What Are the Elements of a Storyboard?

A storyboard is a visual picture that conveys a story in a logical order and is used for many things including films, animated pictures and books. On a storyboard, an artist creates pictures, panel by panel, that illustrate the order and events of a story including the characters and dialogue. A storyboard must contain several key elements in order for it to be effectively used to produce films or books.

The first primary element of a storyboard is the story it tells. By creating the story in order on a storyboard, the creator can visually see if the story makes sense, is complete or is missing key information. A storyboard also helps the creator organize and insert key details and points from the story in a logical manner.

A storyboard also contains the characters in the story. When creating a storyboard, most creators use pen or pencil and are not concerned with making the characters look good. Some people even use stick figures instead of drawing complete characters. As a writer draws a storyboard, the characters in the story are able to develop into their own personalities, through the way the creator illustrates the story. The storyboard illustrates the actions of the characters, such as the way they are moving or what they are doing.

Dialogue is also an element of a storyboard. A storyboard not only shows the characters in the story, but also shows what the characters are saying. It can also illustrate the tone of voice the characters use, such as the loudness of the words, or specific types of feelings that words can produce, such as anger, sarcasm or excitement.

Storyboards also contain notes about time frames, such as how much time will be used in a specific scene, or how much time passes between frames. This element of a storyboard helps writers narrow down a story to a specific amount of time.

Numerous different terms are commonly used in the production of storyboards, especially when referring to the camera details. The storyboard illustrates where the camera should be positioned, and shows which frames are close-up shots or shots with a moving camera. Other camera terms include dissolve, which occurs when the camera fades out of one shot and into another and zoom, which is when the camera moves close to the picture.