Art&Design

ANIMATIONS / MOTION WORKS FOF VISUAL STORYTELLING /  by Mansuo Zhang

A rang of collection showcasing how animations / motion works play an important part in visual storytelling.

 

BRNO MAIN STATION | BY ZOA STUDIO (In collab with Snøhetta)

 

COCO CRUSH | By Chanel

 

CRAFT THE FUTURE | BY Nike

 

ARABIANRANNAN ARTE | By ZOA Studio

NBA BERLIN 2022 | GENSLER /  by Mansuo Zhang

A showcase video filmed for NBA Berlin Store opening.

Fanatics and Lids opened the doors to the largest European NBA store yet, situated within the newly renovated The Playce at Potsdamer Platz, a unique shopping mall in the heart of Berlin’s dynamic community. This store strengthens the fandom and brand presence in Europe, acting as a gathering hub for fans outside of the U.S.

Filmed / Produced / Edited by: JIMMRECKLESS
Music by: JIMMYRECKLESS

This is a Gensler project.

GENSLER BIRMINGHAM | OFFICE VIDEO /  by Mansuo Zhang

Video created for Gensler Birmingham office in 2022

Filmed, interviewed, edited, and produced by JIMMYRECKLESS
Sound by JIMMYRECKLESS

This is a Gensler project.
Owned by Gensler

BASTILLE | 2023 COLLECTION /  by Mansuo Zhang

COPENHAGEN DREAMS /  by Mansuo Zhang

Composed by Jóhann Jóhannsson for “Copenhagen Dreams”, a documentary film by Max Kestner.

(PREVIEW) PINK DREAMS ANIME MUSIC VIDEO /  by Mansuo Zhang

Previewing the anime music video created for the original song “Pink Dreams” recorded in 2020. Under production starting from 2021, full music video comes out in 2022.

 

FILMING: VISUAL STORYTELLING /  by Mansuo Zhang

 

FILMING: VISUAL STORYTELLING

This article breaks down my working process of making film, video, and animations into the following sections: storyboard development, filming, editing, and sound as an important narrative in supporting the visual storytelling.

 

 
 

STORYBOARD


The use of storyboard sketch is to illustrates the visual storyline and the narrative of the film. Besides, it may also include technical and filming details regarding camera angle, filming notes, transitions, effects, visual pace and rhythm.

The storyline of a composition can be split into different parts based on the original video script, which is then split into individual scenes. Each individual scene is labelled with a specific number that is used for further filming or editing purpose when screening.

Colour marks are used to illustrate transition between scenes, movement, camera direction, change of an angle, and filming techniques.

 
 

 

STORYBOARD AS VISUAL SCRIPT


Some complex parts of the composition need a multiple-scenes panel to break down the storyline plot-by-plot into details. This helps define visual focuses when filming at a specific space or a location, close-ups, camera movements within a space or an environment. This is useful especially when filming a large space or scene with a lot of details and transitions, for example, the filming order, when to start/end the filming, what to film first, how to film.

 
 

 

FILMING EXAMPLES

 

 

FILMING: SOUND FOR VISUAL STORYTELLING

Sound is the most important element to me when it comes to developing a storyboard, planning out storytelling and filming methods. It is the crucial part of the composition that dramatically helps define the mood of a video, visual theme, pace/rhythm, transition frequency, and even colours. These bits of information are what you wouldn’t get simply from the video footages without sound or music.

 

 

SOUND AS VISUAL NARRATIVE

A good soundtrack equals 90% of the narrative and it could be more important than filming the visuals. There are different stages of filming/creating a video clip: capturing a scene, visual focus, transition, and editing. Usually it is not easy to define the visual hierarchy (primary shot, secondary shot) from the video footages without sound or music.


VISUAL HIERARCHY: PAUSES AND BREAKS

Visual hierarchy is not only about setting the primary and secondary elements, but also about emphasizing and highlighting a specific part of the video content that elevates the storytelling. Without such fluctuation, the visual storytelling might be inconsistent and confusing, while music is a great tool to help avoid this. The rhythm of sound/music defines the visual rhythm as transitions, filming speed, and the order of the video clips (what you want to show first, and what’s for the second).

 
 

 

SUMMARY

1.STORYBOARD DEVELOPMENT

Storyboard sketch: the storyline of the video, filming angle and techniques,
visual narrative, and transitions.

2.SOUND/MUSIC (IMPORTANT)

Sound/Musical composition: theme of the video, narrative tone, frequency/rhythm/pace of visuals, hierarchy, order.

 
 

NENDO DESIGN | MUSIC OPPO /  by Mansuo Zhang

Fantastic music ware combination designed by Oki Sato’s Nendo.