By MEL CODNER

Good movies have to start somewhere. “Where the Wild Things Are” hit theaters with a $32 million opening weekend influenced by art from professional storyboard artist and BYU professor, Ryan Woodward.

Woodward who has also worked on other big-time blockbusters such as “Spiderman 2,” “Spiderman 3” and the upcoming “Ironman 2,” said he particularly enjoyed this assignment because of the unique compositions of scenes he was asked to create.

“[I learned] a very unique way of using the camera that I haven’t used before; using the camera as a live visual tool,” Woodward said.

This entailed “dirtying up” his style by using frames half-blocked by monsters and a shaky, hand-held perspective; putting the camera in the child’s perspective as he’s running around the world of the wild things.  

“It was really fun to think that way,” Woodward said. “I never thought that way for a film.”
Woodward worked with four other artists in creating and developing scenes for the camera crew. Storyboards, he said, are basic blueprints for the director and camera crew to follow.
“[Storyboards] allow the director to budget and know how many people are in the shoot.” Woodward said. “There are a lot of things they can gather on the storyboards that are not on the scripts.”

He said storyboard artists need to have a good cinematic sense, understand how to frame the mood and know how the camera moves.

Woodward received his associate degree at Rick’s College, and then spent eight years in the field of animation before coming to BYU to finish his bachelor’s degree. He later applied for the position in the animation department because he has always wanted to teach students to keep trying.
“Getting a name in there takes time,” Woodward said. “So don’t get frustrated. You’ve got to keep being persistent.”

Taylor Krahenbuhl, a BYU student at the time, helped Woodward with the storyboards for “Where the Wild Things Are” by adding the grayscale value and touch-up work.
“I was really impressed by professor Woodward’s organization,” Krahenbuhl said. “It really helped me in working more efficiently.”

Krahenbuhl said working with Woodward is what really made him consider storyboarding in the future. He is currently doing an internship with Disney doing storyboards. 
“I’m still trying to be good at it, but it was really inspiring to have the chance to work with someone who is a professional in the industry,” Krahenbuhl said.

“Ryan is at the top of his game,” said Kelly Loosli, a BYU animation professor and associate of Woodward’s.

“There is only a select group of guys that get to board in live action and the fact that studios keep using Ryan even though he moved out of L.A. tells you how much they like him and the quality of his work,” Loosli said.