The Forgotten Island: Simon Wells boards the emotion
Storyboard artist and filmmaker Simon Wells joined Kingdom of Dreams to talk about DreamWorks' The Forgotten Island. He describes an incredibly colorful visual world, and a story that is more emotional, and more moving, than the premise might suggest. Boarding is directing on paper: it is where those two promises either meet or drift apart.
A board can design a gorgeous world and still miss the movie if it only tracks geography. Wells's conversation points at the other job: making sure the emotional turn has a picture, not just a line of dialogue that will try to do the work later.
That is why story artists sit so close to directing. They are already deciding what the audience looks at when a character changes.
Go deeper on Kingdom of Dreams
- → EP 325: Simon Wells on storyboarding The Forgotten Island
- → EP 147: Simon Wells on Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- → EP 122: Simon Wells on An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
Browse more directing and animation conversations in the Kingdom of Dreams archive.
Original Kingdom of Dreams craft take based on our conversation with Simon Wells (EP 325).