Storyboard Masterclass: a week of visual storytelling for Computer Animation & Visual Effects students.
From January 26 to 30, the Storyboard Masterclass took place, addressed to all students of the Master’s Degree Programme in Computer Animation and Visual Effects. This intensive course was part of the academic curriculum and focused on cinematic pre-visualization as a key tool for visual storytelling.
Throughout the week, students explored the role of storyboard in building sequences capable of attracting, engaging, and emotionally guiding the viewer, working on the relationship between framing, rhythm, and narrative continuity. The course alternated visual material analysis, cinematic examples, and hands-on classroom activities, encouraging a structured and conscious design-oriented approach.
Particular attention was devoted to the transmission of emotions through the construction of a sequence, a scene, or a single shot, with the aim of developing strong skills in cinematic storytelling applied to animation and visual effects.
Masterclass contents
❯ The programme addressed the main theoretical and practical aspects of storyboard, including:
❯ the storyboard alphabet: shot types, camera movements, and visual continuity
❯ differences between storyboard use in cinema and animation, from features to series
❯ visual storytelling and cinematic pre-visualization
❯ shot composition as a tool to express emotions and atmospheres
The lecturer
The masterclass was led by Marco Zanoni, character animator and storyboard artist. He graduated in Animation Cinema at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome and took part in the Venice International Film Festival with one of his short films.
Throughout his career, he has collaborated with some of Italy’s most important animation and advertising production studios, including Bozzetto, MixFilm, RDA70, and GreenMovie. He created the reference animations for the characters in La Gabbianella e il Gatto, directed by Enzo D’Alò.
From 2000 to 2004, he worked for Walt Disney, contributing to the development of sequels and original productions. He has also served as lead animator and supervising animator on several international feature films, including La famosa invasione degli Orsi in Sicilia, directed by Lorenzo Mattotti.
His collaborations also include La Tartaruga Rossa, directed by Academy Award winner Michael Dudok de Wit, the first European co-production by Studio Ghibli, nominated for the Academy Awards and winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 2016.
