Have you wondered, “What is a storyboard?”
Hi, this is Teena Hughes with “What is a storyboard?” — today’s frequently asked question.
A storyboard is :
- a sheet of paper or electronic device screen with a grid drawn on it
- possibly three or four across and large enough to draw in
- each section of the grid becomes a sketch, an idea, or thought about a scene for a video
- print the storyboard, and start to sketch ideas for each “shot” or “scene” with the video camera/smart phone
- no drawing skill is required – stick figures work great!
- Storyboarding is one of the first steps in video planning and creation.
When I’m with a client, I’ll have some sheets of paper with me where I’ve already drawn grids on the page — well, I’ve actually printed them to make it neat and tidy :-)
While chatting with my client, we talk about what needs to be in the video, and I make a short list of highlights.
As we chat, I start to work out how many of those ideas can fit into a 1, 2 or 3 minute video etc.
I start to draw stick figures in each box, with text if we plan to have important points appear in the video as well as whatever is in the background.
These are first “drafts” so we can cross them out, draw new ones, renumber them until it starts to feel right.
I can get the client’s signature and the date on the document, then go back to the office and create a tidier version on my laptop, which gets emailed to the client.
This is part of the process or planning a video, and the document gets added to the client’s file or Project, whether digital or printed.
I check this item off the Video Planning Checklist, so I always know where I’m up to with each client Project.
What do you do when planning videos? Do you create a storyboard of some description?
I admit I don’t do this for my own videos, but it does help clients start to visualise what their video will look like.
PS — Don’t forget to grab a storyboard for yourself below:
PS if the download link is not visible, please send me a message – thank you!
Let me know if you have any questions. – or pop over to Facebook or YouTube to chat with me there :-)
Want to watch the video on YouTube? Click here >>
Ciao ciao for now
Teena Hughes