The Power of the Storyboard: Why Planning Your Video Matters

Read time: 4 minutes

When you watch a commercial, a short film, a corporate video – or really, any kind of video production – what you see on screen is only the final piece of a much larger puzzle. Behind the lights, cameras, and actors, there’s serious planning. One of the key tools in that planning is the storyboard (or, in some cases, a creative treatment). Whether your project is polished and cinematic or simple and straightforward, investing in this early stage can make all the difference.

What Exactly Is a Storyboard?

Think of a storyboard as the blueprint or map for your video. It’s usually a series of drawings – very much like a comic strip – that shows how your video will unfold. But it’s more than just pictures. A good storyboard outlines:

Camera angles and shot sizes (wide shots, close-ups, over-the-shoulder, etc.)
Location and setting of each scene
Who is in the shot – characters, extras, presenters
Action – what happens in the scene, what people do
Visual tone or style – lighting, movement, transitions

In short, it gives everyone – director, production crew, client – a visual idea of what the finished video will look like. It bridges the gap between idea and execution.

top view budget written note on notepad with pen on gray background student color copybook school business money dark college

What If Budget or Time Doesn’t Allow for Full Storyboarding?

Not every video project has room in the budget (or schedule) for detailed illustrations by a storyboard artist. In those cases, there’s an alternative: the creative treatment. This is a written document, often arranged in two columns:

In one column you describe what the viewer will see – the visuals, the style, key moments.
In the other column you have the script – what will be said, the dialogue, voiceover, etc.

The goal is similar to storyboarding: to paint a mental picture so that, even though it’s just text, people can imagine what the final video will look and sound like. It’s less visual, but if done well, still highly effective.

Why It’s Worth the Effort

You might ask, “Do we really need storyboarding or a creative treatment? Can’t we just shoot and figure things out as we go?” While that approach sometimes works, there are lots of reasons why early planning saves time, money, and headaches:

Clarity and shared vision: Everyone involved – from the client or stakeholders through to the crew – knows what’s expected. There’s less risk of misunderstandings.
Efficiency in production: With a plan in place, the shoot goes more smoothly. You waste less time figuring out camera setups or deciding what comes next on the fly.
Avoiding omissions: It’s easy to forget small but important visual or audio details – props, background action, atmosphere – if you haven’t thought them through.
Cost control: Changes during or after filming tend to be much more expensive than getting things right on paper first.

Unrecognizable Man and Woman Looking at Sketches

What Good Storyboards / Treatments Include

Here are some of the key elements you’ll want to make sure are covered, whether you’re doing full illustrations or a written version:

A breakdown of each scene: what happens, who’s there, what they do.
Description of the background, location, and what the audience can see in the periphery.
Camera direction: angles, movements, shot sizes.
Dialogue, voice-overs, sound cues.
Any visual style notes: mood, lighting, transitions, pacing.

Once refined, the storyboard or treatment becomes a shared document: something to show to your team – directors, camera operators, editors – and anyone else who has a stake in the project. The aim is that everybody is “singing from the same hymn sheet,” aligning expectations early.

Bringing It All Together

Storyboards and creative treatments are more than optional paperwork. They are central tools in crafting a video that looks polished, feels cohesive, and communicates clearly. In many ways, they are the creative foundations: you build everything else on top of them.

When you invest in this stage – putting ideas on paper, visualising the flow – you often find that the final video is better than you imagined: smoother edits, stronger storytelling, fewer surprises. If you’re planning a video, starting with a storyboard or creative treatment isn’t just helpful – it’s essential to delivering something great.