Camera

Storyboard

What is storyboard in film production?

A storyboard is a sequence of drawn frames representing the intended shots of a scene, showing composition, camera position and movement. It communicates visual intent to every department before anything is built, lit or shot.

A storyboard answers 'what will it look like'; a shot list answers 'what has to be captured'. They are complements rather than alternatives, and productions that board only the complex sequences — stunts, VFX, action — are making a deliberate and usually correct trade.

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Reviewed 2026-08-27

Related terms

Shot list: A shot list is the ordered list of individual camera setups planned for a scene or a shooting day, each entry specifying the shot size, angle, movement, lens and what it covers. It is the director and cinematographer's plan for how a scene will be assembled.
Coverage: Coverage is the set of different angles and sizes shot of the same scene so that it can be assembled in the edit. A conventionally covered dialogue scene includes a wide master, matching mid shots or singles of each performer, and often close-ups and cutaways.
Shot size: Shot size describes how much of the subject the frame contains, from extreme wide through wide, medium, close-up and extreme close-up. It is one of three properties that define a shot, alongside camera angle and camera movement, and it is the one that carries most of the emotional distance.