Visualizing my script?

[Nickem]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently in the process of outlining a script for my short film. Its visual part will feature fairly abstract landscapes of an alien planet, with occasional injection of Earthly elements from our world.

I'm having troubles figuring out how to go about visualizing it though. I'm no artist, so I can't really provide very concise storyboards... Do I need a concept artist then? Storyboard artist? Matte painter? All of the above? I'm thinking of shooting real footage and laying set extensions on top, for the scenes that feature Earthly elements... So do I need an SFX person in addition to the artist(s)?

I am probably being too vague... But if you could, please help me figure out my steps toward making something like this

 

[Santhem]

Sounds like this project will require a lot of postproduction, so yes. If you want to shoot this yourself and get it done, you should defenitly bring in someone with knowledge of visual effects before you shoot it. Will save you a lot of headaches in post.

For now, I'd say keep focused on the script, and don't get distracted by any of that yet. Once you've got the script in order, you can work with a storyboard artist to get a grip on the visual storytelling. Storyboarding is more about camera angles, camera moves, actor positioning, poses, etc than it is about the visual look of your world.

So to cover the visuals, you'll probably want to comission a concept artist to draw up the concepts for your key locations. The matte painter can wait till the project is actually in post.

Again, for now just focus on making the script best you can.

 

[Inarius]

Well, you're writing a script. Describe it in words. If art is an important aspect of your script, then hell yeah! You need an artist. You'll probably meet the artist in live, won't you? The best way to tell somebody your vision is eye to eye conversation, no written words or phone. But if live meeting isn't possible, write it down as much clear as you can.

 

[Nickem]

Santhem, Inarius, thank you for your responses! I will focus on writing a compelling story, and worry about the visuals later

 

[WalterB]

And when you're story is compelling, you can consider moving to a more earth like setting to make it producable if it's too complicated.

 

[Acamus]

Drugs? Or maybe some naturally induced trance? I can only talk from my own experience, but when I need to visualize something big before writing it down I spend a lot of time just sitting. I listen to some ambient music, close my eyes and try to visualize as much of the world as possible.

Btw. filmmaking rhymes with rock'n roll not bureaucracy. Write the film you want to make. If it isn't possible due to financial issues or so you can consider rewriting it. But until you know if it's completely impossible, just write whatever you like.