Today, alongside a strong script, my most important communication tool while directing is a detailed storyboard.
In my childhood (long before I ever hit record on a video camera), the most immediate way that I expressed my creativity was through drawing. It became a favorite pastime, spending hours each week sketching small comic books, going through reams of paper. That early foundation of storytelling through sequential images led to my interest in a more immediate way of creating stories through images – filmmaking.
What is a storyboard?
Storyboards are pre-drawn, comic-book-style renderings of the story that the crew plans to film. Although the precise form of these boards can differ from project to project and artist to artist, most include arrows and guiding lines to dictate blocking, camera movement, lighting, and effects. Additional text descriptions communicate choices with camera, dialogue, sound, and action.
Storyboards are frequently used in film and television projects. Certain feature film directors, like Joel and Ethan Coen, are prolific in their use of storyboards to communicate their ideas. As they describe in the commentary track for their first feature Blood Simple, storyboards can act as a cost-saving measure, communicating exact needs for props and locations, and even the scheduling of actors and crew.
In my own work, I find that storyboards are a helpful security blanket. On most scripted shoots, I would feel comfortable improvising shots and coverage without prep if needed. But, the backup of having storyboards allows me and the entire crew to fall back on a prepared sequence of camera setups and blocking if inspiration isn’t striking in the moment or there’s a tight time crunch in the schedule.
A storyboard ATCP made for Sweater’s Barnburner Event.
Storyboards in Advertising Projects
Mechanically, making a 30-second ad is very similar to crafting a longer-form film project—the largest difference is an ad usually affords greater budget-per-second than independent fiction film. For ad projects, storyboards often become much more detailed and strict so the client can see precisely what the final product will look like prior to filming.
When I’m pitching for a project that has been sent out to bid to multiple other production companies, I’ll often create full-color, handcrafted storyboards for the client to review. Creating these boards can be time-intensive, but they don’t simply articulate shot choices and style—the hand-drawn nature of them shows the time investment, thought, and seriousness of our team’s proposal.
These are what our storyboards can look like in a pitch deck for a client.
Storyboards in Fiction
As I mentioned earlier, storyboards can speed up the production process on a shoot since many of the difficult creative decisions of how to shoot the scene have already been made before the crew arrives. Most of my fiction film projects have been self-funded, low-budget shorts, and maximizing value and speed is always a top concern on the day of shooting.
Beyond the time and money efficiencies, I’ve found that creating and sharing these boards with collaborators is a quick way to earn trust among crew and actors. By showing up with detailed boards, shot sheets, and schedules, everyone on set knows that they are being taken care of by a director who has put in the time to make the day a success.
Side by side of the storyboard and the final shot.
Creating the Storyboards
If I’m creating high-quality storyboards for a pitch or high-budget project, I’ll often create the boards using a digital painting software such as Adobe Photoshop (but there are free alternatives, like GIMP and Microsoft Paint) paired with a digital drawing pad. I often use a Wacom Intuos or a Wacom Cintiq, but you could also use a tablet, iPad, or other drawing device. Depending on the level of detail required, I’ll create separate layers for linework, color, direction arrows, and text.
However, you can still fashion effective boards without access to these tools. I’ve drawn my share of stick-person storyboards on scrap paper, and I’ve also used reference stills from movies and stock footage to help communicate movement, blocking, and framing. If this still feels daunting, there are many free online templates, tools, and generators for storyboards that can be helpful.
A storyboard created for an opening shot of a John Deere video.
A Final Thought on Generative AI, Storyboards, and Friction
With the increasing power and popularity of generative AI tools, it is entirely possible to AI-generate storyboards in record time. And, maybe that’s an attractive option for your personal workflow. While I could put up arguments against overusing AI for a number of reasons, I’d like to offer a creative one.
Drawing detailed storyboards takes time.
To do them well, you need to consider continuity between frames, the blocking of actors, camera movement, lens choices, costume changes, prop placement, and rhythm. There’s friction involved between the ideas in my head and the speed at which I can reproduce them through a drawing.
More often than not, that’s a good thing. With that extra time and focus, I find that I more deeply consider creative choices while simultaneously reflecting on what our team will need to do to pull off the production on the day of the shoot. And while that extra time to create the boards can feel like a slog, that careful consideration pays dividends when cameras start rolling.