Story Boring? Effective Ways to Make Story Boards Work
Creative Agency Philippines,
Writing scripts for your video marketing campaign may not be enough. That’s why video production companies in the Philippines also use storyboards to make their content come alive. This is most important if you want to make sure that people are getting what you wanted to happen, especially the client to understand your vision and the production crew to avoid any misunderstandings.
But what exactly is a storyboard?
A storyboard is a set of sketches, mostly looking more like comic strips, that envisions the flow of the story. It shows how these frames should look like, who are present, and how actions should be done. It’s a clear presentation of how angles and perspectives should play in a viewer’s head. Yes, like a blueprint.
If you want to map out your story and show it to your clients and the staff, then use a storyboard. How? Here are a few simple steps that you could use in creating an effective storyboard that appeals to your target audience.
Make a timeline
Before you go head-on with sketching, you have to first establish a timeline. A timeline helps organize your series of frames in the video and helps establish a flow that will effectively envision your campaign’s content.
The thing about drawing a timeline is, you get to have a bird’s eye view of your proposed video campaign. It gives you an opportunity to spot cracks that may ruin the flow of the story, especially if it will confuse the target audience from understanding the main message of the video.
Moreover, your team can also have a chance on contributing ideas that will further help emphasize the goal of your campaign. To this day, creative agencies in the Philippines and all over the world treats a timeline as a strong component in creating an effective storyboard.
Determine the important frames in your story
If there’s one thing that you should always remember about creating a storyboard, it should be that a storyboard shouldn’t look anything like a book. It doesn’t have to show specific parts of the story, rather it should only point out important frames that would play a huge element in the video.
Hence, what are those elements?
Specifically, these elements should draw the audience onto the video and will manifest an understanding of what the story is trying to tell. To determine these scenes, you should pick scenes that:
- Shows the development of the plot
- Connotes important changes in the story, also called as plot twists
- Involves changes in setting
Furthermore, make sure to present significant changes in a clear manner to avoid confusing your audience.
Figure out how detailed you’re going to go for
As we’ve mentioned above, a storyboard isn’t a book, nor should it look like one. Details are needed, yes; however, you should also bear in mind that you have to keep it as smooth and as important as possible.
For a 30-second video campaign, the standard number of frames is 15. It has to be concise and juicy as possible for it to be an effective storyboard. However, if you’re still a starter, you can also add a few more frames into your template to figure out the details that you may need to include in your storyboard.
How do you determine if it’s a great storyboard?
It’s a general understanding for creative agencies in the Philippines and all over the world that a great storyboard will be easily understood by anyone who’s viewing it. It will be the point of reference by the production crew – a direction that will set the shooting to a straight path. This should also help avoid mistakes and other constraints from happening during production.
Integrate your script
If you already have a script besides you, that’s great. If not, better make one before you proceed with creating a storyboard. We, however, recommend that you do not rush a piece just to make a storyboard. Take your time and produce a story that your target audience will love and will help you achieve your goal/s like many Philippine creative agencies out there.
Once done, you can now integrate your script under each frame in the template. This will guide you in sketching the scenes in a more detailed manner. Also, it will be beneficial if you add a few supplementary notes to better explain what’s happening in the frame.
Sketch your scenes
Alright, time to actually visualize your story. For this part, remember that you don’t need to be really artistic. What’s important here is that you are able to execute (in images) the scenes that are important in your story.
In sketching your scenes, you have two mediums to choose from: you can either go digital through online storyboarding software, or be traditional with a pencil and sketchpad. Whatever medium you use, what’s important is that your storyboard is able to execute the elements with importance (who, what, where, and when), and the scenes in a clear and concise manner.
Review
Now that you’re done, review your work. This is the most critical part of the storyboarding process. Why? This is because this is where you spot constraints and fix them.
Make sure to ask other people’s opinion, especially of their understanding about the storyboard. This will help you better determine if you have arranged the scenes smoothly and if the elements are emphasized clearly.
Key Takeaway
Creating a storyboard doesn’t need to be critical – with proper execution of the timeline, elements, details, script, and the visualization of scenes, rest assured that you are going doing okay! You should also remember that thorough reviewing of the product will help you better create an effective storyboard that will appeal to your chosen target audience.
You can also choose to hire a Philippine creative agency like Sigil who have the experience in creating effective and appealing storyboards. This will help you better produce a video campaign in a strategic and cost-efficient manner. Guaranteed, you need not worry about missing elements that are most important in creating one.
If you’re interested in our services, you can contact us here!
