Creation of a Short-Film Storyboard

The author of this tutorial is T. Skaarup.

This tutorial was created using the AKVIS Sketch plug-in with the Adobe PhotoShop photo editor.

Motion Pictures, TV Commercials, You-Tube Videos, Music Videos, Stage Plays, and other productions that require extensive planning often use "Storyboards". Storyboards are similar to very basic "comic books" of the action with a few important differences.

Storyboards:

  1. Take into account the POV (Point-of-View) of the Camera or Audience. The location and motion of the camera is represented. This helps the Cinematographer map out the course of the filming. It also helps determine if a crane, rail, hand-truck, or gyro-stabilizer will be needed.
  2. Take into account the necessary motion of the Actors or Props. This helps the Director tell the story without words. Storyboards can be very a powerful tool when used correctly.
  3. State the dialogue that needs to spoken during the Scene. Helps determine what is essential for the story and prevents mistakes such as making the actors speak dialogue while running, climbing, dancing, etc.
  4. Are black-and-white. Color is only used when an item in the scene absolutely requires (for the story) to have a color. When the color is not stated it gives the Set Designers, Costumer Designers, Prop Department and others a greater amount of freedom. When a color is given in the Storyboard then that color is essential to the story.
  5. Are Low-Resolution. The images should clearly convey the action in the scene. But the Storyboard image should not overpower the story itself. Clear and Simple images are the best.

AKVIS Sketch can dramatically simplify and speed up the process of creating a storyboard by using low-resolution digital camera images to create the Storyboard scenes.

Final Storyboard Mock-Up Page

Storyboards will save you an enourmous amount of time and a ginormous amount of frustration when you’re planning any motion picture, television commercial, music video, You-Tube video, or stage play.

 

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