Film Study Guide for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Seeing the film Through the Lens of Media Literacy
STORYBOARDS
"Storyboarding is .. an excellent way to communicate the director's vision
to the specialists who must bring it to life —
the production designer, art director, costume designer, director of
photography, technical crew, and special-effects team."
Source: Every
Picture Tells a Story
" a series of drawn frames, one frame per shot, with a description of the action
or dialogue written underneath the frame"
Source: Reel
Conversations: Reading Films With Young Adults
A storyboard is a rendering of what the art director believes the scene will
look like, prior to filming,
based on his reading and understanding of the screenplay and collaboration with
the director.
| STORYBOARD: a sequential series of illustrations, stills, rough sketches and/or captions (sometimes resembling a comic strip) of events, as seen through the camera lens, that outline the various shots or provide a synopsis for a proposed film story (or for a complex scene) with its action and characters; the storyboards are displayed in sequence for the purpose of visually mapping out and crafting the various shot divisions and camera movements in an animated or live-action film; a blank storyboard is a piece of paper with rectangles drawn on it to represent the camera frame (for each successive shot)1 |
Shown below are original storyboards from To Kill A Mockingbird.
The 4 boards (below) are from art director Henry Bumstead and came from an
exhibit at the Monroeville AL courthouse/museum.
As part of the exhibit, there is a letter from Bumstead to Harper Lee thanking
her for the time she spent with him when he came
to Monroeville looking at the homes and the courthouse, both of which helped him
create the look and feel of the film.
|
|
To see some detail of storyboards from the
opening credit sequence, go
here.
To read
an analysis of the sequence, go
here.
Below and above are several drawings made by Art Director Henry Bumstead, along with
actual scenes
from the film, combined with the
corresponding screenplay from screenwriter Horton Foote.
The scene below (labeled #67) can be found on the DVD in Chapter 10: "A Look at
Boo."
Compare Bumstead's renderings of the scene to the actual scene shot for the
film below. (boards from Ebay)
| Screenplay | Film Frame with embedded storyboard |
|
The back porch is bathed in
moonlight, and the shadow moves across the porch toward Jem.
|
|
| The shadow crosses Jem. |
|
|
Jem sees it. He puts his arms over his head and goes rigid. |
 |
Scene 68-70
Note similarities to both Storyboard descriptions under each drawing and actual
screenplay,
indicating close relationship between Art Director (Bumstead) and Screenwriter
(Foote).
| SCREENPLAY | STORYBOARD DRAWING | ACTUAL FRAME FROM FILM |
| Jem: Move, move! (Jem holds the bottom wire of the fence, and Scout and Dill roll through.... |
 Scene 68 Stage Jem holds wire , Dill and Scout roll through |
|
 Scene 69 Ext. Alley Back Lot- Dill & Scout run on- Miss Jem, turn back |
|
|
| .....Jem starts under the fence and is caught. He struggles as the wire holds his pants. Jem looks up, terrified, as he tried to pull free.) |
 Scene 70 Stage Jem Struggling in fence- kicks pants off |
|
The following storyboards are from the text Henry
Bumstead: And the World of Hollywood Art Direction
DVD Chapter 2 "A Tired Old Town"
|
SCREENPLAY |
STORYBOARD DRAWING | ACTUAL FRAME FROM FILM |
| Scout: Atticus, Jem is up in the tree. He says he won't come down until you agree to play football for the Methodists. |
 Scene 3; Jem Is Up In The Tree |
 |
| (Atticus walks toward the tree. |
 Atticus Stops-Walks Toward Tree |
 |
| In a treehouse, high up in the tree, sits Jem. He is ten, with a serious, manly face. Right now, he is scowling.) |
 As Scout Joins Him |
 |
| Atticus: Jem....Son, why don't you come on down and have your breakfast? Calpurnia has a good one....hot biscuits. |
 High Angle-Atticus Calls to Jem to Come Down |
 |
|
Jem: No Sir. Not
until you agree to play football for the Methodists. (Atticus is looking up at Jem. Scout is swinging in the tire swing.) Atticus: Oh no, Son. I can't do that. I explained to you I'm too old to get out there. After all, I'm the only father you have. You wouldn't want me to get out there and get my head knocked off, would you? Jem: I ain't coming down. |
 Jem Looks Out |
 |
|
Atticus: Suit
yourself. (Atticus turns and starts for the kitchen door as he reads the newspaper. Jem moves out from behind the covering and watches....) |
 Atticus and Scout head toward back porch |
 |
1
definition from: http://www.greatestfilms.org/filmterms18.html
Storyboard : Process & Explanation
http://tre.ngfl.gov.uk/uploads/materials/12106/storyboard.pdf
©2004 Frank W. Baker
