Aesthetic Design / Lesson 2 / Mood boards & Storyboarding

Lesson Overview

A visual performer will need to plan out the theme, setting, and mood for a performance or a production before any editing, composing or programming begins. They will also want to plan out, or “storyboard” a script for choreographing various forms to music.

Start by creating a primer, or “mood board,” for the overall style, palette, and patina for the visual design. This may include a collection of colors, graphics, textures, image references, screen grabs, etcetera. Lay them out using your preferred image viewer (Finder, Preview, Bridge, et al) or make a collage Photoshop. Pinterest is another resource for collecting images of a certain theme.

Next, storyboard the desired sequence for your music. In the animation industry, storyboards are comprised of “extremes and in-betweens.” Extremes are moments that set the exact mood, emotion, or key image in a sequence. In-betweens are the transitional frames that move from one extreme to the next.

Lecture Videos

1. Mood boards & Storyboarding: History and basic concepts

(Mood boards and Storyboards Lecture Video)

2. Mood boards & Storyboarding: VDMX Demonstration

(Mood boards and Storyboards Demonstration Video)

Lecture Notes

(Mood boards and Storyboards Lecture Slides)

Reference Links

• NASA Images
• The aesthetics of science fiction spaceship design
• Google Image Search

Resources

• Stargate Project
• Space Mood Board

Related Tutorials and Case Studies

• Show Production: From Mood Boards to Technical Riders

Homework

1. Using selected music, create a mood board and 24-frame storyboard for final project.

Review Questions and Further Discussion

1. What are Moodboards?

• Used to help define style, feeling and general aesthetics Usually an informal process. Start with using whatever tools you feel most comfortable with, then compile into a PDF or other collection for sharing with collaborators
• Can be made up of images, sounds, videos, gifs, text and any other media that helps describe the ideas
• Okay to use stock footage, snippits from films, images from the net; we are not going to use these materials, nor copy them, for the final product, but we can use them for inspiration, to describe particular styles and to better understand existing visual languages

2. What are Storyboards?

• Takes the elements derived from the mood board and places them in time, typically matching up events such as style changes with important moments in other elements of the show production, such as the music or theater scene changes.
• Typically made with images, laying out sequences like a “comic book” or photo novella.
• Can be used to describe the progression of a single short clip / loop, or the thematic progression over an entire performance; a project may contain several storyboards
• Storyboards are commonly used for animation, film, theater and related fields.
• In the animation industry, storyboards are comprised of “extremes and in-betweens.” Extremes are moments that set the exact mood, emotion, or key image in a sequence. In-betweens are the transitional frames that move from one extreme to the next.