Let's talk about storyboarding
If logline is the DNA of the work
And synopsis, its map towards the peak of the mountain
Then storyboard is a blueprint of the work
It's better to write a storyboard before you draw for one
What is a written storyboard?
It is a prepatory step before you move on to the drawing storyboard
It's where you write out how to visualize your story
You can plan for the number of cuts
And it's convenient to overview the narrative dynamic of the whole episode
For example
Cut one, you write the description of what's going on there as well as the line
And cut two, the same description and lines
And you move on with cut three, four, and the final one
You write description and lines of the final cut
There, you visualize what's going on, the events, lines, and narrations
From the first to the last cuts
And then you write it out in sentences; it's an advanced process of visualization
I realize how much brain energy is required for writing a storyboard
Our brains haven't evolved to first form and abstract the whole
And then divide each into specific steps
Our brains instead first look at details and then combine them
To abtract them into an idea
That's why this process of having short sentences
Of what's going on in the entire episode
And then dividing them into 80 cuts
Is something that requires us to work with our entire brain
Therefore, before writing a storyboard, I advise to
Take lots of rest, work out to induce blood flow in the brain
And start working with that optimal state
Another way is to start with keywords of the episode
And then divide them by cuts afterwards
It doesn't have to be in a chronological order
I use the default Notes app in my iPhone and iPad
I used to work with the app called Evernote
Either is fine
If you're a Galaxy user, you will have the designated app too
You could use Google Docs, anything that can sync easily
Among your phone, your laptop and your tablet
We may be working at home
But we may be in a bus ride when we think of a line
Or we may have to work on our storyboard at a coffee shop
If you have to wait until you get home because the work isn't synced
It's very likely that you'll forget
So I recommend that you use an app is portable and that syncs well
Another key is, use an app that allows for numbering
Meaning, you do not need to type for the numbers, 1, 2, 3 or 4
If you press enter, the app will do the numbering for you
And that's what you need
Because you will be changing the order of the cuts
And you will be dividing a cut into two
If you have to change the numbers all by yourself
That's a very unncessary work
So some artists prefer using Excel for storyboarding
Which I think is a good idea too
Let me show you a template
See how there's an Excel sheet
With the numbering
Cut one, cut two, cut three, moving on
And the final cut, there's the numbering
Situation, description, line, narration
And how to visualize that
This is a good way to storyboard using an Excel sheet
Let me take an example from my written storyboard
This is epsidoe one from 'Island of Webtoon Artist'
Let me show you
See how it's all numbered
From cut one to the final cut, cut 85
There's a description of what's going on for cut one
Jo Hyang-Mi with her head stuck in sand
Same shot, Jo Hyang-Mi is struggling
Same shot again, Jo Hyang-Mi puts her head up
Her eyes are still blank
Cut four, she sees a blurry image of her hands
And she gets focus on her hands
Cut five, and now focus to the background
Cut six, a wide shot with the background and Jo Hyang-Mi
Jo Hyang-Mi slowly gets up
Seagulls are around, squawking
And finally, the narration
My name is Jo Hyang-Mi
And Jo Hyang-Mi searches her backpack
Cut eight, that's what it said
Cut nine, narration, 'I'm a Webtoon artist', that's the line
'Thank god it's not wet' is the next line
That's what I wrote for
Episode one of Webtoon 'Island of Webtoon Artist'
Notice how I ended it at cut 85 for this storyboard
You need to make sure that you don't have too many cuts
If there are too many
For a written storyboard, for example, if you have until cut 85
Then for drawing the storyboard
Often times you'll have more cuts than this
Which will be around 90 to 100 cuts
That's too much workload
And the readers may get tired reading it
So I personally perfer to
Not exceed 80 cuts for each episode
My ideal number for cuts is 60
But recently Webtoons are getting longer than that
So I usually say go for around 80
And some students tend to
Put too much content in each cut for written storyboard
You must only include things that can fit into a cut
For example, for the written storyboard
'Dolbae gets up from her chair, rushes out with an angry face'
Let's say that's the scene
This cannot be visualized in one cut
Because you need a cut of getting up
Another for leaving the spot with an angry face
And another for leaving the place
You need at least three for this scene
So once you imagine in your head how to visualize the scene
You will then realize how to produce cuts out of it
If you cannot imagine it in one single cut
That means you have to divide cuts
In contrast, some cuts may be too chopped up, and you will need to combine them
Start with the written storyboard
And once you think you're ready with the written one
Then, you do not
Necessarily have to execute it as it is
Some cuts will be left out for the drawing storyboard
Some may be merged, some may be added anew
Written storyboard is only a step towards improving the drawing version
So it can be revised later
And for writing a storyboard
I have a collection of
Frequent mistakes
And some advices I like to give
First, a list of what you should be doing
Always write the cut number, one, two, or three
Some people skip with the cut number, let me show you
I told you that I'm using Notes
See, let me write some here
I type '1' and press Space
And see how it automatically does the numbering
'Dolbae is walking down the street'
'2. She finds something on her way'
And her line
'What is that?' that's the line
'3. Close-up on her eyes'
'A wallet'
So with this scene
I wrote until cut four
If I forget numbering
'Dolbae is walking down the street'
And if I want to add another cut
'She is humming'
Notice how I just pressed Enter
It moves cut two to three automatically
And cut three to four
And it automatically does the numbering
That's why you need an app that does the numbering
Always include the cut number
Because, I have until cut five here
For example, cut six
Or say, if we go over cut 120
And if we have no idea what cut number this is, we'll get lost
So, for example, when communicating with the PD
'I like this better for the line at cut 20'
Like this, it's more convenient to talk to others
Also, you get to know the total cut number
So I consider this indispensible
So always number your cut
Always write how many cuts you have
Only one emotion should fit into one cut
And with the same reason, one information should fit into one cut
If the information is passing, it doesn't matter
In the same manner, it doesn't matter for a passing emotion
But if an information and an emotion
If these two fit into one cut together
That cut loses its power
For example, to deliver some deep sorrow
You need to minimize the information, including the line
That emotion should be visualized fully using that whole cut
And if some information is very important
And if it is essential to deliver the information
Remove the emotion, only deliver the information
And deliver the emotion in the next cut
Because emotions are powerful, it's better to dedicate a scene for one
And information, it takes time
Readers take time to consume that information
So it's important to deliver one of it with one cut
It's okay if the emotion or the information is passing
Also, for lines, if there are more than four speech bubbles
That may be too much information
Too little or too much, either is problematic
You may be wondering what I mean by this
Let's say this is a cut
Let's say there's the speech bubble
This is one
Two, we have two bubbles
So this must be the line
And another here
So that's three
Now, this feels a lot starting here
But until three, you can bear with it
But four?
That's too much information, in my standard
So avoid having more than four speech bubbles
Maximum three, though I consider two is the optimal
More than four, I think it's way too much
If a cut needs more than four speech bubbles
It's better to split it and use it in the next cut
And another important thing is
Especially for writing or drawing storyboard
You need to be able to revise it at any time
A storyboard must be something temporary
If you are under some pressure of making it too perfect
Or if you're expecting too much out of it, you won't be able to revise it
So always consider it revisable
And consider it temporary
And take it not too seriously
If you want to revise it, do so at any time
And for drawing storyboard, you really need to draft it
If you put too much effort into it, you won't be able to change it
Because you don't want to put it to waste
So drawing storyboard should be as fast and lighthearted as it could get
And to do the drawing part like so
And to do the drawing part so that
You will be able to revise it later
You need a solid written storyboard
This is the reason we have a written storyboard
So after writing and then drawing storyboard
Something you should avoid is
Don't cram too much into a cut
For those new to storyboard production
They tend to put too much information into one cut
A lot of lines
A lot of facial expressions
A lot of little scenes
Especially for written storyboard, this is the tendency
So make sure to only put in as much as is needed
And make sure not too use too many cuts for an episode
As I told you, around 80 cuts is the optimal number
In fact, 80 cuts isn't that much compared to the amount of story to deliver
You may consider it too little
But adding too many cuts for an episode
This may satisfy the artist in delivering the narrative
But the readers may get tired
And the artist themselves may get tired of drawing for it
So in my opinion, it's very important not to put
Too many things into one episode
And you may encounter yourselves obsessing over
Ending with a strong finishing cut
But it's better not to be consumed with the ambition
For the powerful ending cut
Of course, it's great to have a powerful finish
But you don't need to pressure yourself too much with this
Another thing to avoid is
To avoid overlapping lines
Or overlapping words
This is very important and
For lines, something crucial is not to make them difficult
Make sure it's as friendly or easy to understand as possible
And don't obsess over the lines you wrote
If a line is unnecessary, you need to be able to
Delete it and replace it with something else
That was on writing for a storyboard
And how do we write a storyboard?
As I told you, you will be using apps
Such as Evernote, Notes and others
Here's the written storyboard for 'Yuli' Season Two
This is what I have here
From cut one, cut two to the final cut
This is how I write it
And when I want to change up the orders
I click, drag, copy and delete
And paste where I want it to be
And it numbers automatically for the cut number
You could do this or
I also do it like this
Something like this
I have cut one, cut two, all the written part
And when I think I'm done
I change the color of the font
So the grey part means that I've already done this
And black part is something I have to work on
That's the visual cue I could add
That's another way to do it
And as I showed you earlier, I also often write it on an Excel Sheet template
Cut two, lines
'What is this?' Some lines like this
If it has no narration, I leave it empty
Visualization
It's a top view, from top to bottom
That's the visualization choice I can take
That was the written storyboard, how was it?
Writing Good Lines
Writing for a storyboard isn't too hard
What's really fun and difficult at the same time is drawing it
So let me now talk about something really important
Writing for lines
Writing lines is hard, isn't it? It indeed is
Many Webtoon artists consider lines very difficult
Many people also ask me
'How do you write your lines?'
'I'd like to write great lines, how do I do it?'
People often ask me like this
But you know what, everyone?
Those who can speak fluently can write great lines
In my opinion
And those who've read a lot of books
They're able to use different vocabularies
And those who've consumed various contents
They often do not hesitate to write lines
Same with every other creative process
The more input you have, the better output you have for writing lines
So I recommend that you read a lot
And consume a lot of language-based contents
And you could try journaling, writing novels
Or writing poetry, which are great exercises
For writing lines, I recommend reading
And writing a lot of poetry
There are many types of poetry
And some great collections as well
I think it's the best to try and read as much as possible
And go with the collections that suit you
It's hard to pinpoint which is good or better
Linguistic creativity is different from the visual one
It requires you to take your time and practice for it
I'm also trying to read and
Write a lot myself in order to practice
Let's now talk about good lines
What makes a line good?
In my opinion, a good line is
A clear description of the situation
Something implicative yet concise
Many people desire for writing lines with advanced literary techniques
However, the number one priority for a Webtoon artist is
To make readers understand it easily
That's an important rule of thumb for writing lines
If there's no reason to, try not to
Repeat the same word twice in a sentence
And don't let the line drag without a purpose
Make it concise and dense with relevant content
It's also important to make things clear by using full sentneces
So don't get greedy from the beginning and start with general lines
Start with what you have in your head
And then revise it
Some tips for writing good lines
First, make it easy to understand
Readers must be able to understand it
However beautiful a line may be, if the readers can't accept it
That line will just echo in a blank space
If there's a difficult word
If you can, replace it with an easier word
And second, make it as concise as possible
Describe the scene, but use implicative word that penetrates the context
A line should be condensed and economical
Use as few words to describe as much
Every line contains a directionality
Towards which the synopsis, the theme, and the plot are leading
So make every line count
And make sure to remove overlapping words
If without purpose, don't make a sentence repeat a word
For example, 'The flower you gave me is so pretty,'
'I put it in a vase and the flower got even prettier'
'The flower you gave me, it got even prettier in a vase'
I removed overlapping words, 'flower' and 'pretty'
This is the advised way
Correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar are essential
Best scenario is that you become the master of spelling and grammar
But if not, it's also advised to use grammar checkers
To revise any errors in your lines
There are many kinds of grammar checkers
You can use this
Click 'Check' and it says nothing has been revised
You can use this or
I'm using this grammar checker
Made by Pusan National University
Remember the storyboard?
I copy and paste it here, and it checks for everything
There are such online tools for proofreading
So please use them freely
And remember not to perfect the lines from the beginning
Start with improvisational lines that pop up in your head
And then shape them later
As you linger on a line, it will get better
If you get tense trying to write
The best line from the start, it will be difficult
And in my opinion, one of the common mistakes is fragmented sentence
Always avoid fragmented sentences
We easily and mistakenly assume that we all think in a same way
But even for one same book, people have different levels of understanding
So the best thing is to write a clear line
And try to have a complete sentence
And try to avoid any fragmented sentences
For example, this is the line
'If you choose to do so, then....'
With this line
The intention is that 'if you choose to act that way, it makes me sad'
But every reader will imagine the later part of the sentence differently
'If you choose to do so, I will betray you' is an example
'If you choose to do so, I will hit you'
'If you choose to do so, I will share your secret to everyone'
Every reader will have their own conclusion
And that's unwanted confusion
So use fragmented sentence only when it's needed
And instead of telling, try to show
If any detail can be visualized instead of being described
Let's visualize it
For example, a character walks into a room
And says this
'Wow, what a cute room!'
'A warm ray of light, yellow freesia decoration by the window'
'Red curtain swaying in some breeze'
'And a clean white rug on the floor'
Let's say this is the line
All these sentences can be visualized
In one big cut without any lines
Another example is
Let's say two strangers are sitting across each other at a coffee shop
As one person talks to the other, they are thinking
'Oh, how messy this person is eating!'
Instead of expressing this thought in a sentence
You can add a few cuts of the other person being messy
And the person across them with a frowning face
This will be a visualized version of the same thought
However, in contrast, if you try too much to reduce lines
It may hinder the delivery of meaning
That's why you need to include the necessary lines
There are moments where the lines become necessary
If there are too many cuts to visualize
An implicative line can replace all this information
Next, use lines based on the character
How would this character say it?
Based on this circumstance, family background, some trauma from past
What would be the psychological condition?
How would this character think?
They should speak based on their nature
Try acting that character out
Vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, expressions, phrases, speed
Try to shape that language like so
In order to do this well, you need to listen well
The voices from the people around you
Their expression, vocabulary, tone, grammar
Listen to them carefully, and write it down if needed
People express their hidden thoughts, expressions and desires
Through this action that is like a tip of the iceberg
So that little line includes
This entire whole inside it
And next, try to speak the line out loud
If it feels awkward, try speaking it out loud
Writing and speaking may feel very different
Some people, in order to make very natural lines
Try and speak the lines out by themselves
And this may encourage one to think of the lines that are more natural
So that was on writing lines
Now, let's talk about revising the lines
As I told you, I advise that you start with outlining your lines
And then revise them later
After completing the draft of the line, it's time to revise it
I have a book for reference
I recommend this to you all
This is the book
The title is 'How Do I Begin Proofreading My Sentences?'
I came across this book at a book store, I bought it immediately
Based on the author's exprience at a publishing company for over ten years
This book is a collection of common mistakes that teaches us how to proofread them
They are ways to proofread for publishing
But a lot of this overlaps with Webtoon lines
So I highly recommend this
Let me tlak about a few things from this book
That can be helpful for our line writing
First, do not omit too much
For example, let's say this is the line
One of the reasons why we are afraid of people even as grownups is
For strict parents, they feel pressured even in their work
And they keep doubting themselves about potential mistakes
This sentence seems wrong at first glance
Now it says, there is a readon why we are afraid of people even as grownups
One possibility is having been raised by strict parents
They will feel pressured even at work
Keep doubting themselves about any potential mistakes
This sounds much better
Do not omit too much, explicate a little more
Another example is
I put the evidence in the box, remaining vigilant for people
This becomes, As I was putting the evidence in the box
I made sure that no one was watching
Or, as I was putting the evidence in the box
I made sure not to bump into anyone
This sounds much better
And in the chapter 'Is This Word Really Fitting'
The sentence is, 'It was revealed that Kim did the staging'
This becomes 'it was revealed that Kim staged it for himself'
Another example, 'I gave a flower gift for my friend'
'I gifted my friend some flower'
This is how you replace the words to improve the sentence
'Please make sure that no unnecessary heating is used'
'Please make sure not to use heating excessively'
Or another one, 'In order to achieve the goal'
'We need communication and collaboration'
'In order to achieve the goal, we need to communicate and collaborate'
Even minor changes can significantly impact the meaning
And next, in the chapter 'Getting Subject-Verb Agreement Right Will Take You Halfway There'
For example, 'Mom after shower smell like lemon'
The subject and the verb do not agree
Mom and smell
Instead, 'Mom after shower smelled like lemon'
This will do it
'Let's become someone who acknowledges myself' sounds okay
But reading the revised version
I realized how much better it has become
'Let's acknowledge myself' is much better
Another example, 'I went into home and into the room'
'Into' is redundant
So this becomes 'I came home and went into the room'
This will be much better
Another example is
The second drawer of the drawer in the bedroom is my mom's secret drawer
Notice how 'drawer' is repeating three times
'The second drawer in the bedroom is my mom's secret place'
This sentence has become much more meaningful
In my opinion, doing little revisions like this
Will help you make much better lines
Another chapter says
Give clearer information
Meaning, if there needs to be some line
It should be clear, rather than vague
Here's an example
'Park was bleeding, collapsed under a building'
Park was bleeding, collapsed in front of a building'
'In front of' is a much clearer piece of information than 'under' for a building
And 'This ingredient protects any hair damage'
Damage is not something you protect
Damage is something you should prevent
'This ingredient prevents any hair damage'
This is much better
And this is the mistake I've often made
Writing for my lines
It's better to deliver more
And clearer piece of information
I think this is another great example
'This course has four sessions, and the fee is 100,000 won'
So does a collection of four sessions cost 100,000 won?
Or does each of the four sessions cost 100,000 won?
So say, 'this course consists of four sessions'
'And the fee is 100,000 won'
This adds more information to the explanation
And we need to use words that we actually use
Colloquial expressions are different from literary expressions
If our lines sound too grammatical
Or if we write a line considering it a written language
We may use some word that we don't say in an actual dialogue
For example, 'This person may be the killer!'
'How come have you thought so?'
This phrase, 'how come have you...'
This is something we don't usually use in our colloquial language
If we say instead 'why do you think so?'
This will be a much better line
Next, always be careful with passive and active voices
For example, 'Manager Park made the reservation be canceled with a phone call'
'Manager Park canceled the reservation with a phone call'
Like this, be careful with passive and active voices
Also, it's good to remove phrases like 'in order to'
For example, 'In running a company'
'I consider honesty the most important factor'
This can be 'when I run a company'
'I consider honesty the most important factor'
This is a much better revision
I have told you about many examples
And this book is full of great examples
So please take a look at it yourselves
Proofreading and revising lines is actually very difficult
I also consider lines very difficult
We did not study literature
And nor did we have professional background in writing
A line can be revised a million times before the final completion
Some lines work as they are born
And some line require a lot of thinking before the final submission
That require a lot of revising as well
If writing lines is difficult for you
I recommend you try and read as much as possible
Any book is great
But as I told you, I especially recommend poetry and novel
Try writing a poem yourselves as well
Try writing a poem a day
I used to write a poem a day when I was a child
I would sometime write a funny poem
Or a poem about the food I had for the day
Or a poem about some abstract concept about a word
It really trained me a lot
It was a valuable experience
I hope you get to write many great lines
And we are moving on to drawing storyboard
Before that, as we're talking about writing storyboard
How was it, writing storyboards yourselves?
Isn't it very difficult and time consuming?
Storyboards are meant to be difficult
It's a very difficult and time consuming work
Never worry about your storyboard being not as good
You can revise your storyboard as much you you want
As much as time permits, actually
A story can generate various storyboards
And choosing one out of such many possibilities
This embodies the idiosyncracy of the artist
The biggest goal of webtoon production is
A clear delivery of the story
So rather than worrying about your storyboard being boring
Think more about whether your storyboard is easy to understand
The more you do it, the better you will get
So work on a lot of storyboards
And whenever you feel not as confident with storyboarding
Please remember that it is a very natural thing to feel
Even someone with a lot of experience like myself always struggles with storyboarding
It's something we all struggle with
So do not despair, lower your expectations
And shall we now move on to drawing storyboard?
Great job today
Thank you
Writing Storyboard Prepatory step before drawing storyboard Writing out how to visualize the story What to do for writing storyboard Write cut number
One emotion, one cut One piece of information, one cut Four or less speech bubble Do not take it too seriously, you can revise it any time
Less pressure with revision Work quickly, enjoy the work
What not to do for writing storyboard Not too many things in a cut Not too many cuts in an episode Do not obsess over the strong final cut No redundant lines
No redundant words Don't make it difficult Don't obsess over your lines
Writing good lines How to Make it easily understandable Make it concise Remove redundant words Check for spelling, punctuation and grammar Don't expect a perfect work from the start
Avoid fragmented sentence Show, rather than tell Make sure to deliver the whole of the necessary line Use lines based on the character Try speaking the line out loud