How To Become A Filmmaker - Part 3: Designing The Film

So you have a story idea but you’re thinking, wait a second, I can’t draw!

A lot of people have this problem so let’s take care of it right away: you can a draw a stick figure right? Anyone can draw that. The characters in your story should be refined stick figures. Easy to draw, easy to animate. You should have a minimal background or even no background if you can get away with it. If you think you can’t tell your story with stick figures and no background head over to Ross Bollinger’s Pencilmation channel. He has every kind of scenario you can imagine. Each story is told with stick figures. While you are making your film you can start to learn how to draw. This will take time but through consistent practice you will improve. Down the line maybe six months or a year from now you can do a project with more complex characters. For now stick figures will get the job done and get it done well.

Lets look briefly at the kind of stick figures you should draw. They should have a short torso with legs that are at least as long as the torso. Do not, I repeat DO NOT draw a long torso and short, triangle legs. Give the torso some width so that your legs can attach to hips that have two sides. This character design is much more versatile than the stick figure design of a child.

Now allow me to elaborate on the background design. The best background is a simple background. This can be as easy as a piece of paper that has been crumpled and then uncrumpled. You can draw something very minimal, like a tree, rocks, or a bus stop. Whatever you do it can be just enough to suggest the location of the story.

Even if you are a great artist and you’ve been drawing for years, I still recommend doing stick figures. The issue is always time. You’ve got to get to the next frame as soon as possible because there are so many drawings to complete in a short film. So keep it simple!

Now, for certain situations stick figures might not work. If you can’t use stick figures then use the most simple design possible. I have a video tutorial on this here:

Should you have color in you project? No, because it will take longer. The idea is to strip away as many elements as possible while still being able to tell the story. You can do a project with color in the future but for now do a film with just line art.

The whole idea is to create a minimalist style that will allow you to work fast because you want to be able to make lots of films over the course of the year.

In the next post I'll talk about principles of animation and animatics.

Stay creative!