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Best practice guide to storyboarding
Best practice guide to storyboarding

Our top tips to consider when creating storyboards

Karen Mc Guinness avatar
Written by Karen Mc Guinness
Updated over a week ago

Our goal at Boords has always been to make storyboarding as simple and accessible as possible. Along the way, we’ve picked up a couple of tips, which we’ve pulled together to create our best practice guide to storyboarding. 

Start with a script

Before creating a storyboard, you should start with a script

A script is the text-based version of a visual storyboard. It can be a simple piece of text, outlining the bare bones of what will happen in the story – or equally, it can be very complex and may describe transitions, voiceover and more information in great detail. 

Either way, you’ll need a clear starting point before beginning the storyboard. When your script is ready to go, add it to your Boords storyboard with the Script Editor.

Keep it rough 

A storyboard, by definition, should be rough. Its purpose is to help make sense of the story and quickly make changes, as needed. Simple stick figures and quick sketches are often enough to communicate the flow of a story. 

If you’re intending to share your work with others, make it clear to them that what they’re seeing isn’t the final version. Keep it loose - your storyboard shouldn’t be viewed as a precious work of art!

Provide clear instructions 

The purpose of a storyboard is to help communicate your vision for a video. When you’ve created the board, it’s easy to assume that everyone else will understand it in the same way that you do - but taking the time to give detailed instructions will ensure that nothing is lost in communication. 

Use custom notes to help get your vision across. This might mean using the pre-set note fields in Boords (such as sound, action, lighting and camera) or adding customised notes of your own (such as transitions, props etc.).

Consider camera positions 

How you frame a shot has a significant effect on the reaction that you elicit from a viewer. When deciding on the camera shots and angles to incorporate, think carefully about the mood you want to portray. Our guide will teach you everything you need to know.

Iterate 

Storyboards don’t exist in a vacuum and for the most part, they’ll go through many iterations. Creating an awesome storyboard generally means that you’ll need to make changes to your work, based on the feedback that you receive. 

The versioning feature helps keep track of these changes. Create a new version to make edits, while still keeping a copy of your previous version. You can then flip between versions to keep an eye on how things are progressing.

Get it out into the world 

Receiving feedback is a crucial part of the storyboarding process. Having new eyes on your work will often highlight shortcomings that might otherwise be missed. 

Boords makes collaborating stress-free! Check out your sharing options here

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