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What Are Animation Storyboards and What Role Do They Play?
All about animation's role in the scriptwriting process
By Johnny Chew Johnny Chew Writer Massachusetts College of Art and Design With a BFA in animation, Johnny Chew is a former Lifewire writer and a freelance director and animator for music and educational videos. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on March 13, 2020 Tweet Share Email pseudodaemon / Getty Images Tweet Share Email Design Animation & Video 3D Design Graphic Design Because of the long process of animation, it helps to plan ahead, especially if you're working with a big group of people rather than by yourself. You may have a solid idea of exactly what your story and film will look like in your head, but how do you communicate that idea to other people? That's where storyboards come in. A Storyboard' s Role in the Animation Process
A storyboard is pretty much what it sounds like — a board for your story. Serving as a visual representation of still pictures of your film, a storyboard marks each key moment of a film, drawn out and presented in order, similar to a picture book. It has key movements and events all laid out visually, as well as the camera angles and any camera movements. Storyboards themselves don't have dialogue bubbles, so they're not like a comic book version of the film. They leave the dialogue and any details off and just focus on what the visual will be. They'll sometimes include big arrows to show if something is zooming in or panning left or right but they put the dialogue or any key information down below, or have someone talk through the storyboards while presenting them. Check out a great comparison of the storyboard for the opening sequence of The Lion King against the final animation of the same sequence. It shows a great example of the storyboards all matching the subject and camera angles of the final animation they had created. This precision not only allows people to more clearly get an understanding of the story and what's going to happen, but it helps the animators tremendously. A Beacon for the Animator
If you're animating a story then you know what you want to happen, but when it gets handed off to someone else, that's when it becomes clear that two people can have wildly different interpretations of the same scene. The storyboard helps guide the animator on what has been established in your pre-production work. Because of the storyboard, they know what camera angles to use, how to move the camera, and how the action should play out. Storyboarding isn't simply limited to animation. Live-action films storyboard things as much as animation does — when the live-action sequence is shot, it serves to help everyone from the cameramen, actors, and the assistants get on the same page about what needs to be done. For example, storyboarding was the dominant method for Mad Max: Fury Road. Rather than writing a screenplay, screenwriter George Miller did the entire film as one big long storyboard. Fury Road is such a visual film that doing it storyboard-style rather than a screenplay helped bring the amazing vision that was conceptualized to life. (Fun fact: Because of the heavy storyboarding influence Miller originally envisioned it as a dialogue-free movie.) A Help or a Hindrance
When you're working by yourself, storyboarding can both be a help and a hindrance. For a solo project, it can slow you down and limit what you can do once you start animating. Also, since you have a good idea what you're imagining, you may not feel the need to lay it all out ahead of time — there's something to be said for just winging it. However, some animators find it very useful to lay out what they have to do through storyboarding even when they are working on their own. It can help focus you and lend a more clear outline of what's ahead for the project. It can definitely help if you need to figure out how long a certain aspect of your film will take to animate. Whether you storyboard or not is up to you — but it's worth giving it a try at least once. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire The 10 Best Movies of the 2010s to Watch Right Now The Best Disney Plus Movies Right Now (October 2022) The Best Action Movies to Watch Right Now The Best Family Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now (October 2022) The Best Kids Movies on Disney Plus (October 2022) Learn How Animatic Is Used in Film and Animation The Best Movies on HBO Right Now (October 2022) The Best Movies on Hulu Right Now (September 2022) The 20 Best Movies on Shudder to Watch Right Now How to Import Video Clips Into Windows Movie Maker How to Start Vlogging on YouTube The 15 Best Dolby Atmos Movies to Watch at Home Cutouts are Commonly Used in Animation List of Top-Tier Animation and Visual Effects Studios The 7 Best Online Photography Classes of 2022 How to Get on the Instagram Explore Page Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies