Pre-Production Planning

Concept Development and Storyboarding

Generating Ideas and Defining the Purpose of the Video

1. Generating Ideas
   • Brainstorming: Gather your team for a brainstorming session to generate a wide range of ideas. Encourage creativity and free thinking without immediate judgment.
   • Research: Look at existing videos in your industry or niche to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities for differentiation. Analyze successful video campaigns for inspiration.
   • Audience Analysis: Understand your target audience’s preferences, needs, and pain points. Tailor your video idea to resonate with them and address their interests.
   • Competitive Analysis: Evaluate what your competitors are doing. Look for innovative approaches or topics that you can explore uniquely.
   • Mind Mapping: Create a visual representation of your ideas using mind maps to explore various concepts and their connections.
2. Defining the Purpose of the Video
   • Objective: Clearly define what you want to achieve with the video. Common objectives include educating viewers, promoting a product, increasing brand awareness, or entertaining.
   • Key Message: Identify the central message or call to action you want to convey. Ensure that it aligns with your overall goals and audience needs.
   • Tone and Style: Decide on the tone (e.g., formal, casual, humorous) and style (e.g., documentary, narrative, promotional) of the video to match your brand voice and target audience.
   • Success Metrics: Determine how you will measure the success of the video. Metrics might include engagement rates, conversion rates, or audience feedback.

Storyboarding Techniques and Tools

1. Storyboarding Techniques
   • Visual Storytelling: Create a visual outline of your video by breaking it down into individual scenes or shots. Each storyboard frame should depict key moments, actions, and transitions.
   • Scene Descriptions: Include brief descriptions of what will happen in each scene, including dialogue, actions, and key visual elements. This helps ensure clarity and consistency.
   • Shot Composition: Indicate camera angles, shot types (e.g., close-up, wide shot), and movement (e.g., panning, zooming) to guide how each scene will be filmed.
   • Sequencing: Arrange the storyboard frames in the sequence they will appear in the video. This helps visualize the flow of the video and ensure a logical progression of scenes.
2. Storyboarding Tools
   • Traditional Methods:
     • Paper and Pencil: Draw storyboards by hand on paper. This method is flexible and allows for quick changes and sketches.
     • Storyboard Templates: Use pre-made storyboard templates that provide a structured format for sketching scenes and adding descriptions.
   • Digital Tools:
     • Adobe Illustrator: Create detailed and polished storyboards with vector graphics and text annotations.
     • Storyboarding Software:
       • Storyboard That: An online tool that offers customizable storyboard templates, characters, and scenes.
       • FrameForge: A professional storyboard and pre-visualization software with 3D capabilities for more complex scenes.
       • Canva: An easy-to-use design tool that provides storyboard templates and design elements for visual storytelling.
       • Boords: An online platform that allows you to create, collaborate, and share storyboards digitally.
   • Animation Tools:
     • Toon Boom Storyboard Pro: A comprehensive tool for creating detailed and animated storyboards with built-in drawing and animation features.
     • Storyboard Quick: A software that simplifies the storyboarding process with drag-and-drop features and easy-to-use templates.

Storyboarding is a crucial step in pre-production that helps visualize the video’s structure and flow, ensuring that everyone involved understands the project’s vision and execution.