The Importance of Storyboarding

Storyboarding is a key step in all types of video production, whether it’s for your internal videos and marketing content or a major Hollywood production.

But what is storyboarding? It’s a process that’s used for in-depth and detailed preparation and planning in regard to how you’re going to tell your story. Organizations can’t afford to overlook the importance of storyboarding. Here are some of the reasons why!

How a Storyboard Helps You to Plan Your Video

A storyboard is a way to lay out the plan for your video in a visual format. You might think of it as the content of your video in the form of a comic strip.

A storyboard could incorporate rough sketches, stock images, or existing content from other videos. These images will lay out what’s going to happen in the video. They can even include dialogue and notes.

Storyboarding provides a much clearer idea of what the final video is going to be. With a common understanding, parties that work together to produce the video can communicate more effectively. For example, trying to describe your vision to a producer can be challenging with words alone! The storyboard lays it out in a way that everyone can understand and agree upon before shooting.

You can quickly spot miscommunications when you’re putting together a storyboard. You might also pick up on other problems you might not have considered if you jumped right in. For example, you could put together an image of two people talking and then realize you haven’t defined a setting because there’s no background for the image.

You’re probably going to overlook many essential details when you first begin to craft your video. A lot goes into any video production, and what might seem trivial at the conceptual stage can grind production to a halt later on.

But this essential planning step should never be skipped, even for minor videos. The importance of storyboarding really can’t be overstated for any production!

Why It Matters to Your Company

Video content needs to be focused, effective, and meaningful. You aren’t going to accomplish this by chance. It takes careful planning.

Storyboarding lets you try out various ideas during the planning stage. Waiting until production starts to craft your message and strategies can drive up costs significantly, not to mention cause a lot of hassle for everyone involved!

The costs associated with the final stages of production are often the highest. When it comes time to shoot your video, both actors (even if they are your employees) and crew will be on the clock. If you decide to make a change now, the costs will absolutely skyrocket.

This is also true for other types of videos. Even narration and animation come at a price. Having to do things over again late in the game can be disastrous. But a company can avoid these problems with careful planning at the storyboarding stage.

Making the Storyboard

Building the storyboard is a process that you’ll want to work through with your production company. Video companies have the extensive experience necessary to build storyboards efficiently, clearly translating concepts to a visual format.

Depending on the type of video you’re making, your approaches to storyboarding might differ. For example, if your video contains narration, much of the storyboarding process will be about defining the graphics and other elements that will accompany the narration. These could include text on the screen, photographs, animations, or traditional live-action shots.

A video of a presenter delivering dialogue can use storyboarding to better define visual presentation. At this stage, you’ll consider things like staging, backgrounds, props, locations, camera angles, and cuts. You’ll be able to build a truly dynamic and engaging video when you recognize the importance of storyboarding upfront!

Storyboarding also provides ample opportunities to make major changes to your plan. You might realize at this point that something really isn’t going to work or could be handled better in another way. Because you’re only making sketches and laying out images, changes can be made without any major expenses.

Partner with a Professional Production Company for Effective Storyboarding

At Digital Foundation Media, our video experts will work with you throughout the entire process to bring your vision to live. Serving individuals and companies in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, our team has extensive experience in storyboarding. Contact us today to get started!