Sometimes, the process of producing a video can be intimidating. If you’ve clicked on this link, you’re probably a video creator of some sort whether it be live-action, animation, stop motion etc. and you want to elevate your video content. Well, you’ve come to the right place because I can guarantee you that creating a storyboard for your video is a key step in your overall process to producing your video with the highest quality.
What is a Storyboard?
Now you may have created video content but have never heard of a storyboard. Storyboarding dates back all the way to the 1930s when Walt Disney developed the idea and was first created for the Disney short “The Three Little Pigs”. Storyboarding is a visual representation of how the story of your video will unfold, shot by shot. It is made up of ordered pictures or illustrations/drawings of what the shot is going to be. Underneath the visual representation, there is usually a description of the action, the type of shot and angle it is, and any dialogue from the script that is going to accompany the shot.
The Different Kinds of Storyboards
Like most things in life, there are different approaches and kinds of storyboards that have been discovered and developed over the years. There are 3 different kinds, those being:
Traditional storyboards
Thumbnail storyboards
Animated storyboards
Traditional Storyboards
Traditional storyboards are various pencil or ink drawings that assist in visualising the story of a video before beginning to fim. They can be displayed sequentially in a sketchbook or hung up on a wall. This method allows you to be as detailed or simple as you want.
Several traditional storyboards also have written notes under the drawings to describe what is happening in the scene. These notes can be in point form and brief.
Thumbnail Storyboards
The second type of storyboard is thumbnail storyboards. Like a thumbnail for a YouTube video, a thumbnail storyboard shows a representation of what the premise is. Thumbnail storyboards call for tiny sketches - the size of a postage stamp - that shows your shots in your video on pieces of paper.
However, due to the miniscule size of these sketches, it leaves little room for detail. This version of storyboarding is beneficial for quickly outlining your ideas before making a more detailed version of your storyboard using a method such as the traditional storyboard.
Animated Storyboards
The world of technology is always evolving, making it possible to create things such as live animations helping to create animated storyboards. Animated storyboards have dialogue and music. They are composed of sketches strategically filmed to show timing, pacing and flow of a scene and it is much easier to get your story across.
Why Should You Storyboard?
Have you ever watched a book-to-movie adaptation and was disappointed because it wasn’t what you pictured? I’m sure there are many cases like this. A storyboard helps you to share your vision with others and really help sell the story whether it is a campaign for a commercial to a big Hollywood film.You can then get feedback from others and make changes. They may help you to fill in gaps that were missing in the story so that everything that happens in your story flows with no loose ends. If just a storyboard can move people and connect the audience to the characters, imagine how the end product will be recieved! By making a storyboard, it helps your pre-production process and helps you to remember what shots you need. By having the story all laid out before production begins, it saves a lot of time and energy and will make sure you are using your time efficiently.
Creating a Storyboard
You may be thinking to yourself, “Wow, a new step to the process?” Don’t worry, it’s fairly simple. Storyboarding is fairly similar to a shot list. However, storyboards are laid out in a much more story-like manner.
The process of creating a storyboard can be as simple or elaborate as you want to make it. Before storyboarding was first developed, animator Webb Smith was credited by Disney for the idea of drawing out scenes on separate sheets of paper, pinning them up on a bulletin board to create a sequence of a story, thus creating the first ever storyboard
Storyboards can be very simple and you don’t have to be an artist to create a storyboard. You can make one as simple as drawing stick figures using a professional program. The choice is up to you and your ability level. Choose what suits you.
There are many different methods of storyboarding.
You can use:
Sketches with descriptions
Google slides
Insert pictures into a slide with bullet-point descriptions
Google docs
Create a table and insert pictures into the columns
Make sure you number the pictures accordingly
Underneath the pictures, add descriptions
Celtx
Storyboarder (It’s paid but a great option for artists)
Draw in depth illustrations of the shot to clearly visualise the story with 6 different drawing tools
Enter dialogue and action underneath the panel. You can also include the timing information and shot type
These are just some of the many options to create a storyboard.
Not all storyboards have to be created from sketches or drawings. You can also go to your filming locations with your actors and take pictures that will help visually represent the shot and action. In my opinion, taking pictures of the shot is much more efficient as you will have a clear, visual representation of the shot and angle you will need when it comes to production time. Since it is harder within illustrations to create 3D depth, a photo will help you to understand exactly what your vision is, along with the description that will be provided under each picture in your storyboard.
Do you know what you want your video to accomplish? What is the purpose for the video and what is the message you want to get across? What feelings are you trying to evoke in the audience? Make sure this is clear and set goals for your video. If you are getting feedback from others that your idea is evoking the emotions you wanted, you know you are on track.
To create a storyboard, you first want to break down your script into actions as you will need to describe the action of each shot when you storyboard. You want to draw/import images that will move the action along. Too many images can be overwhelming and you will waste time that could be spent on other details. On the other hand, too little images will make your storyboard hard for people to understand. Know the right amount.
Then, you will want to make multiple blank panels and number them in order. There are many storyboarding outlines online or you can create your own.
Next you will want to write up a description that includes the action, the type of shot and angle and dialogue that will accompany the shot.
You don’t have to stop there! You can make multiple storyboards and revise and edit through the process.
All storyboards should include:
The project name
Even if you don’t have one, create a working title and you can rename this later
The scene number
Numbering scenes is important so you don’t get the order of your story mixed up
Page number
Conclusion
There you have it! This is everything you need to know about storyboarding and how to create your very own video storyboard. You now know what a storyboard is, the different types of storyboards, why you should storyboard and how to create a storyboard. Do you think this will help you to improve your video production? Let us know in the comments below!
Written by Amy Anstett
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