If you thought the action sequences in Captain America: Winter Soldier were impressive, wait til you see what they could have looked like instead.
A new series of videos by animator James Rothwell has turned original storyboard designs from Winter Soldier into “animatic” short films. The designs, done by artists Richard Bennett, Philip Keller, and Alex Hillkurtz, offer an intriguing look into the way the fight scenes in the film were designed, with notable changes here and there from the final onscreen version.
Before the action sequences or other visual elements in a film can be brought to life, the director, cinematographer, artists, and other creatives involved in the production all need to agree on what that sequence should actually look like.
Storyboarding is the key to this process. Through storyboards, artists essentially draw the scene like they would a comic book sequence, image by image, in order to represent how it could potentially look on film. When everyone’s agreed on the storyboards, the sequence can then be staged and shot.
Rothwell, who has been designing animated storyboards for studios for years, shared the sequences on his blog and YouTube channel last week.
The result is a fascinating glimpse into the world of Hollywood production design and an interesting look at the life cycle of a Marvel creative project: from comic-book print image to storyboard comic, and finally to film.
H/T Filmsketchr | Screengrab via YouTube