Seven Principles of Storyboarding

So Storyboarding is something that everybody attempts when planning and designing any visual narration, even if the approach isn't refined. But what are the principles? Well there don't appear to be any in a fixed mutually agreed set. Animation has them, Photography and Editing does too! So why is it all open-ended for storyboarding? The answer could be be due to the fact it feeds into multiple disciplines and AoP's (areas of practice) across the production pipeline, taking into consideration their respective needs.


To this end I have produced Six Principles of storyboarding that borrow heavily and tailor many existing principles and theories from peripheral AoP's I felt are relevant to it.

Story-telling-(See Aristotle's Poetics, Joseph Campbell's Monomyth) The ability to communicate a narrative to the audience effectively lies in the art of story-telling. A story invariably plays on known archetypes and stereotypes, and base fundaments are a must to weave a narrative: a protagonist, antagonist, conflict, journey and resolution, or as Aristotle catagorizes them: Complication and Dénouement. There is no story without these, though they do not necessarily need to be in a given order of chronology. Through storyboarding, the purpose must centre around serving the story, and these elements.

Solid Drawing- (Borrowed from Animation's 12 principles) Beat boards, storyboards and animatics rely on strong solid drawing in order to communicate ideas and themes. Without clear economy of line, effectiveness of poses, gestures and body language, the performances cannot be readable, and the message may become lost in translation. Furthermore, your boards will remain incoherent and therefore fail to tell and serve the story. Mark-making techniques and the Line of Action achieve this.

Compression- (Borrowed from Will Eisner's published theories) If a story can be expanded, it can be compressed. Distilling the narrative to its bare bones can ensure the main arc is understood, and therefore illustrated to its maximum potential. Several scenes can be compressed into one effective encompassing image. This is economical in many ways, and refines the story-telling. Establishing your Three Pillars, and distinguishing your Secondary frames achieves this.

Framing and Composition- (Influenced by Photography Principles) To carefully and meticulously position frame ‘clutter’, such as objects, architecture, lighting or people to be aesthetically pleasing, emotive and effective to the given moment in the story. Symmetry, or the rule of thirds lend themselves to pleasing composition. In storyboarding, this can also help with fore-shadowing an action, or build anticipation, with the interplay of what may be unfolding in the background, middle-ground and foreground. Geometric blocking and/or the Line of Action can aid this.

Pace and Rhythm- (Influenced by Animation Beat Boards, and Editing Principles) Understanding the flow of a sequence or story as played out in several frames is key to ensuring a smooth transition from one scenario to the next. Holding beats and building drama is crucial to engaging and manipulating the viewer. Beat Boards' prime objective is to identify these 'moments' in the pace of a narrative. Editing in animatics can emphasize and establish the rhythm of the sequence.

Tonal Value-( Influenced by Comic book/Graphic Novel theories) The addition or deliberate omission of colour and tone of the images further aim to evoke an emotion or visual sensation from the viewer, aiding in the mood of the narrative. Furthermore, its potential as a story-telling tool is invaluable, as carefully placed lighting can create allusions to thematic undertones, or literally draw the viewer's attention into a particular area of the frame. Colours can be juxtaposed, used to infer, or directly reference thematic elements to a story.