And after playing that song over and over and over again, you are still convinced it will make a perfect video.

If so, you are ready for the next step. Storyboarding.

First, you need to know that storyboarding is a matter of individual preference. It's not something you have to do. In fact, there are video makers out there who do not storyboard; they just go with the flow or wherever the video muse takes them.

Others will storyboard. Some in minute detail; some just jot down notes.

The term, storyboard, for the purposes of this discussion refers to the same type of storyboards done by advertising agencies and film producers. But instead of a series of panels on which sketches are arranged, a storyboard for fan video purposes is taking a copy of the song lyrics and matching those lyrics to the scenes from the show.

So here goes.

If you haven't done so already, please go to Google or your favorite search engine and find the lyrics to your song. If you know the title or artist, search for them. If you just managed to catch a line from the song last night on the radio, put in that line - with luck something will pop.

Be aware, that there are a ton of websites out there that house lyrics. Some are better than others. Some are more perfect than others. Find one that you feel the most comfortable with and either print out a copy of the lyrics or download a copy into a Word-type program.

The one you pick - either printout or download - will be dependent on how you will storyboard.

Here's two simple ways to storyboard.

        Printout version

1.  Printout the lyrics.
2.  Look them over.
3.  Put the song on and read the lyrics while the song is playing. Note any discrepancies between the actual song and the lyrics that you have printed out. This is crucial because your video clips will correspond to the song not the lyrics. Be aware sometimes the song playing on your computer doesn't match the lyrics you have printed out. (That's why this step is crucial.)

4.  Mark any instrumentals that show up either in the beginning, middle or end. You are going to have to put something to go with those instrumentals, whether it is a title, credits or clips.

5. Start marking scenes next to the appropriate lyrics. For example, take Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman to Me". I started working on that video prior to the February EC Bash. She can kill with a smile .... Marguerite smiling. Your notation can be as vague as that or as specific as She can kill with a smile... clip of Marguerite laughing while eating the fruit at dinner during Paradise Found, Season 1.

6.  Keep working until you have matched all your lyrics with a scene. Once you have, you can begin to do the physical work of putting a video together.

Download version

1.  Download the lyrics into your "Word" program.
2.  Look them over.
3.  Put the song on and read the lyrics while the song is playing. Modify any discrepancies between the lyrics and the song in your "Word" program. Add notations for instrumentals that appear during the song.

4.  Before each section of lyrics that will use a scene from the show, add a line that says Scene: with a notation on what clip or scene from what episode you plan to use. You can list more than one and see which one works better once you start building your video. For example using the same Billy Joel song, "She's Always A Woman To Me". It would be ... (following example, the lyrics are in black, the visualization or storyboard is in fuchsia)

Scene: Paradise Found, Marguerite laughing at the supper (with Veronica)
She can kill with a smile
Scene: True Spirit, Marguerite and Roxton on balcony, close-up of Marguerite's face and eyes
She can wound with her eyes
Scene: The Secret, Roxton and Marguerite outside the treehouse after Calum has left; "just what did you steal from Xan".

She can ruin your faith with her casual lies

5. Keep working until you have matched all your lyrics with a scene. Once you have, you can begin to do the physical work of putting a video together.

6. Print out a copy of your storyboard and prepare to get to work on building your video.




Note: No storyboard is written in stone. Once you start building your video, you may find that the clip you wanted is too short, too long or just doesn't look or feel right. It's OK to change things around. Be flexible.

For example, I had this great idea for a Jon Bon Jovi/Richie Sambora song, "Wanted Dead or Alive". It was going to be a Roxton video. The key was a line in the song, "On a steel horse I ride." I wanted to blend scenes of Roxton with the modified dune buggy and running as a renegade in the episode Finn with Dead Man's Hill when he was riding the steel gray horse and running from Sheriff Jack Challenger and Johnny Ringo. I storyboarded the song line by line and was pretty happy with the result. I spent a couple of hours combined watching Finn and taking notes of what scenes I wanted to use and capturing those clips. I then popped the Dead Man's Hill tape into the VCR and saw the way the sun was used in shades of sepia and threw out the premise, the storyboard and all the Finn clips and went back to the drawing board and concentrated on a Western video showcasing Jeremiah Roxton instead. And as far as I was concerned Wanted Dead or Alive, which premiered at the Long Beach con, ended up being my best work at the time. Moral of the story? Flexibility is the key. Also be courageous enough to cut your losses and move on to what really works. A lot of video making is instinctual but also a lot of it is by trial and error!!!!

I've included an old storyboard for a video I made last year, Some Like It Hot. This is the original storyboard or the first storyboard I did for the song and the video. The video doesn't match this storyboard precisely. I changed some things as I was making the video. If you look at it, you will notice, I put the scenes or clips I want to use in italic. The number that you see after a scene is a clip number. It designates a clip that I have in my clip library - that's so I don't have to recapture. Scenes without numbers designate clips that have to be captured before I can begin to build my video. Also since there were a few instrumentals during the song. I made a list of all the scenes I might use to fill that time.

Hope it helps!!!!

Next installment: The real thing - the song we'll be using to create our vid in Toronto