Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. Inbound Marketing and Sales Blog

Storyboarding: advantages and disadvantages

Index Content

If you've ever wondered what a storyboard is and what it's for, in this post we'll clear up all your doubts. It's time to do different things, set new goals and run towards them with the support of audiovisual production.

let's start!

what is storyboarding?

In general terms, a storyboard is a set of graphics and images that are represented in a sequential way, that is, a visual guide that shows us different numbered and chronologically ordered images that represent the fundamental frames of a film. These images show us the key moments of the script and in them different elements can be represented in a graphic and simple way. However, they have gained special importance in marketing and advertising during the last years.

what do we need to create a quality storyboard?

First of all, we need to follow some guidelines that allow us to represent the content as a sequence. And secondly, we need to create a storyboard that allows us to illustrate the development of your next advertising campaign or other element that you want to represent in the storyboard. The steps to follow in the storyboard are:

  • Timeline: What will be the beginning, middle and end of your video and will there be any time jumps in it? Make a list of everything that will happen in your spot so that everything fits together perfectly.
  • Key moments: What will you highlight in your story? Do these moments support and represent the message you want to highlight? Depending on the technical script or storyline, you will analyse the most important scenes that should be included in the storyboard.
  • Medium What format will you use to represent your storyboard and will you use multimedia elements for user-friendliness? The technical storyline should be translated into images .
  • Add new ideas. It is common to change some things during the creative process.
  • Complement the sketches with concrete information.
  • Use computer programmes, such as Photoshop or Storyboarder. The images will be called frames and will be grouped in sets of 12, 24 or 36, generally. Each frame will be a different shot. In each of them we can make a brief description pointing out the duration, the camera movement or any other relevant technical specification .

This type of format is very useful for all those graphic design professionals who work with visual advertising. The director of photography and the film director follow this visual guide when they are shooting a scene, although they may change some shots during the shooting or alter their order in the editing room.

how to use storyboarding in your marketing strategy?

Videos have long since become a trend in marketing strategies to attract potential customers. It is often used in email marketing strategies, where the storyboard can serve as a support to segment and satisfy the interests of the audience. This format allows you to divide and convey concepts clearly, as the aim is to assimilate the information in a short time.

Nowadays, most consumers prefer to watch a video to learn about the characteristics of a product or service instead of reading a text. In fact, there are very powerful reasons to know the power that video has in the digital marketing strategies of companies. It requires time and investment in production, as one of the most important stages of the process is the storyboard. This storyboard will help us to plan and compose the narrative, editing, design and scenes of the video. It is commonly used in films, games, animations, advertising and marketing.

Many times, we try to save resources at the cost of skipping some steps in the production of the video. However, the storyboard is vital for both the client and the audiovisual production agency to be certain of what is going to be done and how.

The storyboard is the easiest and most graphic way to show the production in a digital marketing plan. Unlike long videos, the storyboard gives an attractive, brief touch and increases the retention rate of the audience. Haven't you started using this tool in your marketing strategy yet? Go for the improvement of your videos and reduce costs.

Advantages and disadvantages of storyboarding

Let's finish this post by talking about the pros and cons of storyboarding. Here are the most important reasons to use a storyboard in your video production:

  1. Save money and time. By having an organised storyboard, the whole team knows perfectly what their job is, avoiding last minute problems. As it is made up of graphic media and text notes, it saves a lot of time explaining shots, last minute changes, etc. It facilitates communication.
  2. Facilitates communication: The storyboard is a perfect communication channel between the director and the technical team, as it facilitates the understanding of the technical information about the audiovisual production .
  3. It facilitates the transmission of the message. By expressing all the elements in a concrete and organised way, it facilitates the production of the video and avoids losing the main focus of the story being told.
  4. Itdoes not require programming and generates a complete description.
  5. Itcan describe a presentation, functionality, interaction, etc. simultaneously .

On the contrary, we can find some disadvantages, such as:

  • Its association with linear navigation.
  • Its scarcity of ideas in line with interactive behaviour.

learn all about strategic video creation for your company!

You can be interested as well...

Types of storyboard Types of storyboard
how important is the ALT in the images on your website? how important is the ALT in the images on your website?
I've had an idea, how can I turn it into an application? I've had an idea, how can I turn it into an application?