**Storyboarding - Tomorrow's Filmmakers — Transcript & Summary | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/storyboarding-tomorrows-filmmakers/

Tomorrow's Filmmakers explains storyboarding: why directors plan every shot in comic-strip form, its benefits for actors and shoot efficiency, and how to mark movement and camera action.

## Key Takeaways

- Storyboarding every shot before filming saves time and reduces improvised, weak angles on set.
- Storyboards communicate the director's vision to actors and camera operators.
- Artistic quality matters less than clearly conveying framing, action and camera movement.
- Color-coded arrows (red for action, blue for camera) make movement easy to read.

## What the video covers

- Storyboarding means drawing the whole film as a comic strip, planning every scene, angle, camera movement and actor movement before filming.
- Directors such as Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Ridley Scott use storyboards before shooting.
- Storyboards let filmmakers watch the planned film in advance and spot scenes or angles that do not work.
- Storyboards help actors see how a scene will play out and what is required of them.
- Storyboards make shoots faster and less stressful because crew can copy the planned shots instead of improvising.
- Storyboards do not need to be artistic; simple stick figures are enough to communicate the shot, as Spielberg's workflow shows.
- A basic storyboard template has four to six frames with descriptive text beneath and scene information at the top.
- Movement is marked with color coding: red arrows for actor or action movement and blue for camera movement.
- Descriptions beneath each frame should clarify camera moves such as zooms, push-ins, pans and tilts.
- The example uses a shootout scene from the short film Clock to demonstrate annotating a storyboard before filming.

## Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction to Storyboarding
2. 01:24 Benefits of Storyboarding for Directors
3. 02:20 Why Storyboards Make Shoots Smoother
4. 03:33 Stick-Figure Storyboards vs. Polished Art
5. 04:13 Storyboard Layout and Template
6. 05:08 Storyboarding a Real Scene from Clock
7. 06:05 Marking Movement and Camera Action with Color
8. 07:30 Adding Descriptions and Wrap-Up

Answers

## Questions about this video

What is storyboarding in filmmaking?

Storyboarding is writing out an entire film in comic-strip form, showing every scene, angle, camera movement and actor movement. It lets you watch the planned movie before filming begins.

Why do directors storyboard before shooting?

Storyboards reveal weak scenes early, help actors understand the scene, and make the shoot faster because every shot is already planned. The video cites Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Ridley Scott as examples.

How are movement and camera action shown on a storyboard?

The video recommends red arrows for actor or subject movement and blue arrows for camera movement. Short written descriptions beneath each frame clarify actions such as zooms or push-ins.

## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:00

Speaker A

Today we storyboard.

00:36

Speaker A

angle every single scene every single camera movement every single actor movement in your entire movie so you basically can watch your movie from beginning to end in a comic strip form now many many many directors do this before they actually even start filming

00:51

Speaker A

[Music]

01:03

Speaker A

know hey that seam doesn't work hair don't like this angle you know what this is really gonna work so you can almost pretty much just watch your film for me getting to end - it helps the actors see

01:13

Speaker A

Everybody, welcome to another episode of Tomorrow's Filmmakers. My name is Justus McRainey, and today we're going to be talking about storyboarding.

01:24

Speaker A

go a hundred times smoother and faster why because you already have every single angle written out because what I don't like doing is going to a video shoot that I have planned and just make up shots because I've done that before

01:39

Speaker A

Now, what is storyboarding exactly? Storyboarding is basically you writing out your entire film in comic strip form: every single angle, every single scene, every single camera movement, every single actor movement in your entire movie. So you basically can watch your movie from beginning to end in a comic strip form.

01:49

Speaker A

good I like this and then sometimes you realize it just wasn't a good angle you wish you had thought about that more you would have had this angle but if you have the storyboards and you've already taken the time to get the angles you

01:59

Speaker A

Now, many, many, many directors do this before they actually even start filming. Stephen Spielberg does, Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott. Many famous directors do this, and there are a few reasons why. One, they let you know exactly how your film is going to play out. You can watch your film from beginning to end, so you know, "Hey, that scene doesn't work, I don't like this angle," or "You know what, this is really going to work." So you can almost just watch your film from beginning to end.

02:10

Speaker A

your storyboards you look and this is the exact angle that you want to have happen this is what's gonna happen in the scene then you take your camera and you go and you set it up exactly like you've already planned it already

02:20

Speaker A

Two, it helps the actors see how the scene is going to play out, what's going to be required of them, what angle this is going to be, and so they can almost see the movie before they start acting.

02:31

Speaker A

you're doing something else then you hand the storyboards at him and say this is how I want the shot go set it up and then he'll take the storyboards and set it up exact like you already have written down so it's stress free so much

02:42

Speaker A

Number three, the biggest one: it makes your video shoot go a hundred times smoother and faster. Why? Because you already have every single angle written out. What I don't like doing is going to a video shoot that I have planned and just making up shots. I've done that before. I've been to shoots where I had storyboards and shoots where I didn't. You go there, you know what you want, you shoot, and you just kind of make up angles: "This angle looks good, this angle looks good, I like this." And then sometimes you realize it just wasn't a good angle. You wish you had thought about it more, you would have had this angle. But if you have the storyboards, and you've already taken the time to figure out the angles you want and exactly how you want the scene to play out, then all you have to do is go on set, take your storyboards, and copy what you already have written down. You get on set, you look at your storyboards, and this is the exact angle you want, this is what's going to happen in the scene. Then you set up your camera exactly as you've already planned it. You've already thought this through. You don't have to make something up. You just copy what you already planned out.

02:53

Speaker A

out now a lot of actual movies will in the special features a storyboard comparisons and stuff like that and if you click that you can actually watch the movie as the storyboards are right next to it so you can see the

03:04

Speaker A

If someone else is manning the camera and you're doing something else, you hand them the storyboards and say, "This is how I want the shot. Go set it up," and they'll set it up exactly as you've written it down. So it's stress-free, so much easier, and you're not thinking, "Is this angle going to work? Man, I should have done something else. I wish I'd thought this through." You already have it written down exactly how you want your movie to play out.

03:17

Speaker A

today we're actually going to be learning how to do storyboards and storyboards are a lot of fun because you can make up stuff you can figure out exactly what you want to do you can write it out it's a lot of fun and I

03:26

Speaker A

Now, a lot of actual movies include storyboard comparisons in their special features. If you click that, you can watch the movie with the storyboards right next to it, so you can see all the angles and everything they had planned while the movie plays. You can basically hold up a storyboard and follow along, because the movie is exactly how they planned it in the storyboards.

03:37

Speaker A

storyboarding yours and it looks like this and you're like wow this is really disappointing it looks really bad but it doesn't really matter how amazing it looks as long as it gets the point across because what a director does like

03:48

Speaker A

Today we're going to learn how to do storyboards. They're a lot of fun, because you can make things up, figure out exactly what you want to do, and write it out. I'd suggest all of you do storyboards before you go film. You've seen the famous storyboards with all the artistic detail, the shadows, the color, and it looks wonderful. Then you start storyboarding yours, and it looks like this, and you think, "Wow, this is really disappointing, it looks really bad." But it doesn't really matter how amazing it looks as long as it gets the point across. What a director like Steven Spielberg does is make storyboards with stick people, like we're doing now. Then he gives them to an artist, who draws elaborate storyboards and makes them look really good. But he could have used just the stick-people storyboards just as well, because they gave him exactly what he needed to go out and film.

04:02

Speaker A

used just the stick people storyboards just as well because that gave him exactly what he needed to go out and film so today we're gonna be learning about how to storyboard using color using direction and how you would go

04:13

Speaker A

So today we're going to learn how to storyboard, using color, using direction, and how you would go about doing that so you can storyboard your own film. A basic storyboard will look something like this. You'll get a bunch of these that you can continue to fill out for each frame. There will be four, five, or six black boxes, with writing underneath so you have a better description of what you're shooting, and there may be some information up top, like scene numbers and other details about that scene. We have this template for you to download in the notes below, so you can print it and start storyboarding immediately.

04:23

Speaker A

six different black boxes there's going to be writing underneath so you have a better description of what you're actually shooting and there may be some information up top numbering scene whatever just different information about this certain scene now we actually

04:37

Speaker A

Now we're going to take our piece of paper and storyboard our scene. In a recent short film, Clock, we have a scene where two of our main actors are having a shootout in the woods. There are people around them shooting, explosions, a bunch of different things. We wanted to storyboard this before we shot it, and I'm so glad we did, because it made everything so much easier.

04:47

Speaker A

take our piece of paper and we are going to storyboard our see so in a recent short film clock we have the scene where two of our main actors are having a shootout in the woods it's kind of army

04:56

Speaker A

First, our character gets forced back by the explosion. The clock turns. Then he lands on the ground, sits back up, and looks by the tree. He sees our other character firing his gun at someone else. Then it comes back to our character, who lifts his gun and shoots over the shoulder. Our other character ducks, and so on and so forth.

05:07

Speaker A

character get forced push out of the lightsabres the clock turns then we have him land on the ground he sits back up looks by the tree sees our other character firing his gun at someone else then it comes back to our character he

05:19

Speaker A

What you didn't know is that I had all of that storyboarded and written out on these pieces of paper before we ever went and filmed. Do I claim to be an artist when it comes to storyboarding? No. It's simple little stick people, supposed to give you the idea when you're on set filming. Some of these look really bad, but they're not supposed to look amazing. They're just supposed to give you the idea and concept before you go film.

05:31

Speaker A

claim to be an artist when it comes to storyboarding no I mean it's simple little stick people it's just supposed to give you the idea whenever you're on set filming so yes some of these look really bad but they're not supposed to

05:44

Speaker A

In our first frame, we have our character falling on the ground. Then he gets back up and comes next to a tree to look past the camera at our other actor. How do we get that on paper? We just draw it. The first shot is him lying on the ground, just a person lying on the ground. Second, the shot of the tree and him getting up next to it. So we draw the tree, and we draw him next to the tree. Pretty simple. Next, the shot over his shoulder as he looks at the other character firing a gun. We draw him on the left, and we draw the characters exactly where we want them, making sure we can see which direction that character is pointing. Then we want our character to bring his gun up and shoot, so we draw that. Then we want a side angle of our character shooting, so we draw that too, and so on and so forth.

05:56

Speaker A

the camera at our other actor so what are we going to do we have that in mind how do we get that on paper well we're just gonna draw it so the first shot we have him lying on the ground just a

06:05

Speaker A

This is great. We know exactly what we want to film, the angles we want, and exactly what we want to happen. Now we can look at these frames and see how things are set up, but there are a few things missing. We have no indication of movement, and no indication of whether the actors are moving or whether something is happening. The gun is firing, bullets are ricocheting, and we have no indication of any of that.

06:15

Speaker A

the shot over his shoulder as he looks at the other character who's firing a gun so we draw that as well draw him on the Left draw the characters exactly where we want them to make sure we can

06:26

Speaker A

see which direction that character is pointing then we want our character to bring his gun up and shoot so we draw that as well then we want a side angle of our character shooting the gun so we draw that as well and so on and so forth

06:38

Speaker A

so this is great we know exactly what we want to film we know exactly the angles we want and exactly what we want to have happen now we can look at this frame and see how things are kind of set up but

06:48

Speaker A

there's a few things missing with this one we have no indication of movement and we have no indication of whether the actors are moving whether something is happening the gun is firing bullets are ricocheting we have no indication of any

06:59

Speaker A

action whatsoever and - we have no indication of camera movement does the camera pan up does the camera follow him does the camera zoom in does the camera move we don't know what happens all we know is we have these boxes of frames

07:10

Speaker A

that's it so we have to do is we have to indicate whether the actor is moving whether an action is taking place and where the camera is moving to and that is where color comes in and saves the

07:20

Speaker A

day so if you're storyboarding you need your pin or pencil of course to draw the storyboards but then you're going to get two different colors you're gonna get red and you're going to get blue now a red color indicates action indicates a

07:32

Speaker A

person moving indicates an object moving or indicates some sort of action inside our scene so in our first shot we just have this person looks like he's lying on the ground what happens what we're gonna draw a red arrow to make it look

07:44

Speaker A

like he lays on the ground and then gets back up so you know that he lays on the ground and then gets back up second shot the character is kind of in a laying down position coming up towards the side

07:54

Speaker A

of the tree but we have no indication of that so we're gonna take a red arrow and draw that so that we know that that character is moving from the ground all the way up to the top of the tree and it

08:04

Speaker A

doesn't just signify movement and also indicates action so if our character is firing a gun we're gonna put red at the front of the gun at the muzzle so we know that he's firing a gun or if there's a bunch of bullet ricochets

08:15

Speaker A

we're gonna put a bunch of red all over the place to show that those are bullet ricochets that's action happening in our scene not just movement now that we have shown action with a red pin or colored pencil now it's time to show camera

08:26

Speaker A

movement which is going to be blue blue pin blue colored pencil whatever you want to use so if the camera is actually moving or panning we're gonna actually draw a blue arrow above the frame or kind of bleeding into the frame to show

08:38

Speaker A

that this camera is actually following this person during this shot or if maybe the camera is panning down the camera is following someone the camera is moving up the camera is moving to the right we're gonna draw all the arrows of our

08:50

Speaker A

camera movements that we know red is action blue is Kam room so we can automatically look at the shot see that this actor is moving because it's red this action is taking place but also because the camera is blue we know it

09:02

Speaker A

arrow to follow we know where the cameras go if you want your camera to spin around you can draw a big blue arrow or if it's panning or anything like that you indicate where your camera is going to with the blue marker so now we have

09:15

Speaker A

red with action and we have blue with camera movement now one thing to keep in mind is zooming with a camera whenever you're storyboarding is zoom what you would think is hey it starts out really far away from his face and

09:27

Speaker A

then the cameras going to end up really close to his face so I'm going to draw two storyboards one really far away one really close sure if you really wanted to do that but that's just gonna waste storyboard space we understand

09:39

Speaker A

yeah he's zooming so what you want to do which is actually really cool is you have the original frame where the camera is gonna start then you draw a blue box to where the camera is going to end up

09:50

Speaker A

at so in this case Scott sees the grenade next to him and the camera kind of pushes in a little bit as Scott looks down at the grenade realizes it's about to explode so we want the camera to push

09:59

Speaker A

in so we draw the original frame then we draw the blue box to where the camera is going to end up that then we draw arrows in which direction it's going if it's pulling away we'll draw arrows the other

10:10

Speaker A

way but in this case we have the frame wide then we draw the blue box we want the frame to end whether that's a zoom or whether that's a push in it doesn't matter then we draw the lines on the

10:20

Speaker A

sides to show that this camera is actually pushing in and there we go we have our zoom on paper and we're not wasting a bunch of storyboards and you know saying doing all the different types of zooms we have shown where the

10:32

Speaker A

camera is starting and where the frame is going to end and after you've done all that you have the red for action the blue for camera movement you have the scene pretty much laid out but you also want to go ahead and give a little

10:42

Speaker A

description of what's actually happening because is this a zoom is this a push in and my panning down is the actress doing something what's happening so you want to go ahead and give a short description you can make it long you can make it

10:54

Speaker A

short whatever you want about the actual scene simple as that you just want to give a small description of what is actually happening in your scene and one of my favorite things to do is after you have the movie completed you can go

11:06

Speaker A

ahead and take each individual frame and storyboard and watch it as your movie is happen now sometimes in the field you have spur the moment ideas that angle sounds good and you do it or sometimes in the moment

11:18

Speaker A

you're like you know that's actually not going to work and sometimes that happens you don't have to get every single frame but this gives you a basic understanding of what you actually want to have happen in your scene that way you can take these go out

11:31

Speaker A

on the field have them with you get the angle realize what's next realize maybe actually in this position we're gonna have a couple different shots so we're going to go ahead and just get all of those shots right here

11:41

Speaker A

while we have the actors here it just makes it so much faster so much easier so now that we have everything storyboard and we can go ahead and film it and then after we get done we can do

11:49

Speaker A

a storyboard comparison of this scene [Music] so go find some of your favorite movies look on the special features see if they have a storyboard comparison sometimes they do and it is so cool to watch because you can see the techniques that

12:51

Speaker A

they used how they wrote it how it looks and get better understanding of how you're gonna storyboard your film so hope this video has really helped you guys out on storyboarding and how you're gonna storyboard so go download the

13:02

Speaker A

template start storyboarding your short film even if it's just a minute long short go ahead and storyboard it see how it works see what doesn't work try to storyboard in your entire film before you even start filming it and you will

13:14

Speaker A

see how much it helps so go ahead and post your storyboards on the tomorrow's filmmakers community page we'd love to see them if you have any advice or things that you've learned go ahead and share it with us we'd love to hear it so

13:25

Speaker A

head on over to tomorrow's filmmakers comm we have videos just like this they were putting out constantly to help you as you further God's kingdom through film and I'll see you guys there [Music]

Topics: storyboarding filmmaking pre-production shot planning camera movement storyboard template film directing short film video production

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