Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1470106
1 3 6 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 2 I was thrilled they needed me on The Batman, but it was easily the most complicated movie I've ever storyboarded. Despite the technology of virtual production, and today's blockbuster fi lm techniques, the fundamentals of STORYTELLING, plus the basic challenges of fi lmmaking mean there's always a need for storyboards. This was my fi fth fi lm with director Matt eeves, and my third with Production Designer James hinlund. Matt's collaborative nature and infectious enthusiasm creates an atmosphere of trust that provides space to experiment and try new ideas. I think that is one of his strengths as an auteur. After COVID shut the production down, we started preproduction again in June 2020, over Zoom, from the UK, US & New Zealand. I Zoomed for months with Matt and ames, stunt supervisor ob Alonzo, visual eff ects supervisor Dan Lemmon, D reig Fraser, virtual reality illustrator Fae orrigan, fi rst AD Toby Heff erman, visual eff ects Art Director Tad Davis and Unreal pilot Alex Potts. Some nights we'd have three Zoom calls two hours apart across three continents as Matt's di cult schedule dictated. Afterward, we'd keep track of shot, lens and location changes. It's easy for ST to get off track in a fragmented collaboration like this, even with a talented director and team, and a good script. That's where we storyboard artists can help! If a oner close-up of Penguin is needed glancing in his rear view, then side mirror, then out his windshield, then steering around oncoming headlights, then seeing a truck fi shtail into the distance out his back window, I'd thumbnail it in a few minutes. Slug it into my storyboard, add descriptions and shot numbers, location and VFX information in another few minutes. I may never get to replace those A-H. WAYNE MANOR SEQUENCE BY TRACEY WILSON. I. UNREAL ENGINE RENDERING OF WAYNE MANOR SET BY FAE CORRIGAN. crude drawings, but now there's a record for all departments, on the scout, the set, or months later in some dark VFX o ce. UK Storyboarder Tracey Wilson: "Working on The Batman was a diff erent kind of boarding process for me. After COVID, it went from meetings at the studio, to working entirely via Zoom for about eighteen months. I'd work with the director, VFX, 1st AD and stunts, navigating around the VR sets, discussing and selecting screengrabs for various angles and trying out diferent lenses. Then, I drew in the characters and action over the grabs, and turned them into proper sequences." VR Illustrator Fae Corrigan: "The game engine (VR) allows the creative team to get the closest to looking through the actual camera without an on-set crew. The Art Department built out almost every set and several locations in 3D, so that the creatives could vet out ideas months before shooting. VFX supervisor Dan Lemmon and I matched the same lens package reig had specifi ed, so we could set up a camera in Unreal and know we could repeat it at the shoot. "Unreal was a core communication tool; from fi guring out crowd sizes to the setup for reig's pioneering work with LED screens (Batlight, Graveyard). At my desk, anyone could go anywhere in our world, hone ideas, and fi nd the best use of our budget. "Then both Josh and I created virtual cameras to rough in the storyboards, which he, Tracy and Joel drew over. Starting in UE gave another layer of depth showing the fi lmmakers a version of actor and camera blocking, set decoration and props, inside the virtual lit set, using Greig's lenses." Reverse-Continue to push in as he takes off his T-shirt-See scars/bruises A B