Storyboarding

Storyboarding is the process of arranging a series of images for a commercial or a film. It can also be applied in novels to effectively organise a plot. Storyboarding allows the user to experiment on the storyline by integrating changes into it. It is an effective process in planning, visualising, and organising the sequence of events.

We usually have an idea for a story but we don’t normally think of a plot, or the sequence of events. We have fragments of pictures in mind, but how can we come up with a coherent plot,

Storyboarding can be done by simply taking a stack of 3×5 sized cards and jotting down an image or scene on each card according to the order of your ideas in mind. When you already finished 10 or 20 cards, lay them out in a series according to how you imagine the story. You may find that each scene could have sub-scenes. You may also discover that there are gaps between each scene. Focus your thoughts on the gaps and new ideas will come to you. You may think of better ideas and ignore the previous ones. New characters will emerge to fulfil roles in the story. As the process goes on, more scenes, roles, and places will materialise.

Then, you can figure out the choice of your places and justify each character’s personality. It is important to include only those scenes where the characters’ personalities are justified and dramatised. Once you have at least the main series of events mapped in your cards, you can start transferring them into a more manageable outline or synopsis.