The storyboard is the central visual planning instrument in the development process of a film or video production. During the
storyboarding process, every production setting is precisely planned in advance and visualized using drawings or omputergenerated images. In terms of quality, these designs range from simple black-and-white drawings to elaborate color productions that reproduce every scene in great detail or serve as a basis for planning in the art department.
Fundamentally, one can distinguish between four different types of storyboards:
- Film/video storyboard (sequential presentation as groundwork for direction and camera)
- Key frames (elaborate visualization of important frames in a production—especially in the context of production design)
- Production drawings (serve above all as a draft for the film architects/stage designer)
- Advertising storyboard/style frames (supports the “sale” of a concept to the customer)
The concept and technique of the storyboard are also used to visualize sequences for the development of noncinematic
media products (CD-ROMs, web sites, and so on). Nowadays, so-called “previz” systems are increasingly employed:
interactive (>) animation software programs that permit whole sequences of a planned production to be simulated on
a computer.
> Illustration, Presentation, Visualization, Time-based Design
