A film storyboard is a coverage document, not a comic of the plot. If the 1st AD cannot tell which setups are unique, you drew a presentation board and called it a shooting board.
Presentation board vs shooting board
Feature and short work needs both, in that order. Do not shoot off the pretty one. Longer note: what is a shooting board.
- Presentation — sells the scene to a financier or a client. Pretty, few setups, often cheats geography.
- Shooting — lists every camera setup the day will need. Masters, overs, inserts, repeats. Ugly is fine.
What a film frame must show
Script import: Fountain and Final Draft.
- Scene heading (
INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT) on the footer, imported from the script - Shot code (
12-A) that does not change when you reorder playback - Size, lens, movement
- Whose coverage it is (master / A-side / B-side / insert)
- Continuity: eyeline and 180-degree line
Coverage, not one panel per line
Dialogue is edited from angles, not from a picture of every sentence. Minimum useful set for a two-hander:
Camera shot sizes and the glossary.
- Master wide enough to recut
- Over / single on A
- Over / single on B, eyelines matching
- Inserts you cannot steal from the master
Hand-off to the shoot
The board should export a shot list the AD can sort by setup, not by story order. CineoBoard keeps those as one record so a reorder on the board does not invent a second truth. Call sheets still live in a logistics tool — we are not StudioBinder; we own the picture.
FAQ
Do I storyboard every scene in a feature?
No. Board the scenes that have geography, stunts, VFX, or a client. Dialogue in a locked room can be a shot list plus two key frames.
What software do film crews use?
Often a mix: a board for pictures, StudioBinder or Movie Magic for the day. Comparison: CineoBoard vs StudioBinder. Product: storyboard software.