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  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies
  3. Action Movies

5 Amazing X-Men Storyboards

Features
By Joshua Winning published 21 January 2011

And 13 more John Coven masterpieces

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

X-Men (Storyboard 1)

X-Men (Storyboard 1)

John says: "This is my favorite of the scenes I boarded for X-Men . It does a great job of setting up how much stronger Sabertooth is than Logan. You always want to have your hero as much the underdog as possible. And frame 17 of course uses foreground and background as well as motion to an extreme I find very pleasurable."

Page 1 of 18
Page 1 of 18
X-Men (Storyboard 2)

X-Men (Storyboard 2)

John says: "Again, by making Sabertooth dominant in the frame in 27 Bryan Singer and I worked to emphasis Logan's inferiority in battle."

Page 2 of 18
Page 2 of 18
X-Men (Storyboard 3)

X-Men (Storyboard 3)

John says: "I have to admit I love frame 38 because it appears almost exactly this way in the finished film."

Page 3 of 18
Page 3 of 18
X-Men (Storyboard 4)

X-Men (Storyboard 4)

John says: "And now the cavalry to the rescue. I like the way we introduced Storm and Cyclops in silhouette against the lights of the X-Jet."

Page 4 of 18
Page 4 of 18
X-Men (Storyboard 5)

X-Men (Storyboard 5)

John says: "This page shows how storyboards will often be a first attempt at portraying the look of special effects."

Page 5 of 18
Page 5 of 18
The Crazies

The Crazies

John says: "Here's a terrifying scene from Breck Eisner's The Crazies . The heroes are trapped in a car going through a car wash. One of them is looking out the broken rear window of their car when one of the 'crazies' pops his head into frame from the roof and loops a hose around her neck. The car takes off and... crack!

Breck did a great job of not letting the picture turn into 'just another zombie movie'. He was rewarded by both the critics and the box office."

Page 6 of 18
Page 6 of 18
3: 10 To Yuma (Storyboard 1)

3: 10 To Yuma (Storyboard 1)

John says: "This is the opening of the movie. I like this page because it's full of mood and shows that we, the audience, are going to see the story through the eyes of this boy. The first shot of the film is his point of view, and the last is a close-up of him."

Page 7 of 18
Page 7 of 18
3: 10 To Yuma (Storyboard 2)

3: 10 To Yuma (Storyboard 2)

John says: "I love these shots because they juxtapose extremes of tight and wide. The vastness of the old west, against the penetrating stare of Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). Jim Mangold's a great director with a particular gift for actors and here he's setting up the shots to let Crowe reveal Wade's character."

Page 8 of 18
Page 8 of 18
3: 10 To Yuma (Storyboard 3)

3: 10 To Yuma (Storyboard 3)

John says: "This is when McElroy (Peter Fonda) guesses there's dynamite in Tigue's saddlebag. I just love this 'cos it's such great action (and we storyboard artists crave action)!"

Page 9 of 18
Page 9 of 18
The Uninvited

The Uninvited

John says: "Here's a side-by-side frame comparison of storyboards for The Univited with the finished product.

The film was directed by a pair of Englishmen, the Guard brothers, Tom and Charlie. It's gratifying to see when the resulting film resembles the plan!"

Page 10 of 18
Page 10 of 18
The Green Hornet (Storyboard 1)

The Green Hornet (Storyboard 1)

John says: " The Green Hornet was a dream project for lots of reasons. Foremost was the opportunity to work with Michel Gondry, one of the most creative individuals I've ever worked with.

He's a fountain of ideas that never shuts off. Then there's the fact that storyboard artists (like comic book artists) love drawing guys in masks with cool gizmos like the Hornet's gas gun."

Page 11 of 18
Page 11 of 18
The Green Hornet (Storyboard 2)

The Green Hornet (Storyboard 2)

John says: "Us storyboard guys also like drawing cool cars, especially ones that shoot stuff."

Page 12 of 18
Page 12 of 18
The Green Hornet (Storyboard 3)

The Green Hornet (Storyboard 3)

John says: "Kato was a great character to work on with things like the 1 inch punch."

Page 13 of 18
Page 13 of 18
The Green Hornet (Storyboard 4)

The Green Hornet (Storyboard 4)

John says: "And there were giant action set pieces like the cement mixer vs. the Black Beauty. Honestly, what could be more fun!?"

Page 14 of 18
Page 14 of 18
The Green Hornet (Storyboard 5)

The Green Hornet (Storyboard 5)

John says: "The Black Beauty blowing holes in walls and driving through... If you live in Los Angeles (as with any big city these days) you've dreamed of having a car that can do this.

I've left out a number of my favorite sequences because I don't want them to act as spoilers. Also, I should say that although I've included only big action scenes, there's much more to this film than that! You'll see."

Page 15 of 18
Page 15 of 18
Made Of Honour

Made Of Honour

John says: "Here's another staple of the storyboard artist; the slapstick comedy scene. Patrick Dempsey goes over that horse and right through the doors of the church.

I drew this sequence in the hallowed halls of Sony Studios (the old MGM studios) using locations photos of the church in Scotland where the scene was filmed."

Page 16 of 18
Page 16 of 18
Christmas With The Kranks

Christmas With The Kranks

John says: "This comedy sequence was a combination of a stuntman on the real roof, Tim Allen on a false roof just off the ground, and some digital trickery.

Each shot was worked out in advance so that they would blend together and look like the real thing."

Page 17 of 18
Page 17 of 18
The Million Dollar Hotel

The Million Dollar Hotel

John says: "This is the opening scene, which also repeats at the films end. It was shot on the roof of an old hotel fallen on evil times in downtown Los Angeles' skid row.

I got a chance to work on it with director Wim Wenders, one of my favorite filmmakers and a long time hero of mine. What a thrill!"

To see more of John's awesome movie storyboards, check out his official website .

Page 18 of 18
Page 18 of 18
Joshua Winning
Social Links Navigation

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.  

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