For those who have a keen interest in learning about the production of these short films and the reason behind their success, you may be well-versed with the concept of storyboards.
What is a storyboard?
Working on a commercial TV program, a short film or a video may involve storyboards. They help you in easy communication of your story. A storyboard represents the planned shots of your video in a sequence of drawings. All the significant angles, shots, and action of your film will be covered as part of a storyboard. Storyboards are an essential and inevitable part of the pre-production process. They play an essential role in conveying the flow of the story. They also help determine whether the shots of your film will work together or not. You may also be able to view all the potential flaws that will otherwise go unnoticed. After using it, you will save some money and lots of time.
What is the Importance of a Storyboard?
Determining whether the concept will work or not
A storyboard determines whether the storyline will work for the audience and the clients, or it will just fail. A couple of paragraphs help in the verbal communication of the idea. It also helps in determining the direction of production.
Effective utilization of the budget
If you have a project that will require a considerable investment of money, knowing whether the project will work or not beforehand is essential. The storyboard will help the client visualize the final product. Verbal communication may be strong, but it can never communicate the entire idea like a storyboard.
Organization of the shots
There are times when you have a limited period for your ad or short film. You may have 60 seconds, 30 seconds, or even as few as 15 seconds at hand. A storyboard helps you determine how your story may be quickly completed within a specific time duration.
Deciding the appropriate dialogue
There are times when you decide on a scene with particular dialogues, but the outcome is not what you expected. You can know this only when you use a storyboard. Hence, using a storyboard may be very useful in deciding whether the particular dialogue will fit the scene in your mind or not.
Integration of timing, scripts, and animation
Various storyboard apps and software allow you to manage the timing and addition of scripts and animations to your storyboard. This way, the storyboard becomes attractive and appealing to your clients. You can also add images, shapes, videos, and PDFs of your liking. This was all about the benefits and importance of the storyboard. Now, let us look at some of the best Storyboard tools available on the market.
Plot
Plot entitles you with the ability to create and plot the outlines of your story. It provides easy collaboration and a user-friendly interface. Plot is compatible with both the desktop as well as mobile versions. You can instantly view your stories in the storyboard format with this tool. You can break different sentences into different scenes. All this can be done with some basic operations. This is a lightweight, easy-to-use, and up-to-date app for creating storyboards.
Canva
Those who have little knowledge about the designing field know that there is nothing that Canva can’t handle. From templates to posters, Canva entitles you to do everything and anything. Canva helps you to create interactive and attractive storyboards. The feature for creating storyboards in Canva is free to use. It entitles you to create and share storyboards with your clients and impress them. Moreover, Canva reduces your workload by providing tons of inbuilt images. This means that you don’t have to spend lots of time surfing the internet for the correct suitable photos. You just visit the Canva library and find the image that best suits your theme. Not just this, Canva entitles you to a never-ending list of already created templates. Select the one that attracts you the most, and you are all set to present the best storyboard.
Boords
With Boords, you can create amazing storyboards that fit your theme and impress your clients. They do not compromise on the quality and provide premium facilities at a reasonable price. You can take the trial free of cost and then decide if you want to use Boords and create the best storyboard or not. You can create shapes and images using the drawing tool or insert pictures from your library or Google. With just a single click, your video gets all the animation effects needed. You can add better effects with subtitles, frame timing, and sounds. You can then export the created storyboard in MP4 format.
Wonder Unit
Wonder Unit is supported by Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It helps you create your plot as a storyboard and then present it to your clients. It also allows you to understand whether the particular idea will be perfect or requires some changes. The platform helps you curate an excellent idea for your story without creating a movie. Simple and easy drawing tools make the app user-friendly. You can add boards with a click and insert the text you like. You also get the option of making other editing changes using Photoshop. What else do you demand from a storyboard application? It offers so many features without charging a penny!
StudioBinder
StudioBinder is one of the best TV, film, and video production management software. You can easily visualize the scenes in your head and check if they will be successful. StudioBinder provides you with one workflow solution. It offers the best visualization tools and provides your clients with a better and clearer idea. While using Studiobinder, you can include information like your script breakdown, shooting schedule, and shot list. It also provides you with the facility to import scripts from any screenwriter. You also get the feature for the auto organization of scenes and easy management of your storyboard. They can be rearranged the settings at any given time and maintain the clarity of every single scene.
MakeStoryboard
MakeStoryboard provides features to create storyboards within minutes. You can add images, sketches, and descriptions the way you like and make your idea appealing. With MakeStoryboard, you can create a visual direction for your project and add the related description in a dynamic format. MakeStoryboard also allows you to invite other team members to the same project. This way, you can decrease your workload and distribute the tasks using this fantastic website. You can set the viewers of your project by setting access permissions. You can download a high-quality printable PDF using the MakeStoryboard tool and share it privately with the one you like.
StoryboardThat
It is an interactive and innovative storyboard app that provides tons of editing ideas and options to convey the plot of your story. StoryboardThat has 3000 plans and activities. With this, you can also provide knowledge to your students and children keen to learn storyboard creation. With StoryboardThat, you can also create attractive graphics and comics. Video planning, poster creation, and many more features are a part of the StoryboardThat platform. You can pay the extra money and unlock the VIP edition and features for better results. It is also suitable for the business class as it has templates related to business resources.
Miro
Miro storyboard creator enables you to visualize scenes and convey the same to your audience. The audience gets an idea of the plot in their mind and understands and feels it through the effects available from Miro. Miro offers an infinite canvas where you can bring your project to life. You can then share these projects with your clients, and they get an idea of the plot in your head. They may then view it online or download it in high resolution. Miro saves you a lot of effort through its inbuilt templates. You can select the best storyboard template as per your liking and then place your texts, videos, clips, etc., on those ready templates. Signing up on Miro is entirely free, and its interface is highly user-friendly.
Toonboom
Toonboom is a premium storyboard app that provides a user-friendly interface for usage by students, videographers, schools, agencies, storytellers, and video production teams. This provides a better idea of the theme they are planning in mind and whether its implementation will be successful or not. Toonboom helps you in the proper structuring and sequencing of your storyboard. You can then share, promote, and pitch the story further as you like. It gives you the power to control animations, cinematic experience, sound, drawing, scripting, and camera control all at once. While using Toonboom, you do not encounter any glitches, and hence your work is completed efficiently.
Milanote
Milanote is one of the most famous storyboard tools. It has numerous inbuilt templates that help you to visualize your idea. You can add images, videos, diagrams, and notes to your storyboard. Rearrangement of the frames is the most straightforward task as it can be done by the drag-and-drop feature. The added content can be updated within seconds, and hence the working and updating become easier. With Milanote, you can create your template by placing elements of your liking or selecting an inbuilt Milanote from the infinite options available. Milanote also provides you with many inbuilt images suitable for every theme. You can choose from their list or simply select images from Google. You can also add PDFs, designs, sound, images, and everything to your storyboard to make it more eye-catching. Furthermore, Milanote comes with an inbuilt notification, commenting, and sharing feature, thus making it easy for communication. The sketch tool of the Milanote app is smooth and user-friendly.
Visme
Another fantastic app that you may use for creating storyboards is Visme. Its interface is smooth, free from any glitches, and user-friendly. You can use the inbuilt professional templates and create a story that you like. You can then share it with your colleagues and clients as a link or PDF format. Communicators from over 120 countries prefer to use the Visme app. You can go through all the inbuilt texts, images, and templates and create the final storyboard design. Easy incorporation of colors, shapes, and clipart makes the Visme app one of the best. Millions of stock photos, unique features, and a user-friendly interface help you share and create an idea that everyone likes.
Free Storyboard Templates
Most of the time, you do not have sufficient time to create a storyboard from scratch. At that time, templates of storyboard creating apps make your job easy. These apps have their templates with vibrant color schemes that you can use along with slight changes. The best apps that provide you with storyboard templates are as follows.
Canva
Canva has a massive list of storyboard templates that will fit every theme. Some of these themes may be premium, and you can access these by using the pro version. The vibrant colors and the eye-catching themes and templates offered by Canva are second to none. Different colors, designs, and themes are available with Canva. Therefore, you can create eye-catching designs and use ready-made templates through Canva.
Boords
Boords is an exciting and easy-to-use storyboard creation software. It makes your work even more accessible with its inbuilt and pre-designed templates. Shift and adjust the elements the way you like and save the file in MP4, PDF, or the format you want. The various templates that Boords offers you are:
Printable PDF templates Photoshop storyboard templates PowerPoint storyboard templates MS Word storyboard templates Storyboard templates for creating animations Video storyboard templates Shot list template Creative Brief template Film Treatment template Call Sheet template
StudioBinder
StudioBinder is one of the best apps with features like time breakdown and management. With its premium templates and facilities, it’s the best storyboard creator. You can also import a script from a screenwriter with the help of a StudioBinder. A list of all the template options available from StudioBinder are:
Printable PDF storyboard template Photoshop storyboard templates PowerPoint storyboard template MS word storyboard template Comic storyboard template Animation storyboard template Film and video storyboard template
With StudioBinder, you can select the template that best suits your idea and design from the comprehensive list mentioned above. You can then create your storyboard and present it in front of your clients. You can select the template that you like, see if it fits with your specific theme, and then deliver it to your clients in a way that impresses them.
Conclusion 🎞️
There is a never-ending list of software that will help you create storyboards. Storyboards are an easy way to plan and present the plot of your short film, movie, or TV series. You can add interactive effects and then offer them to your clients who access them and suggest the changes if any. With a storyboard, you can create personalized templates or use the inbuilt templates. The amount of effort and money that goes into creating a TV series or show is unimaginable. Therefore, storyboard software reduces the workload and makes the task easy and accomplishable.
