Storyboards are a fantastic way to help convey the direction of your film project with other collaborators, and they help you stay on track as the filmmaker as well.
Are they 100 percent necessary to bring you vision to life? Absolutely not, but I can speak from experience that when I’ve used storyboards they have helped me get closer to my original vision.
I usually start planning a film by just writing down all of the ideas that I can come up with,
A set of locations, characters, key events etc.
Then, I will transfer everything over to shot list and start to flesh out more detail
As I play the film from start to finish over and over again in my head, more ideas come in, like shot angles, colors, moods, key events and more.
Once I have my shot list completed or an actual script written, I will then start to draw out some storyboards.
Shot list and scripts are great for telling your story, but storyboards really help to bring the visual element in that films are the essence of what a film is.
You don’t have to be a great artist to use storyboards, you can get by with just drawing stick figures and crude shot angles and settings,
But if you have a friend who is a great artist, maybe consider paying them to sit down with you and draw out your boards scene by scene.
The better image quality will help translate your vision better, and when everything is done, you’ll have a pretty cool memento of the film you made.
If you don’t know anyone that is a great artist, you can find freelancers on sites like fiverr.com or production sites like filmlocal.com that may be able to help you out.
And with the help of the wonderful internet, they don’t even have to be in the same room with you to get the job done!
When your planning out and drawing your storyboards, think about things like, locations, settings, how many actors are in the shot, are there any important props in the scene? Is this a close up, medium shot, a wide shot?
Is the shot a high angle or low angle?
What kind of movement will be occurring in the shot you are drawing?
You could also take note of any special effects or special lighting that might be taking place in the scene as well.
I also like to write a brief description below each storyboard frame that explains what’s going on in the shot, and may also include any dialogue as well.
I created a storyboard template a while back that is free for you to download from my online store.
If you’d like to download it, print it out and start drawing your own storyboards, just follow the link in the description below and get started!
Let me know if you have used my storyboard template on any projects and maybe leave a link to the project in the comments below so we can all check it out!
Thanks, and happy storyboarding!
-Ryan