What is a storyboard and how to make one that works

A storyboard is the script drawn out: a sequence of frames showing what will appear on screen, in what order and for how long. It is not an illustration to show off in a presentation; it is a working document that exists so everyone can argue about the video before changing it costs money.

What it is actually for

• Approving the idea while it is cheap. Moving a frame takes ten minutes. Re-animating a finished scene takes days.
• Aligning the team. Client, director, animator and voice artist all see the same thing. Without a storyboard each one pictures a different video, and all three are surprised at the end.
• Costing the job accurately. Counting frames and moves tells you how many seconds of animation there are. That is the basis of a quote that does not blow up mid-project.
• Spotting what is missing. This is where you discover the shot nobody filmed or the graphic nobody designed.

What each frame carries

The drawing is half of it; the other half is the information beside it. A complete frame states:

• Shot number, so people can refer to it in notes.
• Framing: whether it is a wide, a medium or an insert.
• Movement: arrows over the drawing for pans, tracking shots or zooms.
• Estimated duration in seconds. Added up, they must match the target length.
• Voice-over or on-screen text for that shot, word for word.
• Audio: music, silence, effects.

How to do it if you cannot draw

You do not need to. What matters is composition, not line quality. Stick figures work just as well, as do phone photos taken at the actual location, screenshots from reference videos, or the shapes and boxes in any presentation software. On live-action productions, the best storyboard is often photographs of the place taken during the location scout.

From script to animatic

The usual order has three steps and none should be skipped. First the script, locked and timed. Then the storyboard, which turns it into images. Finally the animatic: those same frames edited into a video with scratch voice-over and music, so the real rhythm is already there. The animatic is the ideal moment to ask for big changes; past that point every correction costs.

When it is essential

Whenever a mistake is expensive: in animation — because everything is built from scratch — in commercials with actors, children, animals or locations rented by the hour, and in any piece that will have several versions or languages. A simple interview video may only need a shot list, but even then it pays to have the opening and closing drawn.

Recurring mistakes

• Drawing it too beautifully. A highly finished storyboard gets discussed less, because it looks decided. It should look provisional.
• Leaving out durations. Without seconds there is no way to know whether the script fits the agreed length.
• Approving it over the phone. Approval has to be in writing, frame by frame. That is what prevents the argument about what everyone “had understood”.