done storyboarding

I'm finally done storyboarding.  Doing it with actual photographs and puppets, as opposed to the traditional method of drawing the storyboards, was much more time-consuming than I predicted, but I'm tremendously glad I did it.  In one shot, for example, I have to have an action figure get hanged from my Giving Tree.  It's shot from a low angle, so you can see the whole action figure, as well as the rope and the branch from which it's hanging.  Working out the logistics of this shot so that I could actually shoot the storyboard took my entire morning yesterday.  I had to construct a support mechanism for the tree branch, because it's too slim to hold the weight of the action figure on its own, and then figure out a way to hide it from appearing in the frame.  I also had to find the best material and thickness for the rope, because with stop-motion animation, using an actual rope (which doesn't hold its shape) is out of the question.  I ended up stripping and winding two strands of 14 gauge solid-core copper wire, as it has good strength as well as a nice deep color.  Finally, I had to figure out a way to get my hanging action figure into the right positions when it was beyond the capability of the wire.  It turns out that swinging the action figure and taking a well-timed still works sufficiently.  The moral of the story is that had I actually been storyboarding, with a pen and paper and my imagination, this whole challenge would have confronted me when I needed to shoot that shot.  Instead, I worked out all the kinks ahead of time, which will make the filming process incredibly less stressful and more enjoyable.