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Why Storyboard Your Film?

What is a storyboard? Wikipedia’s definition is: a storyboard is a graphic organizer in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.

In simpler terms, if you are a director or animator, it is key scenes drawn out in comic strip format that assists you and your crew to visualize scenes. When you are ready to begin shooting, you will know which shots are essential to telling your story and for best impact.

If you are an artist, you may find your skills in high demand. If you’re not an artist and have a small budget to work with, (like myself) you do your best with a pencil and a box of crayons.

Below each illustration, you’ll want to write a short description indicating whether it’s interior or exterior, plus type of shot. Example: wide, master, close, medium. You should include dialogue and what is happening in each scene.

Your storyboard should be able to read like a comic book and provide a sense of what’s happening in the film. It doesn’t have to be incredibly detailed or even in color. As long as it conveys your frame and characters it will be incredibly helpful.

Storyboarding will save you time in production as well as post production when working out any key issues wrong with the scenes. It’s much cheaper and less time consuming being able to fix it on paper.

(Image: Whisternefet via WikiMedia Commons)

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