My first assignment for my Storyboard Concepts class was to find an artist that uses storyboards and describe what I learned from my research.

I wanted to find a storyboard artist from an iconic movie so I turned to Alfred Hitchcock’s movies for direction. My research led me to the Art Director and Storyboard Artist Harold Michelson. Michaelson created the storyboards for some of Hitchcock’s best known movies including my favorite, The Birds.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/storyboarding-terror-hitchcocks-birds-turns-50

I learned that in order to be a successful storyboard artist, you have to full understand the Director’s vision in order to be able to represent that vision as a storyboard.  It’s not just about understanding the linear story, but how the director hopes to achieve this effect.

I also learned that Harold Michelson created what is now called the “Camera Angle Projection” method that he used to map out how various parts of a set would go according to perspective. This technique was useful for helping directors and stage designers to figure out where the elements should go on a set.

https://books.google.com/books?id=SdIABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193&lpg=PA193&dq=storyboard+artist+Harold+Michelson&source=bl&ots=FMPZO2w7k_&sig=_qk0IrwJRw-6iN6hA0MuaBuYA8U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XfDXVJ6sJbffsASr6oLgAQ&ved=0CFsQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q=storyboard%20artist%20Harold%20Michelson&f=false