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Create Your Video Storyboard

Video Planning—Step 4 of 6

Now it's time to think about storyboarding and scripting. A storyboard (MS Word, 24 KB, 1 page, February 2012) is a powerful document that contains all the visual, audio and time components of your video. You can use pictures to describe the visual element, like this:

 

Three panels of a video storyboard. The first is labeled “Visual description” and shows a hand-drawn picture of a girl. The second panel is labeled “Time” and shows the words “Five seconds.” The third panel is labeled “Audio, narration, Music, Sound Effects” and below it are the words “Audio - We’ll help you put it together. You’ll need a tester.” Below that are the words “Description - Picture of a man / woman, possibly waving. On side of screen will be a list saying “What you’ll need” with a checkbox that says “A tester.”

Storyboards capture these three elements for every scene of your video:

Visual:Description—A quick, rough sketch—no need to be an artist!

Time—The length of this particular image, in seconds.

Audio—Narration/Music/SFX - What you will be hearing when the image is shown. The three major components of audio are: Narration (people speaking), Music (background sound) or Sound Effect (SFX)—doors opening, car horns, birds calling, etc.

Storyboards can also skip the pictures and just describe the visual elements:

 

Three panels of a video storyboard. The first is labeled “Visual description” and below it are the words “People working on a car. Titles that say “Fix that website!” The second panel is labeled “Time” and shows the words “Five” below it. The third panel is labeled “Audio, narration, Music, Sound Effects” and below it are the words “Narrator: We need you to make a video explaining why your website needs a usability tuneup.

Do not use a script, since it lacks the visual descriptors and only captures the dialog.

How to Time Your Video

Slowly read your audio narration out loud while counting the seconds to determine the length of each section in your storyboard. Using your fingers to count can help you focus on both at once. Then add up the seconds to see how long it is.

If your video is an interview or a series of interviews, you’ll have to make separate storyboards for each video. However, you can still create items like video "intros" that can be used multiple times.

Resources

Next Step

Go to our Video Planning step 5: Legal Responsibilities Around Video Content

Return to the Main Video Guide page.

Content Lead: Jonathan Rubin
Page Reviewed/Updated: July 11, 2012

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