# Storyboarding Guide

<h3>Basic Idea</h3>

A storyboard is a shot-by-shot plan for each scene in a film. It is the next step after writing the screenplay. It uses still images and sometimes annotations to show how a scene will be filmed.

<h3> How do directors use storyboards? Why storyboard?</h3>

Like an outline for a paper, there is no set model for how to storyboard. Just like some people work better with a very detailed outline while others are fine with just a few notes, some filmmakers will do meticulous storyboards while others quickly sketch their planned shots. One director who uses a lot of static shots in his films forgoes storyboarding altogether and uses an iPhone on set to find the right shot!

<h3>Examples</h3>

STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (George Lucas, 1977)

INCEPTION (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (Neil Jordan, 1994)

<h3>What to think about when making a storyboard from dialogue</h3>

1) **Storytelling and Cinematography**
Storyboards are not just pictures but they are tools for shaping the flow of the story. Consider the relationship between each shot and the overall narrative, and pay attention to transitions between shots. This helps avoid random or disconnected images and instead creates a sequence that moves the plot forward.


2) **Setting**
The setting is more than a background; it communicates tone, time, and context. Think about setting to see how the environment influences meaning. For example, a conversation in a bright kitchen feels different than the same conversation in a dark alley.


3) **Character development**
How a character is shown visually—through framing, expressions, and body language—can reveal as much as dialogue. By planning this in storyboards, we practice visually revealing, rather than simply telling through dialogue, relationship dynamics and character development.


4) **Sound**
Even though storyboards are visual, notes about sound (music, silence, ambient noise) remind us that film is an audio-visual medium. Sound shapes mood, pacing, and audience reaction, so anticipating it early helps integrate it smoothly with visuals.

5) **Transitions**
Transitions, aka editing, are the glue that hold a film together. Storyboarding is especially impactful and useful when using complex editing techniques in a scene to affect rhythm, continuity, and emotional impact. For a film like Inception, storyboarding helps visualize sequences that rely so much on a specific rhythm of cuts to create the sense of warped time and space.


<h3>
Example assignment + in-class activity using storyboards
</h3>

1. Instructor provides students with an excerpt from a screenplay for an existing film
2. Students create their own storyboards at home for the scene
3. In class, students swap their storyboard with a classmate's and each student shares something they think is creative that their classmate did and something they would add (e.g., define a transition, describe the lighting, etc.).
4. Watch the clip from the actual film and discuss with the full class

<h4>
Ways to adapt this example
</h4>

1. Provide students with a scene from a literary text instead of a film screenplay
2. Provide students with very generic dialogue
3. For either of the above versions, have groups of 2-5 students shoot the scene with their phones after they storyboard

<h3>
Related Film and Cinematography Resources
</h3>

1) [Learn film terms with examples](https://filmanalysis.yale.edu/basic-terms/)
2) [More professional storyboard examples](https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/storyboard-examples-film/)
3) [Great YouTube channel about making and analyzing films (Every Frame a Painting)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa1O3nqW5hQ)