Planning is critical to any production, but this is more so when you have special effects and no budget. So immediately after writer, John Ginn had finalized the script, we set about storyboarding the film.

One of the advantages of storyboards is you get a sense of what works and what doesn't. And when a scene or sequence doesn't work, it allows you an easy and inexpensive way to experiment and to come-up with new ideas until it does.

Besides helping to refine the story, storyboards provide a means to effeciently break down and organize your shooting shedule. This is especially important if you are shooting special effects or big action scenes like a pie fight. You don't want to be wasting time figuring out what your next set-up is when you've got a ton of extras waiting on the set. By grouping similar shots, scenes and sequences together you can minimize the number of times you have to move and set-up your camera, which saves time and money.

You can also use it to help schedule each actor's scenes so you are shooting the most shots with that actor at the same time, which minimizes the amount of time he or she is needed on the production. This is very important if you have an actor whose time is limited. Thus, for Superbman, it meant we could work with professionals like Kirk Alyn and Alvy Moore because we could schedule all their work in one day.

The first series of boards were illustrated by producer, Vern Dietsche, Jr. As you can see, his illustrations were rather primitive. Still, they got the job done. Later. As we began to modify scenes and make changes, director, David Teubner — an industrial design student at the time — took over the task, and obviously, his illustrations are superior. However, what's important is not how good the illustrations are, but the information being conveyed. So whether it's primitive or professional, stick figures or beautifully rendered drawings, what counts is getting it on paper so you can plan.

Little-by-little, over the coming months we will put up all the storyboards. We hope you will find them interesting and be of help to those planning to make their own film — regardless of size or format. Click images to enlarge.