Boarding your special effects
Special effects can be costly if they aren’t planned properly. By storyboarding your special effects, you see exactly what they entail. For example, if a
giant dinosaur looms up into the frame, you know the shot requires at
least the head of the creature and some blue sky behind it. You and your
special-effects team know exactly the elements you need for the shot (and
the creature knows he doesn’t have to worry about what shoes to wear
that day). Now, if in the next frame, you have the monster from head to toe,
chasing the villagers, your special-effects team has a lot more work to do.
Storyboarding is also important to see how the camera needs to move during
the effect, which can be tricky when the frame has computer-generated
images. If the shot consists of an explosion with an actor in the same shot,
then you can see by this panel that either you have to have the actor as far
away from the explosion as possible (unless you don’t plan on using the
actor in any more shots — just kidding!) or you need to add the actor to
the shot during postproduction. By illustrating these effects or stunts in a
storyboard panel, you have a better opportunity to actually see what
elements are in the shot and what safety precautions may be required.