With the world being a global economy in the palm of our hands, businesses need to compete against each other to bring more sales and engage customers. Thus, they started using videos to achieve target goals.
But the videos you see around, there’s a ton that goes behind producing them.
Given the number of details that a video contains, it is important to have access to tools that can make the process easier.
And we cannot even begin to list down all those factors that make the video finally receive the compliment – A Great One!
Using a storyboard is a great way to lay out your vision for the entire video right in front of you.
As brands of today strive hard to get the best video content in front of their target audience, storyboards hold a pivotal role in the complete video production process.
Many elements together help arrive at an explainer video, and a storyboard is one among them.
Let’s understand what it is in detail.
What is a Storyboard?
In layman’s language, a storyboard is a visual blueprint of the final output, i.e., what a video will look like.
A detailed storyboard consists of multiple sketches that describe each frame of the complete video, thus helping you anticipate what is to arrive next before you begin to shoot.
You can consider a storyboard as a comprehensive outline for writing a research paper.
A lot of people believe that a storyboard only consists of illustrations however that’s not the case. The dashboard also contains minute details about each dialogue and camera angles for a particular scene.
The primary reason behind the addition of so many details is to provide creative visualizers and strategists the freedom to refine the storyboard and perform detailed changes.
This complete sequence of illustrations and sketches once completed, resembles a comic strip ready for the next video production stage.
Storyboarding is used for virtually all forms of the video creation process including filmmaking, motion graphics, and animations. The practice dates back to the 1930s when storyboards were used by Walt Disney Studios for the first time.
Using a storyboard allows the video production team to carry on their operations smoothly and take crucial decisions about the process without expending too many resources.
The purpose of Storyboard in today’s Video Production World
To put it simply, without a storyboard, you cannot create your dream video.
This sentence holds more depth than what can be measured. The reason is, people love watching video content. And through visuals, their attention can be easily grabbed and capitalized for conversion.
However, you might ask – Can’t I create a video without considering the storyboard stage?
Well, honestly it depends. It’s just that it helps you visualize your video in a more refined manner and scriptwriters develop relevant plots.
However, when it comes to creating animated videos, storyboarding has its importance. The ultimate idea is to set up a concise production plan, thus getting a detailed brief about various shots and their angles to be considered.
Moreover, visuals are a great way to convey a thousand emotions and ideas in a single shot.
It doesn’t matter if you are creating a video for a USD 50 million infrastructure project or a tiny apartment, you can easily present your idea and vision through a storyboard with ease.
The biggest benefit of using a storyboard is, they help identify potential technical and creative challenges/errors early on and provides a clear path for fixing them.
Also, they are of great help to visualizers and animators in getting a bird’s eye view to conceptualize, plan and pre-visualize the shots and camera angles.
When we talk about the post-production stage, storyboards serve as a great reference to the video production team, thus facilitating a seamless workflow.
With storyboards by your side, you can quickly bring your vision to life with clarity and precision.
What are the different types of Storyboards?
Generally, there are 3 types of storyboards. You can choose the type that suits your video requirements the best. These include:
1. Traditional Storyboards
This type contains a clean sequence of multiple sketches and illustrations per the script. Generally, they are accompanied by notes and dialogues providing a concise direction and path.
Here, the storyboard artists work closely with the scriptwriter and director to carve illustrative sketches for the video to be produced. The panels are then arranged as per different plots of the script.
Traditional storyboards are often used today in live-action films, commercials, and television shows.
2. Animated Storyboards
The animated style of storyboards is all about basic animations and movements.
Their usage is mainly found with complex animation and commercials-based projects. These storyboards also allow the creative team to provide as many inputs as possible right in the beginning so that there are minimal changes once the video is shot.
Also, animated storyboards are extensively used for producing explainer videos that are used by businesses across different industry verticals to showcase the utility of their products.
An animated explainer video company can help draw up a storyboard for such videos and help you with the production process.
3. Digital Storyboards
These storyboards are usually created using computer software and allow more flexibility and clarity. They contain both simple images and sketches and highly detailed illustrations and animations.
Also, digital storyboards provide visualizers an upper hand over traditional ones in terms of planning and framing different shots.
Want to know about how to write engaging video script
Check out : Explainer video script
What are the key elements of a Storyboard:
A storyboard is made up of several key elements that work together to provide a visual representation of the narrative. These elements include:
A) Image Panels
This refers to the manner in which different images or sketches are arranged on a panel layout on the storyboard tool.
B) Images or Illustrations
These are visual depictions of various shots that need to be animated. These illustrations may be highly designed graphics or even pencil-based sketches.
C) Shots & Descriptions
Consider these as summaries of what each scene contains in terms of camera angles, type of shot to be taken, dialogues, etc.
D) Camera Angles
This includes on the storyboard the details of how the camera will move and in what direction the shots will be taken.
5 Benefits of using Storyboards for your next video
i) Visualization
A storyboard allows visualizers to foresee what their video or project is all about and how it shall turn out to be.
On top of that, it also helps you avoid mid-project errors or confusion in terms of plot designs, sketches, etc.
ii) Communication
This is what defines the entire concept of storyboards – Effective communication.
By creating one, you can ensure transparency in communicating your vision with team members and concerned stakeholders of the project.
iii) Planning
The third benefit they provide is a roadmap for the entire production process, allowing you to plan shots, transitions, and pacing, and to identify potential challenges early on.
Also, when you plan your video, you save yourself from countless hours of unnecessary discussions over errors related to the production tasks.
iv) Efficiency
Another benefit of using a storyboard tool is it maximizes your efficiency in creating new plots and helps you align your vision with the video.
Additionally, it helps you streamline that all elements of your project are consistent.
v) Flexibility
The last benefit according to us is the adaptability that storyboards extend to their users.
Quick changes and revisions can be made quickly and easily leading to saving hours of unwanted brainstorming over errors. Also, this allows video-makers to stay on track and within budget.
4 Best Storyboard Tools for Video Production
Finding a great storyboard tool that suits your requirements can be a complicated task. Here’s a list of the best that you must try your hands on:
Plot
The Plot is one of the leading and most used storyboarding software used by industry professionals.
The best part about Plot is, it can be used for a variety of small and large- projects such as films, television commercials, animated videos, music videos, documentaries, educational works, etc.
It comes with a 14-day free trial post which users need to pay $9.99 monthly to upgrade themselves to their Solo Plan which allows them to create an unlimited number of storyboards.
StoryboardThat
Another powerful instrument for visual communication that can help creative visualizers and artists to sketch their vision to reality.
The biggest advantage of this software comes is its user-friendliness.
What’s even better is, almost anyone even without a creative or design background can kickstart their video production process or any art project they wish to develop.
StoryboardThat comes with a Free yet limited plan for those who wish to explore the software. And of course, you can get started with unlimited storyboards and custom images with a paid plan that costs an affordable $7.27 per month.
Boords
Well, this is a complete package for the creative community. Boords comes with not only efficient and powerful storyboarding software but also offers tools such as a script editor, drawing and animatic tools, etc.
Its studio plan starts at $29 a month offering the creation of unlimited storyboards and animatics. They proudly present themselves as one of the most loved tools of all time.
With 400,000 video professionals, Boords is one of the most loved online storyboard makers.
StudioBinder
This storyboard maker positions itself a step ahead of other tools.
StudioBinder is more of a project management software allowing video marketers to manage end-to-end production processes ranging from scriptwriting, shot lists, shooting schedules, calendars, etc.
Its plan begins at $29 per month where it offers 10 projects, and 50GB of file storage with tools such as call schedules, shots, and storyboards.
Conclusion
To say the least, a storyboard is a must if you’re planning to create animation videos for your business.
We mean, who would love to waste their productive time fixing scripting or story plot errors and miss out on planning to get the most out of the video?
Creating a storyboard is easy if people want to do it themselves.
However, if you’re serious about getting a video that makes you feel relaxed about your marketing and branding campaigns, get in touch with us today.
