The Third International Conference on Design Creativity (3rd ICDC)

ISBN 978-1-904670-60-5
Bangalore, India, 12th-14th January 2015

CREATIVE STORY DESIGN METHOD IN

ANIMATION PRODUCTION PIPELINE

Tsai-Yun Mou1
1
Department of Visual Communication Design, Southern Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, Tainan, Taiwan

Abstract: This research focuses on a new method in the development of animation story
content which could shorten the creation process and arouse new ideas. By implementing
digital storyboarding for direct story creation, a reversed model of animation process, this
research examines the feasibility of this method and discusses its pros and cons in story
development, story structure and implications for animation education. The results showed
that storyboard driven method in creating animation content is workable and time saving. This
method is helpful for novices in visualizing and revising their creative ideas. We found that a
good story structure could still be created with storyboard driven method. Compared with the
traditional production pipeline, the contributions of this method in story structure were more
on the story climax, resolution, and plot. From the evaluation results although experts
confirmed feasibility of this method, they still preferred traditional story design process.

Keywords: storyboard, story design, story structure, production pipeline

1. Research Background
In animation production, story design is an important stage that determines the success of the movie.
Since a good story is the first step and all other works have to follow the storyline in order to create
visual images, directors or investors are cautious about selecting a good story(Mou & Tu, 2013).
However, story design is not an effortless work, which requires years of training, keen observation,
and last but not least, talent. The average time length of story development is 1 to 2 years for feature
film, and 1 to 6 months for short movie. Therefore, how to reduce story development time in
animation pipeline has been an important issue. This research will examine a new method of story
creation which could save time and arouse new story ideas.

Here we can see in Figure 1 the traditional process of story creation. Story design has to go through a
writing transformation to formal script and a concept transformation to image. Transformations
between story/script and between script/storyboard could become a barrier to production, since there is
a gap which requires years of effort, experience, and even talent to accomplish the work. That is why
this process takes time, and this is a main issue in animation production.

124 3rd ICDC

 Storyboard
Story Script Animation
Art Design

writing concept
transformation transformation

Figure 1. Traditional production pipeline is transformation from words to images

2. Story Design
2.1. Story Structure
Every story has a structure whether it has a good or bad one. In this research, we focus on the linear
narrative structure to study the story development. A linear story progresses from A to B to C in
sequential time(Arnold & Eddy, 2007; Beiman, 2012). Events in the story are presented
chronologically. Most animation and film work in linear format.
To further analyze linear narrative storytelling, there is a structure that remains unshakable for
thousands of years. Aristotle (384 BC~322 BC), a famous Greek philosopher, scientist and poet, could
be the first person to bring up the idea of plot structure. As he said: "A plot must have, a beginning, a
middle, and an end, and the events of the plot must causally relate to one another as being either
necessary or probable." Freytag, a contemporary German novelist and playwright, considered plot as a
narrative structure that divided a story into five parts, which is known as Freytag's pyramid(Figure 2).

Figure 2. Freytag's pyramid

In scriptwriting for animation, film, TV and drama, a commonly referred structure is called "three-act
structure", which is very practical and effective to attract the audiences' attention(Arnold & Eddy,
2007; Beiman, 2012; O'Neil, 2001; Sheppard, 2009; Tumminello, 2004). Storyboard as a visual
expression of the story played as the key role in displaying story images. Its visual tension has to
corrospond to the story tension. To better present the story structure visually, a curve diagram can
illustrate the tension of the 3-acts accurately(Block, 2007) as shown in Figure 3.

Y Climax

Tension
Conflict

Exposition Resolution

Time X
Figure 3. Visual story structure

3rd ICDC 125

Act 1 is the beginning of the story. In this exposition stage, the storyteller sets up the characters,
location and conflict (situation) of the story. Act 2 is the middle of the story which contains many
twists and turns, and keeps rising the stakes to make the story interesting and tension building. Act 3 is
the end of the story. In this resolution stage, the climax is reached and the problem is resolved. The
main characters attain their goal as well.

2.2. Storyboarding
Storyboards are illustrations displayed in sequence for the purpose of visualizing a story. Alfred
Hitchcock (1899~1980), a famous director of suspense and psychological thriller film, also considered
his films as storyboards come to life(Begleiter, 2010; Tumminello, 2004). In animation history,
Disney Studio first conceived of storyboards with the rise of animated short in the early 1930s(Block,
2007). One of the earliest and most well-known uses of modern storyboard was for the animated
feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs(Eisner, 2008).
Not only in animation field, but also in other research domain, storyboard is utilized in many studies
as a tool for assisting the design and development of game. Moreno-Ger in their development of
graphical adventure video games, used storyboard as the key development element(Moreno-Ger,
Sierra, Martínez-Ortiz, & Fernández-Manjón, 2007). Jhala developed a “Longboard” game engine
system to present visually the content of the story with designed characters and environment(Jhala,
Rawls, Munilla, & Young, 2008). Their utilization of storyboard in game development was innovative
and successful.

2.3. New model of story design

The effectiveness of storyboard in converying ideas and stories is supported in previous studies.
Therefore, here we propose a new model. We reverse the process by starting from storyboard design to
create a story. Figure 4 shows the new model of story creation.

Storyboard
Story Animation
Art Design

Figure 4. New model of story design

The model starts from storyboard creation to develop a story. In this way, designers could directly use
images/storyboards to express their creative ideas of story. In the process of storyboard creation and
storyline development, designers could smoothly modify their ideas to check the story plot
arrangement with storyboards. This way we could save time in transforming ideas to written scripts,
and conceptual words to images. This creation process actually match the creative cognition theory
called Geneplore model (Finke, Ward, & Smith, 1992) which will be discussed in the next session.
Therefore, with our proposed new model of story design, here we will examine how this method can
be more efficient in production process. Whether this storyboard driven method for animation content
development is applicable, it needs to be investigated in our study.

3. Creative Cognition
The solving of design problems requires thinking. Design thinking is an approach for
practical, creative resolution of problems that looks for an improved result. Thus it is a form of
solution-based, or solution-focused thinking that has a clear goal or what is meant to be
achieved(Armstrong, Jr., & Gordon, 1975). Previous studies on problem decomposition have found
out that with large base of relevant knowledge, designers could approach solutions with explicit
decomposition strategy(Ho, 2001). Liikkanen et. al (Liikkanen & Perttula, 2009) proposed a dual-
mode perspective which implicit and explicit problem decomposition are applied in idea generation.

126 3rd ICDC

Story design in this study is an idea generation problem that needs new means to resolve its
development difficulty.
Creatively solvable problems vary in complexity, knowledge needs, and amount of divergent and
convergent thought needed(Brophy, 1998). Although Wallas is the first researcher to propose a four-
phase creative process model(G. Wallas, 1926), designers’ invisible mental operations are not revealed.
Guilford claimed that creativity was generation of ideas that were novel and appropriate to the
field(Guilford, 1967). His assessment of creativity has positive impacts on other researchers, such as
Wallas and Kogan(M. Wallas & Kogan, 1965) and Torrance(Torrance, 1984). Torrance, who was
regarded as “father of creativity research”, claimed that people’s creativity can be revealed in their
innovative ideas and images. Empirical work on creative imagery has in the development of a new
approach to the study of creativity, which is called creative cognition(Finke et al., 1992). The creative
cognition approach, applies the general methods of cognitive science to the study of creative thinking.
It also provides a theoretical framework for developing related studies on creativity and imagination.
Geneplore model (Finke et al., 1992) provided a basic structure for the cognitive process. This model
explained the phenomena of creative imagery by using two processing components: generative and
exploratory process. Figure 5 shows the concept of the model. In the generative phase, mental
representations called preinventive structures are first created. Generative processes such as retrieval,
association, mental synthesis, mental transformation, and analogical transfer give rise to preinventive
structures(Horng & Hu, 2009). In the exploratory phase, one then explores various interpretations of
these structures. The preinventive structures can then be modified or replaced and the cycle can be
repeated. Constraints on the final product can be imposed during either the generative or exploratory
phase. The cycle of generative and exploratory processes can be reiterated until the final form of the
pre-inventive structures is achieved(Palmiero, Cardi, & Belardinelli, 2011).

Generation of Preinventive
preinventive exploration and
structures interpretation

focus or expand
concept

Product
Constraints

Figure 5. Geneplore model

We supposed that the two-phase Geneplore model could also explain the creative process of story
concept development and the storyboarding visualization. In the generative phase, mental
representations of the story ideas, flash of images and past experiences raise in designers' mind and in
quick succession go to the exploratory phase. These ideas and mental images are interpretated,
evaluated, and refined to meet the constraints of the product or task, that is, story genre. In the
exploratory phase, the refined mental images can reveal in the form of storyboard. By going through
the cycle of generative and exploratory phases, conceptual ideas thus can be presented in the form of
visual storyboard. The application of Geneplore model to animation story design can thus be presented
as Figure 6.

3rd ICDC 127

 Story ideas Storyboard
Mental images
Rough sketch
Experiences

focus or expand
concept

Story
Genre

Figure 6. Story concept development with Geneplore model

4. Research Method
The goal of this study is to verify whether a reversed model of animation process, that is, a storyboard-
driven method is practicable in story content development. 64 college students (32 male, 32 female)
from multimedia, animation and motion pictures production joined in this experiment. 3 experts from
animation industry were invited to evaluate novices’ story design. A five point Likert scale
(1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree ) was used to examine story design elements to check whether
this method could achieve good story structure. T-test analysis was conducted to examined the
differences of experts’ assessment and novices’ self-assessment. Interviews were also conducted with
experts and novices afterwards. This research can further contribute to the education and incubation of
their training of story creation.

4.1. Design Task

The design problem that we raise to the participants is story design with storyboarding method.
Without a specific animation script for storyboard design, participants had to create a new story by
directly design with the digital storyboard system called CrazyTalk Animator. Participants were
provided with basic story design visual elements and requirements as following lists.
 Story genre: comedy
 Characters: a cartoon boy and girl character, a puppy
 Background: an outdoor scenery with meadow, fence and small river
 Storyboard: 10-15 panels of storyboard for a complete story
Participants were required to finish the design task within 30 minutes. This task was conducted
individually and followed by an interview and evaluation (self-assessment and expert assessment)
when they finished the experiment.

4.2. Storyboarding System

The storyboarding system, CrazyTalk Animator, is developed by Reallusion company. It is a user-
friendly system and easy to manipulate. Figure 6 shows the basic interface and menu of the system.
Participants were trained on how to use it to achieve their desired boards before the task.

Figure 6. CrazyTalk Animator interface

128 3rd ICDC

5. Results and Discussions
5.1. Design cognition on storyboard driven method
After the storyboard task, an evaluation on the difficulty of the new model practice was conducted.
Although experts did not practice the method, they were asked to answer same questionnaire based on
their personal experience and thinking. The mean of novices' and experts' evaluation of design
difficulty was 28.55 and 32.38 respectively. Novice designers regarded this reversed model of story
creation as easier than experts’ notion. The pair t-test showed t = -6.026 and p = 0<0.05. The result
showed that there was significant difference between novices' and experts' evaluation. This infers that
novice designers when required to design story with storyboard, they tended to think this new method
easier than experts.
In the interview afterwards, 44 participants had positive attitudes towards this new method. Their
responses are synthesized into following points.

 It was helpful to construct images directly and frame the appropriate shot.
 It was easier to think about the storyline and to examine the storyboard for the whole story
structure. This can save time in our story development.
 It was a supportive method to concretize our mental images and to know the difference
between imagination and realization.
 It was a good way to express creativity and imagination.

Experts, on the other hand, thought the storyboard driven method as difficult. They mentioned that
with years of experiences on transforming texts to images, creating story from storyboard was a new
challenge for them. Storyboarding from scriptwriting information had become an integrated ability for
them. A well planned story was important for experts to start the production. Analyzing from the
novices’ side, since they were less experienced in storyboard or story design, plus from the data
analysis we also found out they were more satisfied with their works than experts’ judgement (p =
0.007<0.05), it is interpretable that novice designers considered the new method as easier than experts.

Story design via storyboard is a representation of our creative design thinking. Although the task
required the participants to create a story from storyboard, the design process still starts from our
thinking. The two stages of design interplay and mutually reinforce each other at the pace so fast that
we could regard them as operating simultaneously. This design process indeed corresponds to the
Geneplore model(Finke et al., 1992). Designers’ mental images and story ideas generate firstly and
move on to storyboard visualization of their conceptual ideas. Therefore, we can confirm the positive
effect of this new design model. Compared with the traditional method, the storyboard driven method
is not only time saving in animation process, but also more productive in creating story and storyboard
simultaneously.

5.2. Story structure and evaluation analysis

To see whether the storyboard driven method of content design can construct a good structured story,
we checked the evaluations from experts regarding the story elements. Participants' self-assessment
results were also compared to see their cognitive differences on story design. The top 3 evaluations
from experts are resolution (3.41), climax (3.30), and story plot (3.25). As for novices, the top 3 are
resolution (3.66), climax (3.55), and entertainment (3.50) respectively. It is worthy to know that the
top 3 scored elements from experts are story structure related. This implies that the new method of
story design can actually work and is affirmed by experts. Also, novices had the same two elements as
experts. This is a good phenomenon which implies that although with new method of design, novices
were able to see the whole and judge what a structured story should contain.
In animation and film story design, "three-act structure" (Arnold & Eddy, 2007; Sheppard, 2009;
Tumminello, 2004) is the standard format for most productions. With the reversed model of story
content development, we also follow the same story structure rule for judgment. The results show that

3rd ICDC 129

from both experts' and novices' point of view, the storyboard driven method can still achieve some
good structure story design. With this method, novices were able to create a structured story with
visual images, which reduced the writing transformation process and time. Figure 7 shows the scope
that the new method’s positive support in story design.

Y Climax

story plot
Tension
Conflict

Exposition Resolution

Time X

Figure 7. Positive support of storyboard driven method

6. Conclusions
The results show that from both experts' and novices' point of view, the storyboard driven method of
content development can achieve some good structure story design. From the experiment, we find that
the new method can help in the design of climax and resolution and the overall story plot. Regarding
the exposition and conflict, there seems to be less contribution of this reversed method to story
development. Nevertheless, from novices' point of view, this new model could effectively helps them
to generate story ideas and modify them simultanously to fit the design criteria, which is time
consuming in traditional production pipeline. Although traditional method may take long time to
develop a good story, its solid foundation can help in building a good exposition and conflicts of story
structure. The storyboard driven method is more effective in creating new ideas, visualizing and
modifying story, constructing the overall story plot, and designing climax and resolution.

References
Armstrong, J. S., Jr., W. B. D., & Gordon, M. M. (1975). The Use of the Decomposition Principle in
Making Judgments. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 14, 257-263.
Arnold, B., & Eddy, B. (2007). Exploring Visual Storytelling. New York: Thomson Delmar Learning.
Begleiter, M. (2010). From Word to Image: Storyboarding and the Filmmaking Process (2nd ed.).
Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions.
Beiman, N. (2012). Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and
Shorts (2nd Edition ed.): Focal Press.
Block, B. (2007). The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media
(Second Edition ed.). New York: Focal Press.
Brophy, D. R. (1998). Understanding, Measuring, and Enhancing Individual Creative Problem-
Solving Efforts. Creativity Research Journal, 11(2), 123-150. doi:
10.1207/s15326934crj1102_4
Eisner, W. (2008). Comics and Sequential Art: Principles and Practices from the Legendary
Cartoonist New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Finke, R. A., Ward, T. M., & Smith, S. M. (1992). Creative cognition: Theory, research, and
applications. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Guilford, J. P. (1967). Creativity: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. The Journal of Creative Behavior,
1(1), 3-14. doi: 10.1002/j.2162-6057.1967.tb00002.x
Ho, C.-H. (2001). Some phenomena of problem decomposition strategy for design thinking:
differences between novices and experts. Design Studies, 22(1), 27-45. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0142-694X(99)00030-7

130 3rd ICDC

Horng, J.-S., & Hu, M.-L. (2009). The Creative Culinary Process: Constructing and Extending a Four-
Component Model. Creativity Research Journal, 21(4), 376-383. doi:
10.1080/10400410903297956
Jhala, A., Rawls, C., Munilla, S., & Young, R. M. (2008). Longboard: A Sketch Based Intelligent
Storyboarding Tool for Creating Machinima. Paper presented at the Twenty-First
International FLAIRS Conference.
Liikkanen, L. A., & Perttula, M. (2009). Exploring problem decomposition in conceptual design
among novice designers. Design Studies, 30(1), 38-59. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2008.07.003
Moreno-Ger, P., Sierra, J. L., Martínez-Ortiz, I., & Fernández-Manjón, B. (2007). A documental
approach to adventure game development. Science of Computer Programming, 67(1), 3-31.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scico.2006.07.003
Mou, T.-Y., & Tu, G.-S. (2013). Storyboarding for animation. Taipei: Grandtech.
O'Neil, D. (2001). The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics. New York: Watson-Guptill.
Palmiero, M., Cardi, V., & Belardinelli, M. O. (2011). The Role of Vividness of Visual Mental
Imagery on Different Dimensions of Creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 23(4), 372-375.
doi: 10.1080/10400419.2011.621857
Sheppard, D. (2009). Novelsmithing: the structural foundation of plot, character, and narration.
Healdsburg: Tragedy's Workshop.
Torrance, E. P. (1984). The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking streamlined (revised) manual Figural
A and B. Bensenville, IL: Scholastic Testing Service.
Tumminello, W. (2004). Exploring Storyboarding. New Work: Delmar Cengage Learning.
Wallas, G. (1926). The Art of Thought: Watts.
Wallas, M., & Kogan, N. (1965). Modes of thinking in young children. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston.

3rd ICDC 131