What is a storyboard and why do we need it?
Creating a film is a long process that requires many resources. For the work to go smoothly and on time, preliminary preparation is necessary. Part of this preparation is the creation of the storyboard.
What is a storyboard?
A storyboard is a visual outline of a film, whether short or full-length, animation or video. It consists of a series of images that show everything that will happen in the finished product. The storyboard can be drawn by hand or edited with the appropriate software, and in it looks like a comic book or a graphic novel.
Why is the storyboard important?
Once you have the scenario, you already know what is happening in your project. The task of the storyboard is to turn words into images. Any image should include enough information so that someone who is never in the scene can look at it and understand what’s happening. Good storyboards are extremely useful, especially in big action series.
We can take the storyboard for the graphic novelization of our scenario, where each panel represents a new camera angle or key moment of the action. The purpose of this storyboard is to ensure you get all the information you need on set to create a coherent and exciting story when it comes time to edit. At the same time, the storyboard helps to avoid unnecessary time in shooting scenes or post-production and special effects.
How to make a storyboard?
The storyboard must contain the most important elements from each scene. Although it is a static image, the final result will be a moving video or animation that follows the entire storyline, so it is important to indicate the movement. You can, for example, mark the direction in which the person is walking with arrows. Also, you should include all the props that are present in the final product, as well as the different angles of the camera. A good practice is to make a general plan of all the details in the frame without going into distracting details.
Once you’ve created the images, it’s useful to add a few words to give more context to what’s going on.
If you want to learn more about making a storyboard join our VFX and animation program!
