Write a storyboard for your video

Business Benefits

Avoid costly errors by creating a clear and compelling storyboard for your video.


Outline the video with specific beginning, middle and end.

Identify what these will be for your video. A common approach is introduction, problem, solution with a call to action.

Choose a key scene for each section of your outline that will bring your story to life.

  • The key scene for the introduction should be able to convey immediately the setting of the video. For example, a man at his desk drinking coffee.
  • The key scene in the middle of your video should concisely show the problem faced by your characters. For example, the man just spilled coffee all over his computer.
  • The key scene in the final section of your video should demonstrate immediately how you solve the issue. For example, an anti-spill coaster is placed under the mug of coffee.

Draft your storyboard by either using pen and paper to draw your scenes, or use a digital tool like Google Slides’ storyboard template.

Sketch out each scene using your timeline as a guide and including your key scenes. You don’t need to have drawing skills to do this: stick figures are fine, as long as the result is comprehensible to others.

Add dialogue, voice-over scripts, and other text to your storyboard to avoid over-stuffing each scene with information.

If there’s more than one type of text in a scene, you will need to edit it down. Note whether the text will be seen on screen or audio only.

Add detail to each scene by explaining each scene.

  • Annotate each scene - if the scene has different actions in it, identify the order in which they occur.
  • Indicate effects - whether the camera will zoom in on an object.
  • Indicate timing for each scene - is this a short scene, or will this scene take up a larger portion of the video?

Do several dry runs through before producing the video or sending it to a production team.

Check whether there is too much information included, and whether the scenes transition logically. Have a colleague or external eye also check through your storyboard to see if it makes sense to them.

Last edited by @hesh_fekry 2023-11-14T12:20:37Z