The Four Questions
Whether you're using storyboards or just going out and shooting from the hip, you're never going to escape the question "Where do I put the camera, and what do I point it at?" This sheet is to give you a framework to answer that question every time.
Ask These Four, Every Time
Break the scene into BEATS, not lines of dialogue. A beat is any moment the scene turns. It's totally subjective, YOU decide where the beats are. Then, for each beat, ask the following questions:
Who does this beat belong to? Let's say the dialogue is "I'm scared to death". The beat could belong to them, the camera work underlining their fear. It could be the thing that's scaring them. It could be that person's children, as they realise their parent is no longer an anchor of guaranteed security.
Physical distance translates to emotional distance. The closer, the more intimate. Normally on the line "I'm scared to death", we would expect to be incredibly close to that person, to see and feel their fear. But what if we're really far back? We lose the connection to them, but we feel their isolation.
Don't think of distance as a measurement, "we're 3.5 metres back from the person", but rather a feeling, "we're invading their space in a way that feels uncomfortable for them and the viewer". Then you place the camera however close you need to to get that feeling.
Angle matters in the same way that distance matters, it maps out to our experience of the real world. In the most simple sense, if you're looking up at a thing, that thing is probably bigger than you and therefore has power over you. The opposite goes for looking down.
A tilted angle is unusual for us to experience, and therefore pulls us out of our comfort zone. That might be thrilling (a car chase using tilted "dutch" angles), or it might be unsettling.
An eye-line angle is always going to feel more natural, but may limit the amount of information being conveyed. An eye-line shot within a crowd might convey accurately what it feels like to be in that crowd, but you'll probably need a high angle to show the size of the crowd (and a low angle shot might feel terrifying if we know that the protagonist has fallen down and might be trampled).
Should you move the camera? If so, why? Movement and stillness both carry their own feeling, so that will be part of your choice. But movement also reveals new information, but so does cutting. The difference is the speed that they reveal that information. Camera movement will introduce it naturally, and cutting will do it instantly.
A person appears at the door, surprising the protagonist? That's probably a cut, to catch their instant reaction to this information. The person then walks across the room, dominating their space? That's probably a camera movement, maybe with the camera moving closer to the stranger to give them the visual weight, or pulling back with them as they walk, allowing their presence to be strong enough for the camera to yield to it.
These 4 questions overlap, but they give you 4 different angles to look at the same beat, each one opening up a path for you to understand your own direction and story better.
Five Beats, Four Questions Each
Answer all four questions for each beat below. When every beat is answered, your shots get cut together and played back as an animatic. You will be watching your own decisions.