Storyboards
Boards that stay attached to the shot list.
A storyboard that lives in a PDF somebody emailed in prep is a storyboard nobody opens on the day. Frames here attach directly to shot list entries, so the visual intent travels with the setup it describes.
Comparing free options? Is free storyboard software good enough?
What is storyboard software?
Storyboard software lets a director or storyboard artist lay out a film's shots as a sequence of frames, showing composition, camera position and action before anything is filmed. Production-grade tools link each frame to a shot list entry so the boards stay synchronised with what is actually being scheduled and shot.
What you get
Frames attached to shots
Every frame belongs to a shot list entry carrying its size, angle, lens and movement. The picture and the spec are one object rather than two documents that drift.
Sequence view
See the scene as an ordered board, then reorder frames as the coverage plan changes. The shot list reorders with it.
Upload or draw
Upload sketches, photographs, previz stills or reference frames. Not every board needs to be drawn — a photo of the location with a rough crop is often more useful.
Available on set
Boards are in the same project as the call sheet and shot list, on mobile, so the crew can see them without hunting through email for a PDF.
Department visibility
Camera, grip and art can see the frames relevant to their setups instead of receiving the whole board as an attachment.
Progress alongside capture
As shots are marked captured on the day, the board shows what has been covered and what is still owed.
The PDF problem
Storyboards are usually made in prep, exported to PDF, and emailed. From that moment they are frozen while everything around them keeps moving. Coverage changes, a setup gets dropped, the schedule reorders — and the board still shows the original plan.
By the shoot day, most people have stopped consulting it, because they have learned it is unreliable. That is not a failure of storyboarding; it is a failure of storing boards separately from the shot list.
Storyboard and shot list, together
The two documents answer different questions and both are needed. The storyboard shows what a shot looks like. The shot list records what must be captured, with the technical detail and the tracking.
- A frame without a shot list entry never gets scheduled
- A shot list entry without a frame leaves intent ambiguous
- Keeping them as one object means reordering or dropping coverage updates both
- On the day, the crew sees the picture and the spec in the same place
Not every frame needs to be drawn
Drawn boards are valuable for complex action, VFX sequences and anything where blocking is hard to describe. For a great deal of dialogue coverage, a photograph of the location with a rough frame marked on it communicates more, faster, and costs nothing.
Upload whatever conveys the intent — sketches, photos, previz renders, reference stills from other films. The point is that the crew understands the shot, not that the artwork is good.
Is free storyboard software good enough?
Yes, and this is the category where free options are strongest. There is a genuinely free, open-source storyboarding app built for filmmakers, and free canvas tools handle photo and reference boards well. The real question is not price but which half of the job you need: drawing the frames, or organising them into something a crew can shoot from.
The options, honestly
Every option below, answering the same three questions. Ours is one row among them.
| Option | What's free | Where it stops | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storyboarder by Wonder Unit | Completely free and open source, built specifically for filmmakers. A real drawing environment with shot types, camera positioning and export. | Desktop app, and it stops at the boards — no shot list, no schedule, no call sheet. Development pace is community-driven. | Anyone who draws their own frames. If that is you, start here rather than with us. |
| ScenePaperOurs | Storyboard frames attached to individual shots in your shot list, laid out as a grid you can open full screen and step through, plus everything downstream — schedule, call sheets, crew. | We are not a drawing tool. You upload frames made elsewhere — drawn, photographed or generated — rather than sketching them in the app. | Directors who already have frames and need them tied to shots the crew actually works from. |
| Milanote | A free tier of a visual canvas that handles photo boards, reference and rough sequencing well. | The free tier is capped by how much you can put on it, and it is a general creative canvas rather than a film tool — no shot numbering or camera metadata. | Mood boards and photo-reference boards during development. |
| Canva or Google Slides | Free tiers with storyboard templates. One slide per frame is a legitimate storyboard. | No connection to a shot list or schedule, and no film-specific fields. Purely a layout surface. | Pitching a board to a client or a producer who wants something that looks tidy. |
| Paper and a pencil | Free, fastest, and what a large number of working directors still use. | You photograph it to share it, and revising means redrawing. | Thinking. Most boards start here regardless of what they end up in. |
What you actually get free
Boards are the one part of the chain we do not lead on, so here is the rest of it:
- Fountain screenplay editor with revision colours, opening and saving Final Draft files
- Scene-by-scene script breakdown that feeds the schedule
- Colour-coded stripboard scheduling with what-if scenarios
- Day Out of Days, generated from the schedule
- Shot lists with camera metadata and storyboard frames
- Call sheets with revisions, read receipts and turnaround checks
- Budgets with cost reports and change orders
- Verified crew marketplace — hire at zero commission
All of it free — see what that means.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between a storyboard and a shot list?
- A storyboard is a visual sequence of frames showing how shots will look. A shot list is a written, ordered breakdown of every setup with technical detail like lens and movement. Storyboards communicate intent; shot lists get scheduled and tracked. Most productions need both.
- Do I need to be able to draw?
- No. You can upload photographs, previz stills or reference frames instead of drawings. For a lot of coverage a photo of the location with a rough crop communicates the idea better than a sketch.
- Can the crew see boards on set?
- Yes. Boards live in the same project as the call sheet and shot list and are available on mobile, so nobody has to find a PDF attachment on the day.
- Do frames stay linked if I reorder the shot list?
- Yes. A frame belongs to its shot list entry, so reordering coverage or dropping a setup updates the board rather than leaving it stale.
- Is storyboard software free?
- Yes, on the free tier, along with shot lists and the rest of the core chain. Zero commission on anything you do on the platform.
- What is the best free storyboard software?
- If you draw your own frames, Storyboarder by Wonder Unit — it is completely free, open source and purpose-built for filmmakers. If you work from photos or references, a free visual canvas suits better. If you already have frames and need them attached to shots the crew works from, that is what ScenePaper does free.
- Is there a genuinely free storyboard app for filmmakers?
- Yes. Storyboarder by Wonder Unit is free and open source, with a drawing environment built around shot types and camera positioning. It is a better drawing tool than anything in a general production suite, including ours.
- Can I storyboard for free on ScenePaper?
- Yes. Storyboard frames attach to shots in your shot list at no cost, and you can open the board full screen and step through it frame by frame. One thing to be clear about: we are not a drawing tool. You upload frames you made elsewhere rather than sketching them here.
- Do I need to be able to draw to storyboard?
- No. Stick figures with clear framing communicate a shot perfectly well, and many directors board with photographs of the location or reference frames pulled from other films. The purpose is to agree what the shot is before the crew is standing there, not to produce artwork.
- What is the difference between a storyboard and a shot list?
- A shot list is the text: numbered setups with size, angle, movement and lens. A storyboard is the picture of those setups. They describe the same plan, which is why frames are most useful attached to the shot they illustrate rather than living in a separate document.
- Will ScenePaper start charging for storyboards?
- Everything is free right now. If paid plans arrive they will be aimed at funded productions with large teams, and you will be told before anything changes.
Terms explained
- Storyboard
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Get the templates and guides
Call sheets, breakdown sheets and DOOD grids as downloadable files, plus a note when we publish something new.
No spam, and unsubscribe from anything we send. See how we handle your address in the privacy policy.
Board your next scene free.
Frames attached to real shots, available to the crew on the day.