Storyboarding and animatics

In short

A storyboard is the shot-by-shot drawing of a film, advertisement, game cinematic or explainer, with camera, action, dialogue and transition notes written against each panel. An animatic (story reel, Leica reel) is that storyboard cut to the actual timing with scratch dialogue, temp music and effects, so the film can be judged and fixed before a single frame is animated. Together they are the cheapest place to solve a story problem: a panel redrawn costs a day, the same shot reanimated in 3D costs lakhs. Indian universities examine it under animation pre-production and film language papers (AICTE/UGC CBCS B.Sc Animation, B.Des); studios such as Green Gold, Toonz, Cosmos-Maya, Xentrix, 88 Pictures, Paperboat, DNEG and MPC India test it in portfolio and technical rounds for storyboard artist, previs artist and animation director roles.

Explained

Definitions and where it sits in the pipeline

• Pipeline order: script/concept → beat board → thumbnails → storyboard → animatic/story reel → layout/previs → animation → lighting/comp → edit. Each stage locks decisions for the next.
• Beat board: a handful of key story moments, one image per beat, drawn to test whether the story works at all - not shot-accurate.
• Thumbnails (roughs): small, fast staging sketches, 10-30 seconds each, used to explore camera options before committing.
• Storyboard: the shot plan. Each panel = one shot, or one distinct moment inside a shot (a panel for the start and end of a camera move, or for a new pose that changes the staging).
• Animatic: panels placed on an editing timeline at their intended durations, with camera moves animated as pans/zooms, plus scratch voice, temp score and key SFX. It is an editable film at near-zero cost.
• Previs / techvis / postvis: rough 3D versions of the same plan. Previs blocks camera and action in 3D; techvis adds real lens, crane and set data for the shoot; postvis drops rough CG into shot plates. Previs replaces or follows the animatic on VFX-heavy work.
• Storyboard vs animatic: the board shows *what* is seen; the animatic shows *how long* it is seen. Reading speed, comic timing and whether a joke lands are decided only in the animatic.

Shot grammar a storyboard must specify

• Shot sizes: ECU (extreme close-up, detail), CU (close-up, head), MCU (chest), MS (mid, waist), MLS/cowboy (knees), LS (full figure), WS/ELS (figure small in environment), establishing shot (opens a new location).
• Angles: eye level (neutral), low angle (subject dominant), high angle (subject diminished), bird's eye/top, worm's eye, Dutch/canted (unease), OTS (over-the-shoulder), POV, two-shot, insert.
• Camera moves: pan (horizontal pivot), tilt (vertical pivot), truck/dolly in-out, track, zoom (lens, not camera), crane/boom, arc, handheld, truck-in (animation term for camera push), multiplane pan (layers at different speeds for depth).
• Transitions: cut (default), dissolve/mix (time passing), fade in/out (scene or film boundary), wipe, iris, match cut, cut on action, L-cut/J-cut (sound leads or lags picture), smash cut, whip pan.
• Panel annotations: scene/shot number, action arrows (character movement), camera arrows (frame movement), field/frame boxes for start and end of a move, duration in seconds+frames, dialogue, SFX, transition out.
• Shot numbering: Sequence/Scene/Shot, e.g. SC012-SH004, or 12A, 12B for inserts. Numbers must never be reused after a board revision - add letters or suffixes so edit notes stay traceable.

Continuity and staging rules

• 180-degree rule: keep the camera on one side of an imaginary action line between two characters, so each keeps a consistent screen side. "Crossing the line" makes them appear to swap places.
• Legal crossings: cross on a visible camera move, a neutral/on-the-line shot, a cutaway, or with the characters themselves moving across.
• Screen direction: a character travelling screen-right keeps travelling screen-right across cuts; reversing it reads as turning back. Journeys in Indian features often fix a direction for the whole chase.
• 30-degree rule: between two shots of the same subject change the camera angle by at least ~30° (or change shot size clearly), otherwise the cut jumps.
• Eyeline match: the direction and height of a look in shot A must agree with what is seen in shot B.
• Staging and readability: silhouette-clear poses, tangents avoided, the point of interest placed on a rule-of-thirds intersection or along a leading line, foreground elements used for depth.
• Headroom, noseroom/lead room, and the action axis of a pan - a character walking into frame should have space ahead, not behind.
• Hookups: the last panel of a shot and the first of the next must match in prop position, costume, lighting direction and time of day.

Format, frame and technical specification

• Frame rates: 24 fps cinema and most Indian theatrical animation; 25 fps for PAL-standard Indian broadcast (Doordarshan and legacy TV deliverables); 30/60 fps for web and games; animation drawn "on twos" uses one drawing per two frames (12 drawings/second).
• Aspect ratios: 1.33:1 (4:3, legacy TV), 1.78:1 (16:9, the normal HD/broadcast/OTT ratio), 1.85:1 flat, 2.39:1 scope, 9:16 vertical for reels and mobile games.
• Safe areas: draw essentials inside action safe ≈ 93% and all text inside title safe ≈ 90% of the frame (older 4:3 TV practice used 90%/80%). Vertical deliverables need a separate centre-cut-safe board.
• Field guide: traditional 2D boards use the 12-field chart; "4F N2 E3" means a 4-field camera area, 2 fields north, 3 east of centre. A truck-in is written as start field → end field over N frames.
• Panel sheets: typically 2-4 panels per A4 page with action/dialogue columns; standard 16:9 board panel sizes include 1920×1080 and work-sized 6×3.375 in.
• Exposure sheet (X-sheet / dope sheet): the frame-by-frame grid - one row per frame - carrying dialogue phonemes, layer levels, camera instructions and timing. A bar sheet does the same for music and dialogue beats. The animatic's cut list is transferred onto X-sheets for 2D production.
• Slugging: reading the dialogue aloud with a stopwatch to assign each line its frame count before the board is timed.

Building an animatic - step by step

1. Scan or export panels at delivery resolution with a consistent naming convention (SC_SH_panel).
2. Import the scratch audio first: recorded scratch dialogue sets the true length of every dialogue shot.
3. Lay panels on the timeline at slugged durations; hold on action, cut early on information already understood.
4. Animate camera moves - pan, truck-in, tilt - as 2D transforms on oversized panels so the move matches the board arrows.
5. Add basic internal movement where needed (a pop-through of two poses, a cut-out limb) to make an action read.
6. Add temp music and key SFX; silence is also timed deliberately.
7. Burn in shot numbers, durations and a timecode; export for review.
8. Review against the target running time (TRT), note changes, revise, and version the reel (v01, v02...). The signed-off version is the locked reel, and its shot lengths become the animation footage targets.
9. As animation comes in, replace panels shot by shot - the reel evolves from animatic → rough/blocking reel → final cut. This is why it is also called a story reel.

Advantages, limits and comparisons

• Advantages: finds pacing and continuity errors before cost is committed; gives exact footage per shot for scheduling and quoting; communicates to voice artists, clients, broadcasters and investors; becomes the edit template.
• Limits: static panels flatter weak acting and hide subtle timing; a board cannot judge physical weight or overlapping action; camera moves drawn flat may be impossible in real 3D space (hence techvis); over-boarding wastes days that redrawing thumbnails would save.
• Board vs comic page: a board is one image per moment with time attached and no page composition; a comic composes a whole page and lets the reader control pace.
• 2D vs 3D practice: 2D boards are near-final layout and feed X-sheets; in 3D features the board feeds previs/layout, where the camera is re-created with real lens values.
• Advertising practice: client-facing boards ("presentation boards") are finished colour frames; production boards stay rough and detailed. A 30-second TVC animatic is routinely used for pre-testing before the film is made.

Indian industry, rights and standards

• Copyright: storyboards and panels are artistic works under the Copyright Act, 1957, and the finished film is a separate cinematograph film work; where an artist is employed under a contract of service the employer is normally first owner, while freelance work needs a written assignment of copyright. Credit and moral rights survive assignment.
• Certification: a film released theatrically is certified by the CBFC under the Cinematograph Act, 1952 (as amended in 2023, which added the UA 7+/13+/16+ sub-categories) - boards are where potentially non-certifiable content is caught early.
• Advertising content: the ASCI Code applies to advertisement animatics and finished TVCs; broadcast deliverables also follow the Cable TV Networks Rules programme and advertising codes.
• Tax and contracting: animation and VFX services are taxed at 18% GST; freelancers invoice with GST once past the registration threshold, and TDS on professional fees applies under the Income-tax Act, 2025 provisions for fees for professional or technical services.
• Labour: engagement terms now sit under the four Labour Codes, in force from 21 November 2025, which replaced the earlier Factories, Minimum Wages and Industrial Disputes Acts.
• Policy: the National AVGC-XR Mission and state AVGC policies (Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and others) support the sector, and the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) was set up in Mumbai under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to train AVGC talent. There is no Indian Standard (IS) number for storyboarding; the applicable technical specifications come from broadcaster delivery documents and SMPTE/EBU practice.

Key points

• Storyboard - the shot-by-shot drawn plan of a film with camera, action and dialogue notes.
• Animatic / story reel - the board edited to real timing with scratch audio; the first version of the film.
• Panel - one shot or one distinct moment; two panels mark the start and end of a camera move.
• Beat board - key story moments only; thumbnails - fast staging options; neither is shot-accurate.
• TRT - target running time; the animatic must be cut to it before animation starts.
• Slugging - stopwatch timing of dialogue to fix each shot's frame count.
• X-sheet / exposure sheet - one row per frame; carries dialogue, levels, camera; bar sheet does it for music.
• 180-degree rule - stay one side of the action line; crossing swaps screen positions.
• 30-degree rule - change the angle by at least ~30° between cuts of the same subject to avoid a jump cut.
• Screen direction - travel direction must stay consistent across cuts.
• Eyeline match and hookups - looks, props and lighting must agree across a cut.
• Safe areas - action safe ~93%, title safe ~90% of frame for broadcast delivery.
• Field guide - 12-field chart; camera areas written as field number plus N/S/E/W offsets.
• On twos - 12 drawings per second at 24 fps; halves drawing count for most dialogue action.
• Previs/techvis/postvis - 3D equivalents of the board for camera blocking, shoot data and temp CG.
• Locked reel - signed-off animatic; its per-shot footage becomes the production schedule.
• Copyright Act, 1957 - panels are artistic works; freelance transfers need a written assignment.
• Cheapest fix point - a story error corrected on the board costs hours, in animation it costs lakhs.

Formulas and examples

Example 1 - shot length, drawings and footage. A dialogue shot is boarded as 3+08 at 24 fps.

• Frames = 3 × 24 + 8 = 80 frames; duration = 80 ÷ 24 = 3.33 s.
• Animated on twos: drawings = 80 ÷ 2 = 40 drawings.
• 35 mm footage = 80 ÷ 16 = 5 ft 0 fr.
• If the same content is re-timed for 25 fps PAL delivery at the same real duration, frames = 3.33 × 25 ≈ 83 frames.

Example 2 - animatic against target running time. A TV episode animatic has 148 shots; slugged durations total 15,120 frames at 24 fps, and the broadcaster's TRT is 10:00.

• T = 15,120 ÷ 24 = 630 s = 10:30 - it is 30 s (720 frames) over.
• ASL = 630 ÷ 148 = 4.26 s; cutting rate = 148 ÷ 10.5 = 14.1 shots per minute.
• Trimming 5 frames from each of 144 shots gives 720 frames = exactly the 30 s needed, with no shot lost; alternatively cut one 12-second scene of 6 shots (288 frames) and trim 432 frames elsewhere.

Example 3 - safe areas and ratio. Deliverable is 1920×1080 (16:9 = 1.78:1).

• Action safe (93%) = 1920 × 0.93 = 1785.6 → 1786 px wide, 1080 × 0.93 = 1004.4 → 1004 px high; side margin = (1920 − 1786) ÷ 2 = 67 px, top/bottom = 38 px.
• Title safe (90%) = 1728 × 972 px; side margin 96 px, top/bottom 54 px.
• If the same board must also deliver a 2.39:1 scope crop at 1920 wide, height = 1920 ÷ 2.39 = 803.3 → 804 px, so (1080 − 804) ÷ 2 = 138 px at top and bottom will be lost - no key action may sit there.

Example 4 - pan speed and strobing. A background 24 inches wide (12-field artwork) is panned fully across in 96 frames at 24 fps.

• Rate = 24 ÷ 96 = 0.25 inch per frame, i.e. 4 frames per inch - faster than the 8-frames-per-inch readability limit, so the pan will strobe.
• Minimum acceptable length = 24 × 8 = 192 frames = 8.0 s. Options: lengthen the pan to 8 s, shorten the background to 12 inches (12 × 8 = 96 frames, fits), or add blur/multiplane layers.

Example 5 - boarding effort and cost for a 30-second TVC. 12 shots, 220 panels including camera start/end frames; artist clean-boards 10 panels a day; indicative freelance rate ₹1,500 per clean panel (rates vary widely by studio, city and whether colour is included).

• Schedule = 220 ÷ 10 = 22 working days (≈ 4.5 weeks), plus revision rounds.
• Fee = 220 × 1,500 = ₹3,30,000; with 18% GST = 330000 × 1.18 = ₹3,89,400.
• Animatic length check: 30 s at 25 fps = 750 frames; 750 ÷ 12 = 62.5 frames ≈ 2.5 s average shot - a normal TVC cutting rate of 24 shots per minute.

Where it is used

• Animation features and series: Green Gold (Chhota Bheem), Cosmos-Maya, Toonz (Thiruvananthapuram), Paperboat, Xentrix and 88 Pictures board and story-reel every episode before animation is scheduled.
• VFX and feature films: DNEG, MPC, Prime Focus, Phantom FX and Redchillies.vfx use previs/techvis boards for action and creature sequences in Indian and international features.
• Advertising and corporate: 15/30-second TVC animatics for client and consumer pre-testing before an expensive shoot; explainer and e-learning video boards for ed-tech firms.
• Games: cinematic and cut-scene boards, plus UI flow boards, at studios in Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad; interactive boards branch by player choice.
• Job roles: storyboard artist, story artist, animatic/story reel editor, previs artist, layout artist, animation director, creative director, AD on live action.
• Non-entertainment: medical and engineering visualisation, defence and aerospace simulation sequences, government and PSU public-information films, OTT title design.

Interview questions

• Q: What is the difference between a storyboard and an animatic? A: A storyboard is the static shot-by-shot drawn plan; an animatic is that board cut on a timeline to real durations with scratch audio, so pacing and edit can be judged.
• Q: Why is an animatic made at all if the board is approved? A: Because duration cannot be judged from static panels - reading time, comic timing and whether a sequence drags only appear once the panels are played at length with sound.
• Q: How many panels does one shot need? A: At least one; a shot with a camera move or a major change in staging needs a panel for the start and the end, and more for intermediate beats that must be read.
• Q: State the 180-degree rule and one legal way to break it. A: Keep the camera on one side of the action line between subjects so screen positions stay consistent; it can be crossed on a visible camera move, through a neutral on-the-line shot, or via a cutaway.
• Q: What is the 30-degree rule? A: Change the camera angle on the same subject by at least about 30° between cuts (or change shot size clearly), otherwise the cut reads as a jump.
• Q: A shot is marked 2+16 at 24 fps - how many frames, and how many drawings on twos? A: 2 × 24 + 16 = 64 frames, so 32 drawings on twos.
• Q: What is an exposure sheet and how does it relate to the animatic? A: It is a frame-by-frame grid of dialogue, layers and camera instructions; the locked animatic's shot lengths and dialogue positions are transferred onto it for production.
• Q: What are action safe and title safe? A: Roughly 93% and 90% of the frame; essential action is kept inside the first and all text inside the second so nothing is lost on overscan or reframing.
• Q: How does previs differ from an animatic? A: Previs is rough 3D with real cameras and space, so lens, parallax and physical feasibility can be tested; an animatic is 2D panels and cannot validate camera geometry.
• Q: Who owns the copyright in storyboards you draw as a freelancer? A: The artist, unless copyright is assigned in writing under the Copyright Act, 1957 - which is why studio freelance contracts carry an assignment clause; employees' work is normally owned by the employer.
• Q: Your animatic is 40 seconds over a 22-minute TRT - what do you do? A: Trim frames across many shots and shorten holds first, then drop whole shots or a scene that repeats information, re-slug the dialogue, and re-version the reel - never cut a shot that carries a story point.
• Q: Why do Indian broadcast deliverables sometimes need 25 fps boards? A: PAL-standard television runs at 25 fps, so frame counts and X-sheets must be recalculated from the 24 fps cinema timing to keep real durations the same.

Common mistakes

• Treating panels as illustrations: beautifully rendered frames that do not state camera, duration or transition are not a usable board.
• Forgetting to convert seconds to frames (or using 24 fps counts on a 25 fps broadcast deliverable), so every shot length drifts.
• Crossing the action line or flipping screen direction between panels, then discovering it only in the edit.
• Timing the animatic before the scratch dialogue is recorded - dialogue shots then come out too short to read.
• Drawing one panel for a long camera move, leaving the start and end framing undefined for layout.
• Reusing or re-sequencing shot numbers after a revision, which breaks every downstream edit and X-sheet note.
• Ignoring safe areas and the vertical or scope crop, so subtitles and key action get cut on delivery.
• Carrying on polishing panels instead of showing the reel - an unreviewed animatic saves nobody any money.

Related topics

Principles of animation · Character design · Drawing and sketching · Film language and cinematography · Layout and background design · Editing, sound design and post-production