The Storyboard

What is Journalism if it’s not telling a story? The facts change, but there is always a beginning, middle and end to every article, audio recording and video. When making a video especially, there are a number of things to take into consideration – background, lighting, angles, environment noise, etc. To stay focused and take advantage of this impacting media it’s always best to plan. Thus we have the storyboard.

The storyboard – it’s a plan, displayed thinking, a sequence of simple drawings that identify the main ideas that you want to get across.

In no means should this tool be binding, but rather nimble. The storyboard is meant to help create an effective and compelling story. Minimally a storyboard should show a series of possible shots. It can also include ideas for possible long range and short range shots. Again you should always remain open to the opportunities that present themselves, but going in with a “thought foundation” will help achieve a better end result.

On site a journalist hast to be prepared. By knowing what you’re going after, by having a main idea, will allow you to be creative without being sidetracked. The worst thing is to end up back in the editing room with lingering regret – if only I took that “one” shot.

Planning is always a hassle, but until someone invents a time machine you often only have one chance, one deadline, to capture a scene and to tell the story.