How to Read a Storyboard
- 1). Read storyboards like a comic book, left to right and up to down, though each drawing, or board, will be numbered for your convenience. Below or sometimes next to each board is a description of the on-screen action in the shot and/or any lines of dialogue. These are essentially snippets taken from the script.
- 2). Keep in mind that the amount of screen-time each board takes up is determined by its content. The number of boards needed to illustrate a given shot can vary greatly. For instance, a wide establishing shot will probably remain unchanged for a much longer period of time than a fast-paced action shot. Even though they may comprise the same amount of screen-time, the first only requires one board, while the second will need one for each major action.
- 3). Pay attention to the use of arrows. Some will show character movement, while others will indicate camera movement. If it is ambiguous on the board, the scene description will usually clarify. Some storyboards will label arrows with text or use a different color for each type.
- 4). Interpret arrows oriented around a character or object as indicators of on-screen movement. They may indicate the direction of walking, a head turn, a gesture or virtually any significant action in the shot. More complex movements, such as those in a fight or a heated exchange of lines, will be shown with multiple boards. Tapered arrows that appear to be moving closer or further on the paper indicate movement toward or away from the screen.
- 5). Interpret arrows at the edge of the frame as indicators of camera movement. Pans left and right and tilts up and down will be illustrated by an arrow pointing in the direction of camera movement. The next board will show the frame the camera moves to. Occasionally, a pan or tilt will be depicted in an elongated board that includes both the beginning and ending frames, each indicated by rectangles connected by an arrow. If this is done with a tilt up or a pan right, the normal order of reading would be reversed for that shot, so pay attention to the numbering of the boards, as these should still be counted as two boards.
- 6). Interpret any arrows connecting the four corners of a board to a smaller frame drawn within the board as a camera zoom. The direction that the arrows point indicates whether it is a zoom into the smaller frame or out into the full frame. Occasionally, the four arrows will appear at the corners of the board alone, and the following board will show the frame they zoom to.
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