Before the cameras start rolling, filmmakers and animators make storyboards.
What do you think a storyboard is? Why do you think writers and directors create storyboards before they start filming a movie? Bounce your ideas off a friend or Club staff.
Check out the storyboards below from famous movies.
Think of your favorite movie.
If you could sketch just two or three scenes to show the most important parts of the movie ...
- What scenes would you draw?
- What faces would the characters be making?
- Would the camera be zoomed in for a close-up, or zoomed out for a view of the surroundings?
Here’s a challenge: Sketch three scenes from a popular movie and show your drawing to a friend. See if your friend can guess which movie your storyboard is for.
So you have an idea for a short video. Maybe you even have a script. All you need now is to shoot, right? Well, you could, but you might need to answer a few questions first.
- What does the scenery and background look like?
- Where will the actors stand or enter the scene?
- What camera angles will you use?
How could a storyboard help with these questions? Read this article about creating storyboards and jot down what you learn about how storyboards are helpful.
Film director Steven Spielberg once said, “People have forgotten how to tell a story.”
A movie is a way to tell a story with moving visuals and sound. What story do you want to tell?
Think short. Of course, there are videos of all lengths, but a full story can be told in a minute or even less, like in this example from high school students.
You can think of a storyboard as the comic book version of a full story. Just a few frames can communicate a lot.
Think of a story you can tell in about a minute. Write down your ideas. Then start to gather them in a story format. If you want your characters to speak, be sure to include dialogue.
Stumped? See if any of the prompts below trigger a story idea.
- What’s a story your family likes to tell about you?
- What would you do if you met your hero?
- What does your favorite animal dream about all day?
- What if your best friend had a secret second identity?
- What if your favorite movie or book had a different ending? What would it be?
Create your storyboard.
Use blank paper to draw your storyboard, or download and print a template for a storyboard. You can also use the online program StoryboardThat.
However you do it, sketch out the basic visuals for your story. You can add notes, ideas, questions and/or bits of dialogue. The storyboard is like a blueprint for constructing your video, so include whatever you think will be helpful.
Check out this video to see how the people at Pixar present their movie storyboards.
How do you think sharing ideas using storyboards helps the movies?
Present your storyboard to a group of people. Explain what happens in your story using your drawings and notes. You can even add gestures and special voices to really make your story come alive. Ask the group to contribute their ideas and questions.
- How did it feel to present your storyboard to other people?
- Did anyone share a suggestion that you want to include?
- How would you like to change or add to your storyboard?
Revise your storyboard one last time.
If you created your storyboard digitally, save it so you can submit it. If you created your storyboard on paper, take a picture of it. Upload your storyboard to earn a star toward the Storyboarding badge.
