Storyboard Studio Day
Today you build a six-frame storyboard, start to finish.
Everyone starts from a blank page today. By the end of class, you'll have six frames, and each one needs a real detail — and a feeling that's changed from the last one.
Paper only today. Stick figures are fine.
6
Two rules for today
A storyboard needs two things.
- 01Something changes.
The middle pair of frames has to cause it. Not just show a second, unrelated thing happening.
- 02It's specific, and it shows a feeling.
One real detail in each frame, and a sense of how the character feels shifting across all six.
On the board: three figures standing still. Is that a story? What's the first thing you'd change?
Watch this on the board first
"You're the last one picked for a team — again."
- 1–2Beginning.
Same clipboard, same line of kids. Frame 1 is neutral. Frame 2 is hope, forced calm.
- 3–4Change.
The line gets shorter, your name doesn't get called. Dread, then a forced confidence.
- 5–6Ending.
Your name finally gets called. Relief, then quiet pride — same clipboard, same line, different meaning.
The object never changes. What it means to the character does. That's what "focus on detail, highlight emotion" looks like.
Another example, if you want one
Pixar's Up tells a whole story this way — with no dialogue at all.
- ●Read: real storyboard panels from the sequence
- ▶Watch: storyboard next to the finished scene
Notice: no words needed. Detail and feeling carry the whole thing.
Pick your prompt
Choose one of these two — not the board example, that one's taken.
What happened right before? What happens next?
What did you expect? What's actually true?
Pick one and stick with it. Both work — the storyboard is what makes it a story.
This is the assignment
Draw six frames. Two for each beat.
- 1–2The beginning.
Who is this, what's the normal situation, and what do they want or expect?
- 3–4The change.
What interrupts it, and what do they do about it? This pair has to work.
- 5–6The ending.
What happens as a result, and what's different now?
Twenty minutes for all six. Get them down fast — you'll add detail and feeling to each one next.
6
This is what you're turning in
By the end of class, your storyboard needs these things.
- 01Six frames.
Two beginning, two change, two ending.
- 02The middle pair causes the change.
Something is different because of frames 3–4.
- 03Detail and a feeling shift in every frame.
Something a viewer could point at, and a sense of how the feeling moved.
When you have all three, trade with a partner. They ask one question about your story — a question, not a suggestion.
Before you leave
Circle the one frame that works best alone.
1
Which frame tells the story even by itself?
Usually it's the change — but it might be the biggest feeling or the clearest action. Write one line on the page, then hand it in.
“Frame ___ works best alone because __________.”