screenwriting.aiA PLACE FOR YOUR NEXT STORY

Storyboards and takes

Plan the sequence, make a clip from any frame, and choose the best take for your film.

Open Storyboards

A storyboard is your shot list with pictures. Each frame has an image and a caption; any frame can become a video clip, and every clip made from a frame is a take you can compare.

A storyboard with Save storyboard, Add images and Open in editor, and frame 01 showing Mara at the console with its caption
A storyboard: one card per frame, with its image and caption.

Build a storyboard

  1. Choose New boardGive it a title, such as The Night Station: cold open.
  2. Add framesChoose Add images, or Add to board on any image in your gallery.
  3. Write a caption for each frameYour shot notes: what happens and how it's framed.
  4. Put them in orderUse the up and down arrows on each frame.
  5. Choose Save storyboard.
ExampleThe Night Station: cold open
FrameImageCaption
01Mara at the consoleShe turns from the console toward the window as the lighthouse beam crosses her face.
02The station in a stormWide: the station alone on the headland, one window lit.
03The radio dialClose: the needle drifts to a frequency no one uses.
04A lifebuoy on the rocksDawn. A lifebuoy lettered SAINT BRIGID, wet as if it just washed in.

Turn a frame into a clip

Choose Make a clip on a frame. Film Studio opens with that frame's image as the start frame and its caption as the first beat, so most of the work is done. Add the remaining beats, review the price and create the clip.

Compare and choose takes

A storyboard frame with its clip player and two takes: Take 1 not completed, Take 2 ready and chosen, and a Make another take button
Every clip made from a frame becomes a take. The chosen take plays on the board.
  • Every clip made for a frame is a take: Take 1, Take 2 and so on.
  • Choose Use this take on the take you want. It's marked Chosen and plays on the board.
  • You can also choose a take from the clip's own page with Use as the take for frame N.
  • Make another take opens Film Studio for the frame again.
  • A take marked Not completed failed; its credits were returned.
ExampleChoosing between takes for frame 01
Take 1
Not completed: failed, credits returned
Take 2
Ready. Good performance; the beam comes a little early
Take 3
Ready. Perfect beam, but Mara glances at the camera
Decision
Use Take 2. It's the one that goes into the film editor.

From storyboard to film

Choose Open in editor to start a film. Each frame's chosen take is placed on the timeline in storyboard order; frames without a chosen take are skipped. You need a chosen take on at least one frame.

Quick answers

A frame is missing from my film.

Frames without a chosen take are skipped. Choose a take, then add it in the film editor with Add a clip.