Should You Storyboard as a Writer

What is a storyboard? It is a sequence of illustrations, usually made in the pre-production stage, to visualize how a film would look like on screen, shot-to-shot. Storyboarding is something that many directors choose to do, when they’re facing complex or important sequences in a finalized script. Therefore, many look at storyboarding as a directing tool, where directors, as well as DPs, animators, and VFX teams work with storyboard artists to visualize what would later become a sequence in a film or TV series.

However, sometimes storyboarding begins as early as the writing phase. Although storyboarding might not be for everybody, some screenwriters find it a useful tool. Today, we’re going to talk about when storyboarding can help the writing process and when it might have the opposite effect, and, if you’re a writer, find out whether it is the thing for you.

When Storyboarding Helps Writers

Visual Vs. Verbal Thinkers

Storyboarding might come more naturally for writers who are visual thinkers than those who are verbal thinkers. However, it can be helpful to both. For visual thinkers, storyboarding allows them to explore their existing ideas. Writer-director Terry Gilliam, for instance, storyboards while he’s working on the scripts, and sometimes changes the screenplay when new sparks come to him through sketching.

For visual thinkers, having a clear, detailed image of the scene can also make it difficult to pick the right elements to include in the writing. In these times, storyboarding can also give them a chance to take a careful look at the scenes, and to determine which details are the most central to the storytelling.

Verbal thinkers, on the other hand, can use storyboarding to make sure there is a clear correlation between their language and visual or audial elements. This makes it easier for the writing’s later transition to the screen.

Actions

When writing action-heavy, physical, or visually complex scenes, writers can also benefit from seeing how a sequence works shot-to-shot. Storyboarding allows writers to see how the bodies move through the frames, to pay attention to continuity and feasibility, as well as how the physical movement and space contribute to intense moments of storytelling.

Clarifying Spatial Logic and Blocking

Space and blocking are central to any form of storytelling. If a scene takes place in a forest, how dense are the trees? Do the characters get around a tree from the same side or different sides, and what does that say about them? Can we see the edge of the forest in the background, or do the trunks blend into darkness? The writer can determine these details by testing them out with storyboarding. Every of these details gives a slight shift to the storytelling. And it is the accumulation of these details that make a story.

Production Constraints

Every movie is shot with the constraints of budget and locations, and these are the things storyboarding can clarify for the writers. Through laying things out in drawings, the writers can determine whether a scene needs 50 backups, or if 30 will do; if the setting will require the crew to travel across the country, and, if the crew won’t have that money, what replacements are possible.

Collaboration

Storyboarding during the writing phase can make communication easier when a project enters pre-production. Instead of explaining to DPs and VFX teams what you want to achieve with a scene, you can just show them. Christopher Nolan, for instance, would storyboard select complex sequences for other departments to use as a jumping-off point during pre-production.

And if animators and the VFX team are already involved during the writing stage, storyboards also make it easier to brainstorm with them and to discuss what is achievable.

When Storyboarding Slows You Down

There are a number of common traps to storyboarding. For writers, they can be summed up into either storyboarding too much or doing it at the wrong stage of writing.

Overplanning

Storyboarding too early can risk overplanning. The time spent on storyboarding can engrave a scene into the writer’s brain, making it hard for them to see the scene in any other way later in the editing phase. It can also make the writer commit to a structure that isn’t necessarily the best for the film or show.

Therefore, it’s necessary for a writer to recognize the signs of storyboarding too early: if they still haven’t determined the overall structure of the project, or if they don’t know whether a scene is necessary to the plot at all.

Affecting Spontaneity and Discovery

Storyboarding too much can risk killing spontaneity and discovery, making the production follow the exact plan of the storyboard without paying attention to and incorporating surprising moments. Many writer-directors do not storyboard precisely for that reason. Barry Jenkins, for example, believes that constraining oneself to a storyboard’s plans can make a work devoid of life – it is more important to him that he focuses on the spontaneous performances and flow of the moment.

Shot-Listing

Writing is not shot-listing, but storyboarding too much can lead a writer to think and to write in a shot-to-shot way. When action becomes a mere description of the shots, it loses voice and fluidity, making the writing drier and harder to read.

Dialogue-First

For writers who think in emotion, rhythm, or dialogue first, storyboarding can become a source of writers’ blocks rather than moments of inspiration. Succession, for example, is a show with heavy dialogues that did not rely on storyboarding. When dialogue-first writers struggle trying to imagine where a scene can take place or how the blocking works, they might lose the rhythm that was already there.

Time Cost and Creative Payoff

Most screenplays go through many drafts of rewrites. Entire scenes that a writer spends hours storyboarding can be cut altogether in the rewrites. Sometimes, the time cost of storyboarding does not translate to a worthwhile creative payoff. Therefore, some writer-directors, like Rian Johnson when he’s working on the Knives Out series, would storyboard with stick-figure style sketches. This allows him to record his ideas without investing unnecessary time.

Storyboard Alternatives for Writers

Beat Sheets: A beat sheet structures a script according to a three- or five-act structure, outlining the important turning points, or “beats,” of a story. It shows the writer the page count of each section and the central questions asked and answered. This practice is especially helpful to writers who have trouble with the overarching structure of a film or TV episode.

Scene Cards / Index Cards: Scene cards, usually done with index cards, help organize a film on a scene-to-scene level. This tool is particularly helpful to writers as they prepare for the writing, when they have ideas for the scenes but less so for the larger structure. With each card representing one scene, the writer can move the cards around, map out plot points, and track character arcs throughout the story.

Mood Boards: Mood Boards include photos, artworks, color palettes, and other visual references that speak to the mood or vibe of a film. They help the writer feel the emotional atmosphere without diving straight into the details, and assist the writers to communicate the vibes with their collaborators later in the process.

Written Blocking Notes: Blocking notes document the exact camera, actor, and prop movements within a scene. They record entry and exit points and specific marks on set. This tool can be helpful when planning out a scene with many movements – like long takes or action scenes.

Animatics-lite or Sketch Thumbnails: Unlike storyboard drawings which are usually larger and more detailed, these thumbnails are small, rough sketches that allow the writer to see how the composition works. Writers who have the rough flow of a scene but lack visual ideas can use this tool to test a few things out, before committing to the best one.

Prose Scene Visualization: For writers who are verbal thinkers, writing scenes down in prose before translating them to screenplay format can bring unexpected surprises. Students who have prose writing experience but are just beginning to write screenplays can find this a helpful stepstone as well.

Conclusion

Storyboarding is an option, not a rule. And it is done differently for everyone. Writer-directors for high-budget, VFX-heavy studio films storyboard differently to indie filmmakers. In fact, in low-budget productions, storyboarding is sometimes skipped to save costs, and tools like shot lists are used instead. In the US, writers and filmmakers would sometimes use storyboards as a part of the visual pitch, while in the UK and Europe it remains more a tool of production.

To me, the best time to storyboard for a writer is always when you are stuck. In times like these, storyboarding allows you to look at a story from a different angle. It gives you the space to experiment, to try out crazy ideas that might end up adding something special to the story.