I have experience creating storyboards and animatics. They are perfect and amazing. I only say this because they served their purpose, not because they are artful in their own right. Their purpose was to stimulate my imagination and determine the shots needed to tell a split-frame story in the amount of time specified by the music. It took me a few days to figure it out, but once I did it was cheap, quick, and effective. I will explain what got me to that point.
Discover Card was looking for short film ideas to publicize their $1 Million Rewards Card.
Here was my story pitch:
The story will be told as a split-screen comparison of one person's life with $1 million (“The Millionaire”) and without (“The Pauper.”) Both of the lives will be led by the same person, perhaps dressed similarly or in the same clothes, but living a parallel life. The situations that each encounter will mirror each other but be shown from a different perspective. The editing style will be unconventional as the parallel lives will be presented in separate boxes filling the screen. Perhaps each parallel life could be visually indicated by employing its own color balance.
Here was their Ad Agency's revision:
one guy buying chocolate milk, we go to split screen when he pays
after that, one guy lives a boring repetitive life; the other guy strikes out on his own
the boring guy eventually applies for a new job at the cool guy's new business
when they meet, they come together face to face, we lose the split screen shot and they share one charming, awkward moment then we go back to the guy at the c-store he uses his discover end super ties it all up
I came up with the initial idea, did the scouting, pre-viz animatic, directed and edited the film.
What I learned: The animatic helped prepare me for the shoot tremendously as I had limited time and resources. There would be no re-shoots and I had to get it right.
A split-screen montage can work for a :30-sec ad, but it isn't very compelling as a short film or as a story. It is also a lot of work.