Lesson 6 of 8
Storyboarding & Pre-Production
Turn an idea into a script, storyboard, shot list and call sheet before the camera ever comes out.
Learn it
Pre-production is everything you do before filming. Good planning is why professional shoots finish on time.
A storyboard is a comic strip of your film: one box per shot, with arrows for movement.
A shot list turns the storyboard into a checklist so you never drive home missing a shot.
Key terms
- Logline
- A one-sentence summary of the story's character, goal and obstacle.
- Storyboard
- A drawn sequence of frames showing each planned shot.
- Shot List
- A checklist of every shot to capture, with size, angle and location.
- Call Sheet
- A daily schedule telling cast and crew where and when to be.
- Continuity
- Keeping details consistent between takes and shots so edits look seamless.
From Idea to Shoot Day
How a 2-minute school film gets planned in five stages.
- 1Logline: 'A shy student must return a lost phone before the owner is blamed for cheating.'
- 2Script: Three scenes, roughly one page per minute of screen time.
- 3Storyboard: 18 frames, each labelled with size, angle and movement.
- 4Shot list: Reordered by location: all corridor shots first, then the classroom.
- 5Call sheet: Cast at 09:00, corridor 09:30–11:00, classroom 11:15–13:00, plus a props and safety list.
Grouping shots to save time (pseudocode)
pythonshots = [
{"id": 1, "scene": 1, "location": "corridor"},
{"id": 2, "scene": 2, "location": "classroom"},
{"id": 3, "scene": 3, "location": "corridor"},
{"id": 4, "scene": 2, "location": "classroom"},
]
schedule = {}
for shot in shots:
schedule.setdefault(shot["location"], []).append(shot["id"])
for location, ids in schedule.items():
print(location, "->", ids)Shooting by location instead of story order is the single biggest time saver on a small production.
Try it
Put the pre-production stages into professional order.
- 1Build a shot list grouped by location
- 2Write a logline that summarises the story in one sentence
- 3Issue a call sheet with times, cast, kit and safety notes
- 4Write the script with scenes, action and dialogue
- 5Draw a storyboard frame for every planned shot
Challenge
Plan a 60-second silent film that tells a complete story with no dialogue. Give the logline, an 8-frame storyboard description (size + angle + movement for each), and a shot list grouped by location.
Pick whichever way suits you — every mode earns the same bonus XP.
Write at least 40 more characters to submit.
Mark your own work
Guided walkthrough — 0/5 clues revealed
- Clue 1 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
- Clue 2 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
- Clue 3 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
- Clue 4 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
- Clue 5 locked — reveal it only if you get stuck.
Each clue costs 3 XP (never below 15 XP). You'd earn 30 XP right now.
Extension: Add a continuity checklist: what details must match between shots (clothing, props, time of day, screen direction)?