Storyboard template
Panels with a shot, an action, and optional dialogue.
Fields worth leaving blank
A storyboard template (the searches 'template storyboard' and 'storyboard template' are the same request) is a sequence of frames. Each frame needs three bits of writing underneath or beside the picture: the shot (how close, whose point of view), the action (what changes during the frame), and dialogue or text if any. A row of empty rectangles with no fields becomes a comic you cannot hand to someone else.
Six to eight panels cover a single scene. A whole film needs many rows. For planning a product screen, the same template works if 'shot' becomes 'screen' and 'action' becomes 'what the person does'. That is close to a wireframe sequence. Static page layout lives on the wireframe examples page.
How the template relates to plot
Draw the plot diagram first if the scene has a turn. Then spend panels on the rising action and at least one panel on the result. A template that uses every panel for the setup has no room for the change the audience came to see.
Steps
- Number the panels. Left to right, top to bottom. Numbering survives a shuffle when you cut a frame.
- Write the action before you draw. A stick figure is enough once the verb is clear: hands over the bin, cardboard bends, bell rings.
- Note the shot in four words. Wide on the stop. Close on the cardboard. Over-shoulder at the garage.
- Leave dialogue optional. A silent panel is allowed. Do not invent a speech to fill the line.
Questions
- What should a storyboard template include?
- Numbered panels, a shot note, an action line, and an optional dialogue line. Arrows help when the camera moves. Color is optional.
- How many panels do I need?
- One scene usually fits in six to eight panels. Add a row when the location changes or when a new decision starts.
- Do I need to draw well?
- No. Labels and arrows carry the plan. A rectangle with the word 'bin' is a valid panel if the action line says who hands it over.