WHAT IS A STORYBOARD, pt.1

So…what is a storyboard?

The word storyboard consists of two English words: story and board. So, a storyboard is a “story on a board”. That is actually not far from the truth, because the storyboard sometimes really is “hanging” on a board somewhere on the film set so that the whole crew has an insight into what is being filmed that day.

If you Google search for the definition of a storyboard, storyboard is an English term, so you will hardly find a good Croatian phrase. Therefore, to find the Croatian version of the definition for the storyboard, you have to type in “knjiga snimanja”. However, I must immediately mention that for me personally, as an illustrator, that term has always been a bit clumsy, because the “knjiga snimanja” is usually created only after the client sees the drawings, so for me the storyboard has always been just a series of cartoon thumbnails that represent frames (sequences), while shooting board (knjiga snimanja) is a rather broad term that includes director’s detailed records, notes and technical approach to individual scenes.

To explain in a little more detail, I will quote part of the definition of “knjiga snimanja” from the Croatian portal Film Encyclopedia: “… the notes include the plan; the shooting angle and the way the camera will be used (dynamic or static); description of the image (action and — possibly — its meaning); sounds (dialogue and noises and music, if they have a dramaturgical function); frame duration (in seconds) or length (in meters of film tape).” You will notice that there is a lot more (written) technical information, and the illustrations (a.k.a. storyboard) are only a part of a bigger story. But unfortunately, we don’t have a better term, so “knjiga snimanja” will do. The English definition is much simpler and says that a storyboard is “… a sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a film or television production.” That is a series of drawings, usually with some instructions and dialogues (in addition to thumbnails), which represent shots planned for a film, commercial or television production.

So that is the definition and storyboard in theory. But what does a storyboard look like in practice, and how is it created? And what exactly is its role in the video/film/TV production itself? I will try to answer these and possibly other questions in the posts to come.

In 16 years of being a storyboard illustrator I have encountered two types of storyboards, these are agency storyboard and director’s storyboard or as others call it “shooting board”. The difference between the two storyboards is their purpose and use. Agency storyboard serves to visualize the idea for an advertisement that the agency offers to the client, while the director’s storyboard is simply the director’s visualization of that idea so the client is informed about the technique of shooting, as detailed and clear as possible.

In our next blog, we will talk about the agency storyboard…

Ivica Ico Pustički

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