Whether you're creating an image video for your company, a short film for a film festival or the next Hollywood blockbuster, creating a storyboard can make all the difference. A storyboard is not only a tool to structure your creative ideas, but also to ensure a smooth production process. This article will explain the importance and benefits of storyboards for film projects of all kinds and introduce a free storyboard template to help you bring your vision to life.
What is a storyboard?
A storyboard is the graphic representation or sketch of a story. You can use it wherever films, animations, advertising videos or other visual media come into play. With the help of a series of images or drawings showing key scenes or plot elements, you can plan a narrative on a visual level before you start the actual production.
The drawing styles can vary considerably. Some storyboard artists create extremely elaborate illustrations, while others prefer to limit themselves to simple stick figure drawings.
What a storyboard is used for
The storyboard gives your production team a clear idea of what the video will look like in the end. It serves as a guide throughout the process and covers various tasks:
- Visualization: The storyboard provides a visual representation of the plot, characters and locations to illustrate the overall picture of the film.
- Collaboration: With a storyboard, the director can make it clear to everyone on set how he envisions the scene. That way, everyone knows what needs to be done and when.
- Camera settings: The storyboard defines the planned camera shots, including angles, movements and cuts, to enable effective visual realization.
- Resource planning: Based on the storyboard, you can efficiently plan and use resources such as actors, locations, props and effects to optimize the production.
The advantages of a storyboard
A storyboard has the significant advantage that it visualizes complex action sequences and thus makes them easier to understand. This allows your production team to understand your ideas and implement them more precisely. Let your creativity flow and add elements to your sketches that you may not have considered before. You can always change and adapt your storyboard template during the creative process if you think of something spontaneously.
As you refine your story and add more details during the planning process, you can use the storyboard to identify errors at an early stage. This saves you a lot of effort during filming and editing. Determine as many details as possible in advance, such as the pace of the story, so that you have a clear head for the essentials during the strenuous days of filming.
The filmmaking process
To produce a film or video, you first need to have an idea. Think first and foremost about the content, but also about the goal and what effect you want to have on your viewers.
If your idea is already fully developed, you should write it down in a script. This way, you won't forget anything and can check the meaningfulness of your story more easily.
This is followed by the storyboard, in which you transfer the plot of your screenplay in the form of visual sketches. Pay attention to details such as camera angles, atmosphere, sound and music to give your story depth.
You should only start filming once both the script and storyboard have been finalized. Because in a film that is not completely planned and organized, the shoot often runs chaotically and with much more effort than is actually necessary.
Once the filming is complete, the next step is the transition to video editing. Once the material has been viewed, selected and edited, you can obtain initial feedback from your audience. In this way, you can check whether your film is understandable and tangible for outsiders. You can then use the feedback to finalize your film.
What your storyboard should include
As already mentioned, a storyboard contains pictures or drawings to visually depict the various scenes. You can draw these by hand or - if you are only moderately artistically talented - create a digital storyboard. You should describe the respective scenes, but not in too much detail. Briefly summarize the important elements such as content, scenery and dialogue.
When creating your storyboard, also make sure that you number the sections so that you or your team don't get mixed up in the order. A division into sequences and scenes is a good way of doing this. Think in advance about which camera settings you would like to use in the respective scenes and write these down as well.
This covers the most important points. However, you can also add other information as required, such as roles involved, props or instructions for editing.
Tips for the perfect storyboard
To ensure that your storyboard really does make your project run more smoothly and that you can implement your project optimally, you should apply the following tips in addition to the basics:
- Sketches: Keep your pictures and drawings simple and straightforward. You don't need detailed works of art to illustrate your vision. However, pay attention to spatial depth and differentiate between background and foreground.
- Focus: Don't get lost in the little things, but always keep the big picture in mind. This is the only way to draw a clear red thread through your film and ensure the continuity of your story.
- Text: Avoid overly detailed and long texts. A storyboard should primarily help to provide an initial overview of the entire film project. Long dialog, on the other hand, belongs in the script.
- Image size: Ideally, create your sketches directly in the format in which you will later shoot the film. This will ensure that everything fits into the frame during filming and that you don't have to change anything at short notice.
- Camera: A storyboard can look different. You can summarize a sequence or create a separate sketch for each camera movement. If you opt for the latter, it makes sense to draw the movements into your visual representations.
Use the free template from SeaTable
With the free template from SeaTable, you can not only easily create your storyboard, but also share it with others and edit it efficiently together.
The storyboard template allows you to clearly plan the plot, scenery, dialog and camera angles. You can also easily add characters, props and stage directions to think through and record your story down to the smallest detail.
If you would like to use this template from SeaTable for your film project, simply register for free with your e-mail address. This way you can start creating your individual storyboard in no time at all and effectively drive your film projects forward.