Creating a Storyboard! (Planning)

Context

The scene my group decided on sweding is the “Run, Forrest, Run!” scene from Forrest Gump. Since I am the cinematographer, one of my responsibilities is creating the storyboard, along with the shot lists. 

A storyboard is a visual plan made up of drawings that show each shot in a film before it is filmed. It looks like a comic strip and includes notes about camera angles, movement and dialogue. Storyboards are especially important in sweding films. They help map out what scenes to shoot, how to frame them, and how to imitate the same effect the original does. 

Creating one!

Creating a storyboard in this project specifically is easy since there is already a blueprint. Below are a side-by-side comparison of some shots I found were important. 

In this opening still, it is a medium to medium close up shot of Jenny looking back at who threw the rock at Forrest, who hesitates to look back. I found this specific frame was the most important in this entire shot. In the storyboard, I also added a rock imagery to further explain the scene, and captioned it “Jenny and Forrest are walking down a dirt path when Forrest gets hit by a rock.”

There’s a lot of things going on in this shot that I redrew. It is a wide shot and it shows the bullies getting on their bikes in order to chase Forrest, who is off in the distance. Jenny is in between them, unable to do anything but shout.

In this last shot I will provide, for me, this is the most important shot in this scene. Forrest’s braces break and he begins to run freely on his own. I tried to recreate it exactly as shown. This symbolizes change and growth.

Here is my full storyboard!