5 reasons to storyboard your next animation project

A storyboard is the blueprint for your finished animation, it tells the story visually as sketches to show the story unfolding sequentially.

Most storyboards are rough sketches providing sufficient detail to show the flow of the story rather than detailed visuals, although it is important to provide an impression of what is happening.

A good storyboard will show:

• The overall flow and pinnacle of the story
• A brief description of the camera actions
• The actions of any characters shown on screen
• What props/backgrounds are used in each scene
• The size, colour and position of any text
• Timings for voice-overs, sound effects and music

5 reasons why storyboarding is so important:

1. It allows you to work through ideas

Storyboarding is essential to work out rough motion ideas and problem solve before any of the time-consuming animation begins. This also allows the final animation to be delivered faster as any obstacles have already been overcome.

2. Voice-overs and sound

If an animation contains text, sound or voice-overs, a storyboard is crucial for timing any actions. A timecode on the storyboard will show the timing points and where actions need to match the audio. If any characters need to speak, this timecode will also show mouth movements for lip-syncing.

3. Generate buy-in

A storyboard is a great way of getting initial sign off on ideas and storylines. It also provides a chance to really understand the process and get excited about the collaboration .

4. Timesaving

Animation can be a long process, so a good storyboard saves a great deal of time as the motion is mapped and prepared for animating as amends and revisions have already happened at the storyboard stage.

5. Budget saving

The time-consuming nature of animation can mean that any last-minute tweaks and amends can require entensive re-works. A detailed, well thought out storyboard provides the opportunity to correct errors before they become difficult to rectify.