Storyboard examples
Six panels of one scene, with shot and action written out.
How to read these examples
A storyboard example is more useful when you can see the shot and the change, not only a finished illustration. Below is an original scene, the same one charted on the plot diagram page. Copy the pattern onto a storyboard template. The drawings can stay as sticks.
Six panels
Panel 1. Wide shot at the bus stop. Mina holds a cardboard science project. The bus is not in frame. Action: she checks the time.
Panel 2. Wide shot on the park path. Action: she steps off the pavement onto the shortcut.
Panel 3. Close shot on the cardboard. Action: brown water reaches the lower edge and the board softens.
Panel 4. Medium shot at a garage door. Action: a neighbor holds out a clear plastic bin. This is the turn.
Panel 5. Close shot inside the bin. Action: the model sits dry. The ruined cardboard is folded beside it.
Panel 6. Wide shot at the classroom door. Action: the bell ends as she sets the bin on the table.
What this example is doing
Panels 1 to 3 are rising action. Panel 4 is the climax of this scene, even though nobody shouts. Panels 5 and 6 are falling action and a small resolution. If your own example spends four panels on the walk and one panel on the outcome, move a panel. The audience needs to see the change.
A second example, shorter: three panels for a product moment. Screen: a form with an empty date. Action: the person types a date in the past and an inline line appears, 'That date has passed.' Screen: the person picks today. No dialogue. Same template, different subject.
Questions
- What makes a useful storyboard example?
- Each panel changes something, the shot is named, and the turn of the scene has its own frame. Pretty art with no change between frames does not plan a scene.
- Should every panel have dialogue?
- No. Dialogue is optional. Action is required. A silent panel is easier to film or to build than a speech that exists to fill a box.
- Can I storyboard a website the same way?
- Yes. Treat each panel as a screen, and write what the person does. Use a wireframe when you need the layout of one screen rather than the sequence.