When do you really need a storyboard
A storyboard pays off when a shot is expensive or impossible to repeat: a commercial, animation, or filming inside a factory that stops a production line for two hours. For an employee interview or a conference recap it is usually just an extra line on the quote. Here is how to decide, what a usable storyboard has to contain, and how to judge the price when someone charges you for one.
Key takeaways
- You need a storyboard where a mistake in a shot is expensive or impossible to fix: animation, commercials, filming on a factory floor, anything with actors or a rented location.
- A script says what will be said. A storyboard says what will be seen. Most arguments about a first cut are about the second one.
- Pre production for a company video in Slovakia usually runs between 200 and 1000 euros according to the published price list of the studio Collective Production, and the storyboard is only a part of that.
- A usable panel carries the action in one sentence, the shot size, the camera move, the sound or line, and the length in seconds. Without those five, it is a nice drawing and nothing more.
- For talking heads and event coverage a shot list or photos from the location scout will do. Drawn panels decide nothing there and only inflate the prep.
- The modern storyboard was developed at Walt Disney Productions in the early 1930s, precisely because an animated shot cannot simply be filmed again.
What is a storyboard and how is it different from a script?
A script is text, a storyboard is picture. The script says the managing director delivers a line about the history of the company. The storyboard shows whether she says it in a close up by the window, or in a wide shot in the middle of the hall with the line running behind her. Those are two different shoot days, two different budgets and two very different results.
You notice the difference during approvals. Everybody signs off on text, because everybody pictures something else while reading it. Send six drawn panels instead and the sales director will say he does not want the old logo in the background of panel two, and marketing will remind you the product has to appear before second twenty. Those are exactly the comments you want a week before the shoot, not after it.
According to Wikipedia, the storyboard in its current form was developed at Walt Disney Productions in the early 1930s, with the first complete storyboards made for the 1933 short Three Little Pigs. The reason was practical: drawing a scene twice is expensive, so it is cheaper to pin it on a board first and argue about it there.
When do you need a storyboard?
When a shot cannot be repeated cheaply. There are four situations where we recommend one almost every time.
Animation and motion graphics. Here a storyboard is mandatory, not optional. An animator works in seconds and redrawing an approved scene means starting over. In an explainer video the storyboard stage is the last moment when anything can still change cheaply.
A commercial with actors or a rented location. With a crew, two actors and a location booked until three in the afternoon, you need to know how many shots you have to get and in what order. In that case the storyboard turns into the shoot day schedule almost one to one.
Filming inside a working facility. If a line stops for your shot, or the safety officer lets you into the hall for a fixed window, then without a drawn plan you will spend half of that window looking for the frame. Here the storyboard does not save the studio money, it saves your downtime.
When several people approve the video. The more approvers, the sooner you need something visual. Six panels signed off by management protect both sides: we know what to shoot and you know what you will get.
When is a storyboard just an extra line on the quote?
In formats where the picture cannot be planned in advance, because reality decides it. There is no point drawing an on camera interview: with a talking head you are deciding about light, background and whether the person says a usable sentence, not about the composition of eight different frames. The same goes for a conference aftermovie or event coverage. There you write a shot list, a list of what you must come back with, and the camera operator adds to it on site based on what actually happens.
Now the less comfortable part. A storyboard sometimes lands in a quote because it looks professional and lifts the price of pre production, even when it decides nothing on that particular project. When you see the line item, ask one question: which decision gets made earlier because of it? If the answer is specific, it is a few hundred euros well spent. If the answer is a general line about a better idea of the result, ask for a shot list and location photos instead. It costs less and does the same job.
Sometimes even less is enough. On two out of three company videos we produced last year, drawn panels were replaced by a moodboard with references and a handful of phone photos from the scout with a note on where the camera goes. The client saw exactly what they needed to see and did not pay an illustrator.
What has to be in a storyboard for it to be useful?
Five pieces of information per panel, otherwise it is a gallery rather than a working document. Copy this list and hold the storyboard you receive against it.
- Shot number, so that comments and the crew on set can refer to one specific panel.
- The action in one sentence: what happens in the shot. Not the mood, the action.
- Shot size: close up, medium, wide. This is the most common misunderstanding, because clients tend to read the word shot as a whole scene.
- Camera move: locked off, dolly, handheld, drone. Every move costs something and requires something.
- Sound or line: what is heard at that moment. Without the audio track you find out in the edit that the picture runs forty seconds and the copy runs seventy.
The sixth row is optional, but we always write it: the length of the shot in seconds. Add the panels up and you immediately know whether your video fits into thirty seconds, or whether you have written a two minute film on a commercial budget. That single column saves more discussion than all the pictures combined.
How much does a storyboard cost and how do you judge the quote?
A storyboard is part of pre production and it is billed that way. The studio Collective Production states in its public price list that pre production for a company video usually runs between 200 and 1000 euros, covering the location scout, the shot list and a scripted treatment where needed. Drawing the panels is therefore a smaller share of that number, not a separate expensive service. If you want to compare formats and budgets, StudioBinder has a practical guide on how to storyboard a video with examples of finished boards.
When you read a quote, ask about three things: how many panels you get, how many rounds of comments are included, and in what form it arrives. Simple black and white sketches in a table are just as good for deciding as coloured illustrations and cost a fraction. Coloured panels earn their place in one situation only: when the video is approved by someone who cannot read sketches, a foreign headquarters for example. At that point you are paying for a presentation rather than a storyboard, and it is fair to name it that way.
If you want to shorten the prep, a good brief helps most. Most of what gets sorted out late in a storyboard belonged in the video brief: where you are filming, what must not appear on camera, who speaks and what the viewer should do at the end. You can see how we run preparation and shooting under video production.
Frequently asked questions about storyboards
Does a storyboard have to be drawn by hand?
No. Panels are routinely built from location scout photos, frames from reference videos or simple diagrams in a table. What matters is whether the action, the shot size and the camera move are clear from the panel. Hand drawing is one option among several and for a company video it is often the most expensive one.
What is the difference between a storyboard and a shot list?
A shot list is that same list in text, a storyboard is it drawn out. A shot list is enough when everyone knows how the shots will look and the real question is whether you can get them all in a day. You need a storyboard when composition and order are still open, which is the case for commercials and animation.
How long does it take to prepare a storyboard?
For a thirty second commercial, usually two to four working days including one round of comments, and up to a week for a two minute explainer. Plan for it in your timeline: the storyboard has to be approved before you book a crew and a location, otherwise it has lost its purpose.
Can we deviate from the storyboard during the shoot?
Yes, and it happens almost every time. A storyboard is not a contract about every frame, it is an agreement about what the video has to contain. When a better shot appears on location we take it, and we take the planned one as well. The only real problem is dropping a panel that carried the main message and noticing it in the edit.
If you have a quote on your desk and cannot tell whether the storyboard on it is needed, send it over. We will say plainly when we would recommend one on your project and when a shot list plus scout photos will carry you through. Write to us through contact, a few sentences about what you are filming and by when is enough.
