Centuries ago, artists used previsualization to sketch, explore, discover and experiment with ideas before committing time and resources to the final etching, painting, or sculpture.
In the 1930s, Disney Studios developed the concept of storyboarding to previsualize a script and this practice was quickly adopted by many big budget live action films. For "Gone with the Wind", William Cameron Menzies had every scene storyboarded and for decades, storyboards served as the primary tool for previsualization. Even today, the Coen brothers still storyboard every scene of their films.
As technology has advanced, new techniques developed for the expression of previsualization. Animatics turned storyboards into rough moving images complete with camera moves such as pans and zooms. Today, Previs has come to describe computer-generated sequences created for the purpose of developing and exploring visual ideas and concepts. Using 3D animation and modeling programs, Previs Artists sketch, draw, and paint (render) sequences for presentations.
Previs is, in the simplest of terms, the technological progression of previsualization using new technologies to develop and express ideas before committing time and resources to production. It is a natural progression in the evolution of sketching continuity presentations – the real difference being the use of digital tools to build the elements in a computer before animating them.
These digital 3D modeling tools are already commonly used by Local 800 artists and designers to conceive, design and create visual assets for presentation during motion picture preparation and production. In fact, the ADG's Illustrators Local Agreement specifically states that Local 800 Illustrators “shall be employed to do three-dimensional illustrations and/or sketches or designs used in the preparation of motion pictures.”
By the use of any available tools – traditional or digital – previsualization is the exclusive jurisdictional realm of the artists and designers now represented by Local 800 making the Art Directors Guild the rightful home for Previs Artists who perform this work with digital tools.
For more information about why Local 800 is the right place for you, contact dooner, Organizer for the Art Directors Guild, at 818.762.9995
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