A storyboard turns a script into pictures before you shoot or animate. This guide covers what a storyboard is, what a storyboard artist does, and how to build one panel by panel, with shot types, camera moves, a free template, and full examples.
By
Larry Mutenda
Quick answer: To storyboard a video, break the script into shots and sketch each one as a frame. On each panel note the action, the dialogue or voiceover, and the shot type and camera move. Keep the drawings rough. The point is to plan the visuals and the timing before you shoot or animate, not to make finished art.
A storyboard is a sequence of drawings that shows a video shot by shot before it is made. Think of it as the visual version of the script. Each frame is one shot, with a rough sketch of what is on screen plus notes on the action, the sound, and how the camera behaves. Put together in order, the frames show how the finished video will look and flow.
The storyboard sits between the script and the shoot. The script says what happens and what is said. The storyboard shows how it will look. It is a planning tool, not artwork, so the drawings can be simple. A stick figure in the right shot with a clear note is worth more than a beautiful frame that took an hour.
| Document | What it is | When you use it |
|---|---|---|
| Script | The words and the on-screen action | First, before anything visual |
| Storyboard | Frame-by-frame drawings of each shot | After the script, to plan the visuals |
| Shot list | A checklist of every shot to capture | On set, so nothing is missed |
| Animatic | The storyboard frames timed to audio | After the storyboard, to test pacing |
A storyboard artist draws that shot-by-shot plan during pre-production. They read the script, work with the director to understand the vision, and turn each scene into frames that the crew or the animators can build from. The job is part drawing and part visual problem-solving, since they are deciding how each moment is framed and how one shot cuts to the next.
The role calls for solid figure drawing, a working knowledge of cinematography and camera work, and clear communication with the rest of the team. Storyboard artists work in film and television, animation studios, video games, music videos, and advertising, often as freelancers hired per project. When a director wants to change a scene, the storyboard artist is the one who sketches the new version fast so everyone can see it before money is spent shooting it.
A storyboard is the cheapest place to solve visual problems. Moving a shot on paper takes a pencil. Moving it on a shoot day costs crew hours, and moving it in animation costs days of rebuilt work. Boarding the video first lets you catch the problems while they are still free to fix.
It also gets everyone looking at the same video before it exists. A client can approve the look and the flow from the boards. The crew can see exactly which shots to get. An animator can see the action laid out in order. That shared picture is what keeps a shoot on schedule and an animation on budget.
Each panel is one shot, and a good one carries more than a drawing. The sketch shows the framing and the main action. Around it, short notes fill in what the drawing cannot: the dialogue or voiceover for that moment, the shot type, the camera move, and often a panel number and a rough duration. Arrows on the frame show movement, either of a subject or of the camera.
Keep the drawings rough. Rough frames, sometimes called scamps, are meant to be quick. What matters is that the composition reads clearly: where the subject sits in the frame, what is in the foreground and background, and where the eye should land. Lighting and time-of-day notes help on more detailed boards, but clarity beats polish every time.
Storyboards use a shared visual language, and knowing it makes your boards readable to any crew. The two things you mark on almost every panel are the shot type, which is how much of the scene the frame shows, and the camera move, which is what the camera does during the shot. Mixing shot sizes is what gives a video rhythm, so vary them rather than shooting everything at one distance.
| Shot | What it shows | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Wide / establishing | The whole scene and where it takes place | Opening a scene, setting context |
| Medium | A subject from roughly the waist up | Dialogue and general action |
| Close-up | A face or a single detail | Emotion, reactions, product detail |
| Extreme close-up | One small detail filling the frame | Emphasis on a key feature |
| Over-the-shoulder | A subject framed past another person | Conversations between two people |
| Point of view | What a character sees | Putting the viewer inside the scene |
Then note how the camera moves, if it moves at all. A held, static frame is a valid choice and often the right one. When the camera does move, mark which move it is so the crew or the animator knows the intent.
| Camera move | What the camera does |
|---|---|
| Pan | Turns left or right from a fixed point |
| Tilt | Turns up or down from a fixed point |
| Zoom | Changes the lens to move closer or wider |
| Dolly | Moves toward or away from the subject |
| Truck | Moves left or right alongside the subject |
| Pedestal | Moves straight up or down |
Start from the locked script and go through it beat by beat, marking where each new shot begins. One line of narration might need three shots. A long action might be one. This pass turns the words into a list of moments to draw.
Sketch each shot fast and small. These are scamps, so do not worry about the quality of the drawing. Get the composition down: where the subject is, what fills the frame, and roughly what angle you are on.
Under or beside each frame, write what happens in the shot and what the viewer hears, whether that is a line of dialogue, a voiceover, or a sound effect. This is what connects the picture back to the script.
Label each panel with its shot size and any camera move. Add arrows on the frame to show a subject or the camera moving. Now the panel tells the crew both what to point at and how.
Number the panels in order and tidy anything that does not read clearly. Add lighting or time-of-day notes where they matter. On a bigger project this is where a storyboard artist cleans up the frames so the whole sequence is easy to follow.
Walk the boards with the people who need to sign off. For anything where timing matters, drop the frames into a sequence and set them to the audio to make an animatic. That is the moment you find out the pacing is off while it is still cheap to change.
Live-action and animation use storyboards differently. On a live-action shoot the board plans coverage. It tells the crew what to point the camera at and reminds everyone which shots have to be captured on the day. You will not draw every second, just the key shots. On animation the board carries far more weight, because nothing exists until it is built. Every shot on the board becomes work for an animator, so the boards effectively drive the whole production. Both start from a locked video script, and on live-action the board feeds the shot list and the shoot that our guide to videography walks through.
The level of detail differs too. A live-action board can stay loose, because a real location and real actors will fill in the texture. An animation board has to be more specific, since a vague frame leaves an animator guessing at action that costs real time to build. When in doubt on an animation board, draw the key poses and spell out what moves.
These three get mixed up, and they do different jobs. The storyboard is the drawings. The shot list is a plain checklist of every shot the crew needs to capture, used on set to make sure nothing is missed. The animatic is the next step after the boards: the frames placed in order and timed to the audio, so you can watch a rough version of the video and judge the pacing before you commit.
Here are two short example boards written out as tables. On paper each row would be a drawn frame. Copy the structure and sketch your own.
A six-panel board for a short trail-running spot.
| Panel | Shot | Action | Camera / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wide, establishing | A runner laces up on an empty trail at dawn | Static, low angle |
| 2 | Medium | The runner stands, breathes, looks up the trail | Slow push in |
| 3 | Close-up | Feet hit the dirt and kick up mud | Static, fast cuts |
| 4 | Wide | The runner crests a ridge, the city far below | Drone pull back |
| 5 | Close-up | A hand wipes sweat, a small smile | Handheld |
| 6 | Wide | The runner stops at the top. Logo fades in | Static, hold |
A six-panel board for an animated product spot. Notice how the action is written to be built rather than filmed.
| Panel | Shot | Action | Camera / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full frame | A cluttered desktop of app icons shakes and overflows | Static |
| 2 | Medium | A tired character slumps in the middle of it | Slow zoom in |
| 3 | Close-up | One clean icon glows and pulses | Static |
| 4 | Full frame | Icons fly across and snap into neat folders | Quick pan across |
| 5 | Medium | The character sits up, relaxed | Static |
| 6 | Full frame | The logo animates on with a tagline | Static, hold |
Use this template for any board. Each row is one panel. On paper, leave a box above each row for the sketch and fill in the details below.
| Panel | Shot type | Camera | Action (in frame) | Audio (VO, dialogue, SFX) | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Wide, medium, close-up…] | [Static, pan, push in…] | [What is in the frame] | [What we hear] | [e.g. 3s] |
| 2 | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
| 3 | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
| 4 | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
You do not need special software to storyboard. Paper and a pencil work for most projects, and many directors still prefer them for the first pass. If you want something digital, dedicated tools like Boords and the free Storyboarder app are built for this, and general tools like Canva or Milanote can do the job for simple boards. Pick whatever lets you get frames down fast, because speed matters more than features at the planning stage.
A storyboard is a sequence of drawings that shows a video shot by shot before it is filmed or animated. Each frame is one shot with notes on the action, the audio, the shot type, and any camera move. It is the visual plan that sits between the script and the shoot.
Break the locked script into shots, sketch each one as a rough frame, then add the action and audio notes, the shot type, and the camera move. Number the panels, review them with your team, and for timing-sensitive work turn them into an animatic set to the audio.
No. Storyboards are planning tools, not artwork. Stick figures and simple boxes work as long as the framing and the action read clearly. Professional storyboard artists draw well, but for planning your own video, clear beats pretty.
A storyboard artist reads the script, works with the director, and draws the video shot by shot during pre-production. They plan the framing and camera angles and sketch changes fast when the director wants to try something new. They work in film, television, animation, games, and advertising.
A storyboard is the set of drawings. An animatic is those drawings placed in order and timed to the audio, so you can watch a rough version of the video and judge the pacing. The animatic comes after the storyboard.
Almost always. Because every shot in animation has to be built from scratch, the storyboard is what the whole production works from. Skipping it usually means rebuilding shots later, which is far more expensive than boarding them first.
A rough sketch of the shot, a note on the action, the dialogue or voiceover, the shot type, the camera move, and usually a panel number and a rough duration. Arrows show any movement of the subject or the camera.
Many still start on paper. Common digital options include dedicated tools such as Boords and the free Storyboarder app, and general tools like Photoshop, Procreate, Canva, or Milanote. The best tool is the one that lets you lay out frames quickly.
After the script is locked and before the shoot or the animation begins. The storyboard turns the finished script into a visual plan, and on live-action it then feeds the shot list used on set.
A storyboard is just the script drawn out, shot by shot, so everyone can see the video before it is made. Break the script into shots, sketch each one rough, and note the action, the audio, the shot type, and the camera move. Keep it fast and clear rather than polished. Do that and you catch the problems on paper, where they are cheap to fix, instead of on a shoot day or halfway through an animation.
Larry is the Founder and Producer at Mammothic Films, founded in 2009. He leads a team that creates story-driven videos for businesses and brands. A marketer, designer, and animator, Larry has overseen the production of more than 1,500 videos for Fujitsu, Logitech, Warner Brothers, NFL, Blockdaemon, Astronomer, Canonical, and 370+ other companies in Canada, USA, and around the world.
Larry is a devout christian who believes in placing God first, and that everything else is a blessing that comes from serving Him. When he’s not working, he’s hanging out with his wife and three kids, playing the piano, or sight-seeing.
