What is a storyboard, and why do they matter?
So you’ve got a plan for what you want your recording to cover. You might even have a full script and think you’re ready to jump straight into recording!
But let’s pause first and talk about why creating a visual storyboard beforehand can be a great way to improve your overall recording quality and save you some time along the way.
Creating a storyboard will help you organize your plan and streamline your recording process.
First things first: what is a storyboard? Simply put, a storyboard is like a visual outline. The goal of a storyboard is to convey the different visuals that will be shown throughout the course of a video, and is often paired with text components of the script so you can see how spoken content pairs with visual elements.
With a storyboard in hand, you’ll be in much better shape when you go to record or stream, since you have a well thought out plan for what you’ll show at each stage of the video. That means less retakes and improvising and a smoother, less stressful recording process.
How to create a storyboard
Storyboards come in many different shapes and forms, and ultimately you’ll come to your own preferences for the style and approach you take, but before you even create one, here are some of the key components you need to think through:
- What camera angles or shots do you want to feature?
- What will your intro, outro, and transitions between shots look like?
- What graphics or overlaid elements will you need?
- Will there be any superimposed images or videos? Where will they be positioned in the frame?
- What different layouts will you have if multiple videos are featured at once? (For example, a side by side shot of two people speaking)
Once you have some sample shots and assets (or even just general ideas) about these questions, you can start to build and refine a storyboard that helps you visually see how these pieces come together to form a full video.
Different tools and formats for storyboarding
As we mentioned, there are many different formats that storyboards can take. Here are some of the most successful examples we’ve seen:
Two-column scripts
A two column script is a tried and true classic when it comes to planning the visual components of your video or stream. The way these work is they force you to break your script into chunks, placed within a table alongside boxes for what will visually accompany each piece. This forces you to map out both the words and visuals for every moment of your video (via written description, illustration, or whatever you want).
A great example of a column script (it’s a little more than two-columns), is Stephanie Garcia’s Video Script Maker. This script maker helps you plan out your video from start to finish, helps you create strong hooks, insert the graphics you are using for these videos, and even the audio cues you want to trigger during each portion of your video.
This is the perfect companion for a creator who’s a strong writer, or just loves a supercharged chart.
Whiteboarding tools
[image provided by Miro]
If you want to extend the concept of a two-column script into an environment that allows you to piece together visuals and or inspiration more freely, you can explore using whiteboard tools like Miro or Figjam. With these tools you can paste the “chunks” into the project as text elements, then paste images and graphic elements alongside them to more clearly show what visuals accompany each piece.
This is perfect for creators who are typically visual learners and want to make sure that their graphics, story, and concept flow concisely from A-Z. Whiteboarding tools like this will help you clearly lay out your plan, ensure your graphic elements are cohesive, and easily import your ideas into Ecamm Live to record your content.
Video canvas
If you want to go beyond static images and screenshots of your different visuals, you can work with Scenery’s video whiteboarding Canvas. Here you can visually arrange everything from videos, to animated titles, and transparent video assets in a whiteboarding tool designed for video.
Arrange all your video’s components in Scenery’s video whiteboarding Canvas.
For example, if you’re gathering inspiration from past videos you’ve recorded, or screenshots and videos from other projects you like, you can add all your media to the canvas and group them based on type. As you zero in on the precise look and feel you want for each segment, you can then start to stitch them together as an actual video (called a “Scene” in Scenery) to see how they work in sequence.
Piece together your storyboard with real video assets.
Once you have a Scene started, you can easily duplicate it and create alternate versions if you want to play around with the order and positioning of your different items. The best part, you can easily upload all your recorded clips to Scenery with the click of a button in Ecamm Live.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve got a storyboard in hand, you are prepared to create a cohesive visual story. You know what elements you need for your recording, the content you have to record, and exactly how you are going to lay everything out to convey your message in the best way possible.
The last step is to build it all out. With Ecamm’s Profiles and Scenes features, you can build a fully working outline directly in Ecamm, saving everything as you go. This allows you to start your show at your introduction and work your way to your conclusion in a way that helps you stay on topic, and reduce the need for re-recording.
Once you build that outline inside of Ecamm, you can add your elements into each scene using Overlays. You can insert overlays (like your logo, lower thirds, graphics, images, and even videos and GIFs) to build out the perfect layout for your show. Everything is as easy as drag and drop!
So take your storyboard and soar! We can’t wait to see how you use your new storyboarding skills to streamline your creation workflows.
