: Ext

10 CAMERA ESTABLISHES THE SENATOR‟S STANDBY

VEHICLE. WE SEE HER DRIVER AND ORDERLY

INSIDE. FROM THE ORDERLY‟S P.O.V. WE SEE THE

YOUNG LADY LEAVING THE CHURCH ALMOST IN A

HURRY. THIS ATTRACTED THE ORDERLY‟S

ATTENTION WHO FOLLOWS HER WITH HIS EYES

UNTIL SHE MAKES A SMALL TURN OUT AT A

NEARBY CORNER OUT OF HIS P.O.V. THE PASTOR‟S

VOICE IS STILL HEARD FROM THE CHURCH.

CUT TO

Church Int.

11 REV. EKAIKAW: Justice is on your side. Equity is all you

are asking for. Honesty is all…

CUT TO

Church Ext.

21. BOMB, GUNSHOTS AND HEAVY ARTILLERY ARE

HEARD. THE SOUND JERKS THE ORDERLY WHO

JUMPS OUT OF THE VEHICLE ALMOST

IMMEDIATELY AND RUNS TOWARDS THE CHURCH.


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CUT TO

Church Interior

22. IN A SLOW MOTION, WE SEE THE REVEREND

KNOCKED DOWN BY THE FORCE OF THE SBOMB. AS

THE SENATOR RECOVERS FROM THE SHOCK AND

ATTEMPTS TO GO AND HELP HIM, THE REVEREND

ULTIMATELY STRUGGLED TO HIS FEET AND RUNS

OUT THROUGH THE BACK.

CUT TO

Church Exterior

23. SCREAMS AND STAMPEDE AS PEOPLE RUN OUT OF

THE CHURCH. THE ORDERLY TRIES TO ENTER THE

CHURCH BUT HIS ATTENTION IS DRAWN TO A

YOUNG LADY EMERGING FROM THE CORNER THE

OTHER LADY ENTERED. THIS YOUNG LADY IS

WEARING A TIGHT FITTING TOP AND A SKIRT THAT

REVEALS HER CONTOUR BUT HER SHOE GIVES HER

AWAY. SHE FLINGS AND ADJUSTS HER ENORMOUS

HAIR AS SHE HURRIES DOWN THE ROAD TO THE

OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

CUT TO

24. THE ORDERLY QUICKLY RUNS BACK TO THE

CORNER THE LADY HAD EMERGED FROM. HE

FINDS THE COSTUME WORN BY THE ‟MYSTERY

LADY‟ ON THE GROUND. HE RUNS OUT ON TIME TO

SEE THE YOUNG LADY ENTER A STANDBY CAR AND

DRIVE OFF. THE ORDERLY RUNS TO TOWARDS THE

SENATOR‟S DRIVER, MOTIONS SOMETHING, JUMPS

INTO THE SENATOR‟S VEHICLE AND THEY CHASE

THE SUSPECTED CAR.


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CUT TO

Church Interior

25. FROM THE SENATOR‟S P.O.V, WE SEE WOUNDED

BODIES OF WOMEN AND MEN ON THE FLOOR AND

THE EFFECT OF THE BLAST. AS SHE TURNS, SHE

SEES A LITTLE GIRL OF ABOUT 10 YEARS OLD

TRYING TO SIT UP. THE GIRL LIKE THE SENATOR, IS

COUGHING. LOOKING ROUND, SHE SEES THE DEAD

BODY OF THE GIRL‟S MOTHER ON THE FLOOR. THE

GIRL BEGINS TO CRY FOR HELP.

CUT TO

Church Exterior

26. SENATOR IBINABO IS SEEN RUNNING OUT OF THE

CHURCH TO WHERE HER CAR WAS PARKED BUT

FINDS IT IS GONE. SHE SAUNTERS TO THE

NEAREST BUSH.

FADE

Storyboarding the Production. After writing the screenplay, the next is storyboarding through

visualization. According to Zettl, visualization will lead to

storyboarding. A storyboard may demand the services of a storyboard

artist or a computer. How does one start up a storyboard layout you

may ask? By sketching of course. The director can begin the sketch on

an A4 binder that can be photocopied or the storyboard artist should be

superintended by him. If the director of the production is a fine artist

(like the director of Long Walk to A Dream), he/she can storyboard.

However, if not doing it alone, the director should insist that the

storyboard be drawn with a pencil first, probably a 2B pencil. This is so

that the sketch can easily be erased and modified if need be. In this

computer era, computer can also be used to create a storyboard too.

Herrel and Joel, confirm that “even today, a lot of storyboarding is still

done by hand, simply with pencil and paper”(Pg. 8). They argue that

quick sketching is often easier than computer. Nevertheless, the

computer offers some advantages that a pencil does not. For instance,

with computer, the storyboard artist can


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Scan in the drawing, modify and add colour in a Graphic

Application

Create a background once, and then replicate it if the shot

is in the same location.

Easily arrange the sequence using a standard software

such as Apple Works Presentation or Microsoft

PowerPoint

Or the storyboard artist can use a dedicated storyboarding

application like Storyboard Quick, which contains

libraries of figures in different positions for variety.

Whichever format is used, the storyboard should not be bogged with

too many details, especially in the beginning. The essential details on

each scene should be focused on. In the initial drawings, one may begin

with one shot or screen per page. To save cost, one scene can be

storyboarded in like 16 to 30 screens on a page like in the case of

Movement Four, Scene Five of Udoka‟s Long Walk to A Dream.

Types of storyboard

There are many templates for storyboard. One of such are templates

with “Direction Box” and the other with “Text Box”. The Direction

Box is used for information such as the length of the shot, camera

movements like Pan, Tilt etc. Also in a storyboard, the shots are

labelled by type like Long Shot (LS), Medium Shot (MS) or Close Up

(CU). In the Direction Box type, special transitions can be added and

described such as Fade In, Fade Out or Dissolve between two shots.

The “Text” box can be used for actual dialogue, voice over narration,

soundtrack or sound effect. In the storyboard on discourse, the Text

Box template was used.

No matter how one chooses to do the storyboard, there are certain

information a storyboard should carry. Storyboard must carry a sketch

or drawing of the screen, size of the graphics; what position it is placed

and the time each shot will last on screen. Each screen must carry the

actual text, soundtrack, dialogue or sound effect if any. If the

storyboard is to be used for advertisement, the colour, size and font

type must be included. Other information may include animation and

narration, video and audio if any.


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Shooting the Excerpts of Long Walk to a Dream from the

Storyboard.

After series of stage rehearsals; after finishing the translation of the

play from script to screen play, the storyboard was produced by the

director. The next item on the production agenda was the shoot of the

storyboarded excerpts. Since multimedia is a combination of stage and

film, some film crew titles like the „director of photography‟ (DOP)

and „location manager‟ were adopted and added to the stage crew of

this production. While rehearsals for the production was on going in

earnest, the location manager found befitting locations for the shoot of

the two filmic scenes. However, only one scene, scene five, the church

bomb scene was storyboarded. Three locations were used for the shoot

viz: a beach, a bush area and a church. Two weeks to production and

after wrapping up the rehearsals for the stage part, the cast members of

the screenplay - the POGWA boys who made up the congregation, the

Senator, Mien the reporter, the church pastor and the film crew were

moved to the church location of the shoot.


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Storyboard in Post Productions

Since this was a stage multimedia, the fusion of drama and film on the

live stage, some scenes of the play were shot as discussed. The next

step was editing the shoot. In the editing, the storyboard was also used.

So when a storyboard is produced for a stage drama or movie, it should

be duplicated. One part was left with the DOP for the shoot and the

other part with the editor for the post production of the video. In

editing, apart from the pictures, storyboard can assist in sound editing.

Since there was soundtrack, dialogue and or sound effect in the shot

movie, storyboard was very effective here to blend the three elements

together. In the play in discourse, the storyboard did help the video

editor to know the exact shot the bomb blast was to occur. The sound

was laid with the picture and the result was perfect.

The bomb blast shot and sound effect were timely used in combination

to give the real bomb effect to the church in the final video. In the

editing, storyboard enabled the church‟s roof to be blown off during the

bomb blast and some parts of the church building blocks was taken off.

This achieved the intended effect perfectly because of the storyboard.

Advantages of Storyboarding

Storyboarding has a lot of advantages for the director, cast and other

crew members of a particular production. The production of the

storyboard need not take the considerable time that some think it does.

It depends on how one goes about the production. Whether the

storyboard is hand drawn or in computer format, Mallon opines there

are significant advantages of storyboard to be considered. They are as

follows:

It helps catalyse feelings about the feasibility of the program

idea. If the storyboard looks wrong, the program will too.

Omissions may be spotted and one can say 'No, we've a

problem here'..

Storyboard provides a document which everyone can point to

as a common point of reference, enabling the design team

(cast and crew) to say, „Yes that is what I meant'.

The storyboard helps focus on the total content of the

program, both from the point of view of the overall size of the

program, and in discussing user interaction times.

Problems spotted from the storyboard could have proven

costlier to correct at a later stage.


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A detailed storyboard can save time in writing a project

documentation.

Storyboard provides a template for the content-writer of a

project to work with.This speeds up the content-writing

process and makes the production of the storyboard itself so

much faster.

Storyboarding gives the film editor less work and also

disciplines the editor.

Measuring the true effectiveness of storyboarding is, of course,

problematic. But if storyboarding has a role to play in the design

process of any production, then studying how to go about it the right

way must influence the production design. Indeed, it would be arguable

that, for complex multimedia products and in large working teams,

detailed storyboarding is essential. Though storyboarding is a norm in

designed productions in developed countries, this phenomenon is not

common and may not have been practiced in any sector in Nigeria or

Nollywood. This is due, perhaps, to the laziness of directors, the need

to save money and the factor known as “the Nigerian style.”

Conclusion

There is a common misconception by Nigerian stage directors that

storyboards are not used in the theatre. As one can see, they are. Long

in the past, they were the special tools that directors and playwrights

frequently used to understand the layout in the scenes. In fact, Ubong

Nda opines the Great Russian and German directors and theatre

practitioners, Constantine Stanislavsky and Bertolt Brecht developed

detailed storyboards for their performances. Stanislavski developed

storyboard for Chekov‟s The Seagul and Brecht did it as part of his

dramaturgical method of „fables‟. With modern methods of directing,

like play script analysis in practise, storyboarding was jettisoned.

Within these theatre phases, the digital technology that allows stage

multimedia productions is in place. Therefore, this work summarises

that storyboard should be practised by Nigerian stage directors,

especially those in stage multimedia directing.

As one can see, storyboard has a lot of advantages. For movie directors,

stage multimedia directors and the teachers facilitating students‟

productions, storyboard is an important skill to learn. Nigerian movie

and stage directors should now employ the services of a storyboard

artist as a crew member. From the student angle, pre-production

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/adrian_mallon_multimedia/reportwr.htm

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/adrian_mallon_multimedia/reportwr.htm

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/adrian_mallon_multimedia/content.htm

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/adrian_mallon_multimedia/content.htm


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activities such as play scripting and storyboarding encourage students

and budding storyboard artists to focus on generating ideas and

polishing the storyboarding activity.Film and stage directors in Nigeria

should know that a lot of creative work and planning is done with

storyboard before the camera is handled.

Works Cited

Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction.

Fifth Edition: New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 1997.

Causey, Matthew. “A Theatre of Monsters: Live Performance in the

Age of Digital

Media” in Maria M. Delgado and Caridad Svich eds. Theatrein Crisis?:

PerformanceManifestos for a New Century, Manchester: Manchester

University Press, (2002) p.182.

Herrell, Adrienne and Joel Fowler. Camcrder in the Classrom: Using

the Video Canerato Enliven Curriculum. Upper Saddle River, New

Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998.

Klich, Rosemary. “Multimedia Theatre in the Virtual Age”.

Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of New South Wales, 2007.

Nda, Ubong. “Acting: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” The Art of

Acting. Ed. Effiong Johnson, Lagos, Concept Publication Limited.

2005. (pp35-59).

Russel Brown, John (ed) The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre.

Oxford; Oxford University Press, 1995.

Storyboard – Wikipaedia Free Encyclopaedia.

https//en.wikipedia.org>wiki>storyboard. Retrived March 26, 2016.

Tannenbaum, Robert S. “Multimedia Developers Can Learn from the

History of Human Communication.”

<http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=354568> October

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2000. Retrieved Febuary 16, 2013.

Udoka, Arnold. Long Walk to a Dream. Ibadan: Kraft Books Limited.

2009.

Vaughan, Tay.Multimedia: Making it Work. 1st Edition. Michigan:

Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1993.

Walne, Graham. Projection for the Performing Arts. Oxford:

Butterworth Heinemann, 1995.

Zettl, Herbert. Television Production Handbook Ninth Edition.

Belmont: Holly J Allen, 2006.

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