Summary of video
This video explains why storyboarding is essential for communicating ideas and avoiding production confusion. The creator shares three methods: using reference frames from other media, shooting stills on location, and drawing your own boards (even badly). The focus is on clarity, efficiency, and adapting the approach to your skills and resources.
Intro to Shai
If you want to skip the manual work and still get professional, production-ready visuals, the Shai AI Storyboard Generator transforms your script or concept into accurate, visually consistent storyboards in minutes. Designed for filmmakers, advertisers, and creatives, it helps you plan scenes with the precision your project deserves.
Transcript
oh storyboarding? More like story boring — such a waste of time.
Dude, are you serious? Storyboarding is super important when it comes to explaining the story to the client.
Wait, what’s going on here? Storyboards can actually save us a lot of time and help us avoid confusion down the line.
You should notice we’re the same person.
Okay, I guess that makes sense — but I’m not an artist. How am I supposed to make a storyboard?
There are many different ways to create storyboards. You don’t have to be an artist. You can use photos or screen grabs or ugly sketches. The key is that it has to be easy to understand.
Okay, I never thought of it that way. I guess I’ll give it a try — thanks.
[Music]
So as a director, our job is to communicate our vision to the client and get them to see what we’re all about.
When it comes to the actual story, it’s important to get more specific and explain how the shots are going to be laid out and how one will transition into the next. That’s when you get to storyboarding.
There are a bunch of different ways to make storyboards. Basically, a storyboard is just a way to tell the reader what’s going to happen in your story. It doesn’t have to be fancy with hand-drawn pictures — you can use anything you want: sketches of stick figures (digital or on paper) or even a 3D storyboard made within something like Cinema 4D or Cine Tracer.
Sometimes we get so caught up in doing things the “right way” that we forget why we’re doing it in the first place. What’s the point? What’s the goal? Those are the questions you have to ask yourself first.
Today I want to talk about three specific methods I use a lot because they’re quick and easy to understand. That’s important — if the client doesn’t get it, it’s going to be hard to move to the next phases of production.
Method number one: pulling frames from other movies and using them to create a storyboard.
The goal is not necessarily to find films similar to yours, but to find individual shots that match your shot list.
These storyboards won’t be as exact as those from a storyboard artist, but if you really can’t draw, they might be good enough. Focus on composition, not on the original frame’s content.
Start by breaking down the script into shots. Consider where the scene takes place — indoors or outdoors — the setting, how the camera moves (pans, tilts, slides, dollies), what the characters do. Optionally, include lighting details like light direction if important.
When searching for shots to use, “close enough” is good enough. For example, if you’re shooting a dialogue scene in a car, you’re not the first — there are probably hundreds of similar shots out there. You won’t need more than three or four anyway.
When creating a storyboard, think about who will be reading it. For big companies with many executives and a wide audience, the board may need to be tested and approved in great detail — exact actor counts, foreground and background objects, etc.
Method number two: shoot stills and line them up.
This technique is easy, incredibly useful, and underutilized. Gather friends and go to a similar location to your storyboard’s setting — ideally bring your DP. Take pictures matching your storyboard frames.
Make sure the still camera’s sensor matches your cinema camera’s sensor size (e.g., Arri Alexa uses Super 35mm, smaller than Sony A7).
Bonus tip: since you’re making a digital storyboard, import the images into your editing software, record yourself reading the screenplay, and edit the stills over the audio. This is a great place to test if your coverage plan works.
Method number three: draw your own storyboards — even if they’re bad.
There’s nothing like drawing your own storyboard for thinking visually. The process is useful even if the drawings aren’t pretty, especially if you’re the only one seeing them.
I use an iPad to speed things up — copying, pasting, and layering elements. But you don’t have to. The key is simplification.
Even with this method, I still look up images to replicate, like specific shots or locations. If you already have location shots, you can draw overlays to superimpose action.
Using a good storyboard template with necessary details makes things easier and faster. I use one I designed myself — three columns by two rows, each frame with a comment section for focal length, action, dialogue, or voiceover.
So please, go and practice making a storyboard now. Otherwise, you’ll get stuck in “tutorial hell” — watching content for hours without retaining knowledge.