Storyboards

A storyboard is a pre-production document that plans a media product shot by shot. Each scene or shot is sketched roughly inside a frame, and the frames are laid out in the order the scenes will appear when the product is finished.

What a storyboard does

Its purpose is to make the content of each scene clear in picture form, and to set those scenes out as a timeline you can read from start to finish. Because the frames sit side by side, the storyboard shows the flow from one scene to the next and how the separate scenes fit together as one product.

It also identifies which scenes have to be captured on camera or built in software, and how the finished clips will be joined together during the edit. That planning saves time and money during production: the director and crew know exactly what has to be filmed before any work starts, so nobody turns up on location guessing what is needed and no costly return visits are caused by a forgotten shot.

Where it sits in pre-production

A script is normally written before the storyboard, because the storyboard turns the script's words into pictures. A shot list is normally produced after the storyboard, because it turns each sketched frame into a numbered list of shots to capture. The storyboard is the visual plan in the middle.

When it is suitable

A storyboard suits live-action film and video, including adverts and promotional videos, where the order of shots needs agreeing before a camera is set up. For example, a group planning a 30-second trailer for a school sports day could sketch six frames: the starter pistol, the sprint, the finish line, the crowd, the medal and the school logo. It also suits animation and computer games, where the frames plan movement and the sequence of events before anything is built.

A storyboard is not a mood board: mood or inspiration images are not usually part of it. It also does not usually hold real stills taken during filming, or plan the typography of the end credits.

A storyboard page has two parts: a header across the top and a grid of frames below it.

The header at the top

The storyboard header is the strip of information written along the top of the document. It holds the project or storyboard title, the author's name, a version number and a page number, for example "Night Market Advert — J. Patel — v2 — page 3 of 5". The title and author tell the crew whose work this is and which production it belongs to. The version number matters because storyboards get redrawn after client feedback, so without it someone could film from an out-of-date printout. The page number keeps a printed set in the right order.

Frames and the order you read them

Each frame is a single box on the page. Frames are read like text: left to right across a row, then top to bottom down the page. Because that reading order matches the running order of the finished product, a reader can follow the whole sequence by scanning the boxes in that direction.

Inside a frame

A frame contains a sketch of the shot plus supporting information about it. The box edges show the camera framing: whatever sits inside them is what the camera will capture. The drawing itself is usually rough and sketchy, because it is a quick plan rather than finished artwork — precise detail belongs in the written information, not the pencil work.

A drawing may spill beyond the edges of its frame, which shows action carrying on outside the shot, such as a bus pulling in from the left. One frame can also stand for several shots or a continuous movement, which saves filling the page with near-identical boxes.

Scenes are numbered in a corner of the frame. If one moment is covered from a second camera angle, a letter is added after the scene number — A for the first view, B for the second — so every set-up for that scene stays grouped and easy to find.

A frame's sketch can only show so much. Written or typed descriptions sit under, beside or inside a frame and add what the drawing cannot show; they should not just repeat what is visible.

What to add

• Scene description — what happens in the shot.
• Timings — how long the scene lasts.
• Camera shot type, angle and movement.
• Action — movement of actors, objects or camera, shown by arrows labelled in capitals or described.
• Transition, lighting or time of day, location and sound.

Camera information

Shot types show how much of the subject fills the frame: extreme close up, close up, mid shot, long shot and extreme long shot. Angles show where the camera is placed: over the shoulder, low, high and aerial. Many can be seen in the drawing, but labelling them keeps the plan clear.

Movement — pan, tilt, zoom, track and dolly — cannot be seen in a still frame, so arrows are drawn between frames. Angle notes tell the crew where to put the camera, help the operator frame and light the shot, and show the director the look. Movement notes keep equipment out of shot, guide the director on actors and the crew on dolly tracks, and let lighting cover the move.

Supporting information

Timings show overall length and highlight long or important shots. They are often left out: scene length follows the script's dialogue.

Location may be a studio, soundstage or outdoor setting, sometimes with a green screen.

Outdoor-looking scenes can be filmed on a soundstage set.

Sound may be dialogue, sound effects, ambient sound or background music. Most sound is planned in the script; a storyboard can flag a sound that causes a reaction and refer back to dialogue.

Transitions — cut, fade in/out, dissolve and wipe — join shots. They are usually added in editing, so note them only where they affect filming.

A digital storyboard is a storyboard that is created and stored as a computer file instead of on paper. The benefits come from the file being easy to share, update and view while the production is still being planned.

Sharing and developing ideas

A digital storyboard is easier and quicker to share with the production team because it is stored digitally. You can email it or put it in a shared folder, so nobody has to photocopy or post paper frames. Other people can also view it while it is still being developed. For example, if you are planning a short film for a school awards evening, the lighting crew could spot that a scene is too dark and suggest a change before filming starts, making the process more efficient.

Reordering frames

Digital frames can be reordered by dragging and dropping. This is quicker and easier than cutting out paper frames and sticking them down again. If your opening scene feels slow, you can move a close-up of the main character earlier in a few seconds, then compare the two versions.

3D planning and capturing a layout

Some dedicated storyboarding software can mock up scenes in three dimensions. This helps you plan where camera equipment will be positioned. For example, if a scene is set in a treehouse, a 3D plan shows whether the camera and its rig will fit through the hatch, and where a light can safely stand on the narrow platform, long before anyone climbs up there.

A physical storyboard laid out in a particular arrangement on a wall is better captured with a digital camera than with a scanner. A camera can photograph the whole wall layout from a distance, keeping the arrangement of frames. A scanner needs flat pages fed into it one at a time, so the layout would be broken up.

A storyboard is made by the creative design team. The director works with a storyboard artist, who turns the script into visual shots. They may produce several versions of the same scene so the best visual plan can be chosen.

Client and director

The client uses the storyboard to see and approve ideas before filming begins, so changes can be made on paper rather than on an expensive shoot. The director uses it to check the sequence that will be filmed and may ask for alternative versions if a scene does not work visually.

Production team and performers

Production staff use the storyboard so that no time is wasted. A location manager can plan where each scene will be filmed, the lighting crew can prepare the right set-up, and camera operators know which shots are needed. Performers use it too: actors see what happens in each shot, stunt performers can plan safe movements, and animal handlers can prepare an animal for its action.

Animation and games

In animation and games, animators use frames to plan movement, 3D modellers know which objects and sets must be built, and game programmers can see how scenes and actions should run. Almost anyone in a production may use a storyboard, but each role relies on different information on it, so think about what someone's job involves before saying how the storyboard helps them.

An effective storyboard is easy to follow from the first frame to the last. Its scenes run in a logical order, so a reader can see how one shot leads into the next, and everything on it relates to the brief — the product, audience and purpose you were given.

What effective looks like

Use a suitable number of scenes: enough to cover every key moment, but not so many that the story repeats itself. Each frame should be clear enough for someone else to understand what happens without having to ask you.

Every frame should carry the technical detail a crew needs, so they know what to set up before filming: scene numbers, timings, which can be approximate, camera shot and angle, camera movement, lighting, sound, location and camera type, such as a DSLR, a phone or a drone. Shot types describe how much of the subject fills the frame; angles describe where the camera is placed. They are different pieces of information, so you need both.

Improving a storyboard with weak written detail

Neat sketches with almost no writing are not an effective storyboard, because the drawing alone cannot tell the crew what to do. Imagine a 30-second advert for a bakery's new breakfast menu where the artist has only drawn the food. Improve it by adding scene numbers and timings, labelling each shot type and angle, drawing arrows for camera or character movement, and noting lighting, sound, location and transitions such as a fade from the kitchen to the counter. Add a short description of the action in each frame so the drawing is not left to guesswork.

Finishing the job

Complete the header with the storyboard title, your name as author, a version number and a page number — without them the team cannot tell which draft they are looking at. Then read the whole thing through and check the order makes sense and that it does what the client asked for. If the client wanted the product shown in the first five seconds, the sequence must do that.