The dreamscape of Christopher Nolan's Inception was filled with odd angles and spinning rooms such as this one. Storyboards helped the director realize his vision for 500 visual effects shots.
Good preparation is part of a director’s job, and storyboards are one of the tools filmmakers use to help plan difficult and complicated shots.
In storyboards by Rob McCallum, man and beast clash at sea in Guillermo del Toro’s homage to Japanese monster movies, Pacific Rim (2013).
Storyboards by Jim Cornish show CGI crystal balls spilling from shelves as Harry and friends escape the Hall of Prophecy in David Yates’ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
Storyboards by Charles Ratteray lead the vampire Spike to a heroic death as the Hellmouth collapses in Joss Whedon’s finale to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2003).
Firefighters attempt a daring rescue in a blazing elevator in a scene from John Guillermin’s The Towering Inferno (1974), as shown in storyboards by Joseph Musso.
Storyboards by Tim Burgard helped Michael Mann re-create Muhammad Ali battling Ernie Terrell at the Astrodome in Ali (2001).
Having Nicole Kidman swing from the rafters in an early scene from Moulin Rouge (2001) required detailed planning by director Baz Luhrmann, with an assist from storyboard artist David Russell.
A mysterious stream of energy is returned to the Ark in Ed Verreaux's storyboards for Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Storyboards for Alien (1979) drawn by Ridley Scott, with his handwritten notes, show how the director visualized the first encounter with the extraterrestrial monster.
Saul Bass’ storyboards helped Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins get West Side Story (1961) off to a rousing start on the streets of New York.
Cecil B. DeMille used epic staging and what was then state-of-the art special effects to show Moses parting the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments (1956), with an assist from storyboard artist Harold Michelson.
Storyboards by Alex Tavoularis and Tom Wright map out Col. Kilgore’s attack on a beachfront in Vietnam while blasting “Ride of the Valkyries” in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.
Shots for an oil well explosion and rescue are detailed in storyboards by Kevin MacCarthy for Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood.
Chris Bonura's storyboards helped director Robert Zemeckis meld archival and new footage in Forrest Gump.
Roger Spottiswoode uses storyboards to plot James Bond's escape from a Bangkok skyscraper in Tomorrow Never Dies.
In storyboards by Chris Buchinsky, Spidey battles Doc Ock on a speeding train in the climax of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2.
CGI dinosaurs came alive for the first time in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park with an assist from storyboard artist David Lowery.
George Lucas mapped out where he was going in Star Wars with storyboards for everything from the opening credits to the climactic battle between the evil empire and the rebel forces.
Famed title artist Saul Bass’ storyboards for Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus.
Storyboards by William Cameron Menzies detail the burning of Atlanta scene from Gone With the Wind.
Storyboards for Michael Bay’s Transformers visualized the battle between man and machine.
Storyboards for the "Do-Re-Mi" number in The Sound of Music show how Robert Wise carefully orchestrated the scene.
Storyboards by Sylvain Despretz for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator burst through the panels and suggest the intensity the director will ultimately deliver to the action.
In this new column, the Quarterly presents Alfred Hitchcock's original storyboards for the famed shower sequence in Psycho.