← Animation Glossary

Storyboard

A storyboard is like a comic book version of an animated movie. It shows all the important parts of the story, including the characters, the setting, and what happens in each scene. It helps animators plan out the animation before they start drawing it so that everything looks just right.

Storyboarding is a critical aspect of the animation process, and it involves creating a visual representation of the story, scene by scene, shot by shot. It is a crucial step that ensures that the final product meets the desired creative vision. In animation, a storyboard consists of a sequence of drawings that depict the key moments and actions of the story. It serves as a blueprint for an animated film, TV show, or video game.

Brush Ninja animated gif maker has a built-in method for exporting a single image, which could be used as a story board. Combine this with the frame notes feature and you can add extra information to your storyboards.

The storyboard artist is responsible for translating the script into visual form, using images to convey the pacing, composition, and visual style of a project. To achieve this, they must have a deep understanding of the characters involved and the environment in which they exist. Each panel of the storyboard represents different camera angles or actions, with notes describing any dialogue or sound effects that will be added later.

Storyboarding offers several benefits to animators and filmmakers. First, it allows animators to work out pacing and flow before committing to expensive and time-consuming production. By having a clear plan in place before production starts, storyboard artists can save time and resources while creating better animation.

Secondly, storyboarding enables directors and producers to get a sense of how the final product will look and feel. This makes it easier to make changes or revisions before production begins. By making revisions at this early stage in the process, animators can avoid costly mistakes later on.

Example Storyboard layout

Example Storyboard layout

Download a Storyboard Template

Download a free storyboard template to help you plan your animation.

Download Storyboard as PDF - Download Storyboard as Png

Another benefit of storyboarding is that it allows for collaboration between writers, directors, producers, and animators. By working together during the storyboard process, everyone involved has a clear understanding of what is expected, reducing misunderstandings later on.

Storyboarding is an essential part of animation that ensures that the final product meets the desired creative vision. It provides many benefits to animators and filmmakers, including allowing them to work out pacing and flow before committing to expensive production, identifying potential problems early in the process, and allowing for collaboration between all parties involved. By taking the time to create a detailed storyboard, animators can save time and resources while creating better animation.

Animation Terms

2

2D Animation

3

3D Animation

A

Alpha Channel

Ambient sound

Animation

Anti-Aliasing

Anticipation

Aspect Ratio

B

Bezier Curve

Bitmap

Blue Screen

Bone Animation

Bounce

Broadcast Standards

C

Camera Angle

Camera Shake

Casting

Cel Animation

Character Animation

Character Design Sheets

Cinematic lighting

Claymation

Clean-up

Close-up

Color Correction

Color Grading

Compositing

Composition

Concept Art

Continuity editing

Cross-cutting

Cut

Cutout nimation

D

Depth of Field

Dialogue

Dissolve

Distributed Rendering

Dolby Atmos

Dope Sheet

Dutch Angle

E

Easing

Emitter

Exaggeration

Eyedropper

F

Foley

Follow through

Forward Kinematics

Frame Rate

Frame

Framing

Freeze Frame

G

Ghosting

GIF File Format

Golden Ratio

Graph Editor

H

High key lighting

Hue and Saturation

I

Inertia

Infographic Animation

Inverse Kinematics

J

Joint

JPEG File Format

Jump cut

K

Keyframe Interpolation

Keyframe

Kinetic typography

L

Layers

Lens distortion

Level of Detail

Lighting

Line of action

Lip syncing

Low key lighting

M

Match cut

Matte painting

Montage

Morphing

Motion blur

Motion capture

Motion graphics

Motion path

Motion trail

Mouth shapes

MP3 File Format

MP4 File Format

N

Network rendering

Non-linear editing

O

Occlusion culling

Onion skinning

Overlapping action

P

Pan

Parallel rendering

Particle system

Persistance of Vision

Phonemes

Playback speed

Plot

PNG File Format

Pose-to-pose animation

Props

Puppet animation

R

Render farm

Rendering

Resolution

Rigging

Rotoscoping

Rule of thirds

Run cycle

S

Safe zone

Scene

Score

Screenplay

Script

Shot

Silhouette

Skeletal animation

Slow Motion

Smears

Sound Design

Sound effects

Soundtrack

Special Effects

Split screen

Squash and Stretch

Staging

Stop Motion Animation

Storyboard

Straight-ahead Animation

T

Time Remapping

Timeline

Timing

Title Card

Title Sequence

Tracking shot

Tweening

V

Vector graphics

Visemes

Voice acting

Voice-over Narration

W

Walk cycle

WebM File Format

Weighting

Wide shot

Z

Z-depth

Zoom

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