Establish the protectors in a wide shot.
The wide shot establishes how the boy is protected from two directions: Nova watches from above and Onyx stays beside him. The suspended paintings are already in view before one becomes a threat.
Original animated short · Directing breakdown
INKBOUND
A hand reaches through a painting. Onyx puts herself between it and the boy, while Nova has room to act from above. The breakdown follows how the camera keeps those roles clear as the danger closes in.
- Created and directed by
- Abiola Fapohunda
- Studio
- Verum Artifex Studios
- Format
- Original animated fantasy short · 2 min 37 sec
Finished film · Four frames
Keep the action readable as the world changes.
The wide shots show where the danger comes from. The closer shots show what it costs the boy and how each protector responds.
Make the threat cross a visible boundary.
The shot keeps the frame in view as the hand emerges. We see exactly where the threat comes from and how close it is to the boy.
Cut close when the rescue becomes personal.
The cut moves the rescue from spectacle to the boy’s point of view. His grip tells us how much he’s relying on Nova before we see her in full again.
Keep both characters legible in a tighter frame.
Putting Onyx in the foreground and Nova behind her keeps both protectors in the shot. The painting stays visible, so the tighter framing still tells us where the danger is.
Directing process
Carry the characters forward. Restage the action.
Abi used frames from existing footage to start new sequences and kept character references separate from instructions for staging. The character cues could carry over while the camera angle, distance, and blocking changed for each beat.
Film & creative direction