Background reading · The Arts

Planning like a filmmaker: storyboards, shots, timing and sound

How to plan a short animated story, choose shots that guide the audience's eye, make movement feel alive, and add sound.

Professional animators plan almost everything before they shoot, because reshooting hundreds of frames takes a long time. A good plan lets you spend your time making things move.

Storyboards

A storyboard is a comic-strip plan of your film. Each box is one shot. Under each box, write what moves, the shot type, any sound, and how long it lasts. Simple stick figures are fine: the storyboard is a tool, not the artwork.

Shot types

Wide shot: shows the whole place, so the audience knows where they are. - Medium shot: shows the character from about the waist up, good for action. - Close-up: shows a face or an object, good for feelings and important details. - Changing shots keeps the audience interested and shows them what matters.

Composition

Composition is how you arrange things in the frame. Imagine a noughts-and-crosses grid over the screen. Placing your character where the lines cross (the rule of thirds) often looks better than the dead centre. Use emphasis, such as size, colour or light, so the most important thing stands out.

Making movement feel alive

Squash and stretch: a ball squashes when it lands and stretches as it falls. - Anticipation: a small move the other way before a big action, like crouching before a jump. - Ease in and ease out: things start and stop slowly, so the moves are smaller at the start and end. - Hold: stay still for a few frames so the audience can take in a moment.

Sound

Sound can be half of a film's feeling. Foley artists record everyday objects to make film sounds: footsteps, rustling, splashes. Add music you made, or music and effects you have permission to use, and always credit sounds you didn't make.

Sources and further reading

Written for Kōkiri Learn students in our own words. Check facts against the sources.

Used in: Stop Motion Studio: Animation