Behind the Film: “Storyboard: The Musical”

Introduction:

Our film, “Storyboard: The Musical,” is an original musical short film about a recent high school graduate who is making her first animated short film with the help of her friends. This was a personal project that my sister and I worked on together as a team.

Inspiration:

My sister (Ally Gibbs) and I are new to filmmaking and have truly been enjoying the journey. We have always had a love for hand-drawn animation and the classic films (especially musical films) that families can watch together. Growing up, a dream was planted in our hearts to work on a project together, and it became clear that making this film was the next step for us. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7) is a Bible verse we held onto throughout the process, especially when navigating the unique challenges of making our film. We feel so blessed to have worked together for the first time, and hope to keep working together on future projects.

The Process

“Storyboard: The Musical” was filmed in Idaho in the United States. This is our first time producing any type of film or music, so production lasted from 2024 to 2025. We really enjoyed learning how to make an original musical film that included both live-action film and hand-drawn animation. As my sister Ally Gibbs was learning how to animate, I was learning how to compose and produce the film’s songs. We are so thankful that throughout the production process, so many doors that we prayed about opened for us, like being able to film multiple days in an operating movie theatre at no cost. This is the very same theatre I went to growing up— in other words, the first theatre I saw a film in was the theatre we made our first film in.

What It Means to Be a Finalist:

We are so grateful to be included in the Worcester Film Festival. It’s a meaningful milestone in our filmmaking journey since it’s the first showing of our film outside of our country, and we want to thank the festival team for being so great to work with.