If you ask animators where projects go wrong, most will point to decisions that should have been made before animation started. The storyboard and animatic exist to force those decisions early. They are the last stage where changing your mind costs hours rather than weeks.
This article explains what each one is, why they save money, how to review them well, which kinds of feedback belong here and which belong later, what a storyboard frame description looks like, and the mistakes clients most often make at this stage.
What a storyboard is
A storyboard is a sequence of drawings that shows, frame by frame, what the viewer will see over the course of the video. Each frame is paired with the line of voiceover it accompanies and short notes about what moves, where the camera goes and what text appears.
In animation, storyboards are usually drawn in the agreed visual style but in rough form: loose lines, simple shapes, limited colour or none at all. They are a plan, not artwork.
A storyboard answers three questions for every moment of the video:
- What do we see? Characters, objects, setting, text.
- What happens? The action within the scene and how it changes.
- How do we get to the next moment? Cut, transition, camera move.
It sits inside pre-production, after the script and the style frames are approved, and before any final animation begins.
What an animatic is
An animatic is the storyboard turned into a rough video. The frames are placed on a timeline, matched to the recorded (or scratch) voiceover, and given basic movement: a pan across a frame, a simple slide in, a cut on the right word. Rough music and a few sound effects are often added.
The result looks primitive, but it runs at the real length of the final video. For the first time you can feel the pacing. You notice that a scene holds two seconds too long, that a key benefit flies past before anyone can read it, or that two scenes in a row show the same thing.
| Aspect | Storyboard | Animatic |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Still frames with notes | Rough video with voice and sound |
| Shows | Content and composition of each moment | Timing, rhythm and flow of the whole video |
| Best for judging | Is the right thing on screen? | Does it play well at real speed? |
| Typical time to make (60 to 90 sec video) | 4 to 7 days | 3 to 5 days |
| Cost of changes | Very low | Low |
Why they save money
Animation is expensive because every second of final footage takes many hours of design and animation. A change to a finished scene can mean redrawing illustrations, rebuilding character rigs, re-animating, re-rendering and re-mixing sound.
The same change at the storyboard stage means redrawing a sketch. At the animatic stage it means moving a frame on a timeline. A useful way to think about it:
- Script stage: you change words.
- Storyboard stage: you change sketches.
- Animatic stage: you change timing.
- Animation stage: you change hours of finished work.
Each step down that list makes the same change several times more expensive. Studios that skip or rush storyboards and animatics are not saving you money. They are moving the risk to a stage where fixing it costs more, and that cost usually ends up in extra revision fees or in a video nobody is quite happy with. Our guide to animation costs lists a missing storyboard stage as one of the red flags in a quote.
How to review a storyboard
Set aside uninterrupted time. Have the approved script open next to the storyboard.
- Read it like a comic. Go through the frames in order without the notes first. Does the story make sense from pictures alone? Many viewers watch with sound off, so this matters.
- Check each frame against its line. Does the image support what the narrator says at that moment? A line about saving time should not sit over a picture that says nothing about time.
- Look for missing or extra ideas. Is every key point from the script shown? Is anything shown that is not in the script and might confuse?
- Check facts and details. Product interface, correct logo, proper use of brand colours, accurate depictions of how your product or service actually works.
- Check on-screen text. Is there too much to read? Is anything spelled wrong? Are numbers and claims correct?
- Think about the audience. Would your target viewer recognise themselves in the characters and settings?
How to review an animatic
- Watch it three times. Once straight through as a viewer. Once with the script, checking each line. Once focused only on pace.
- Show it to someone fresh. A colleague who has not seen the script will tell you what they understood. If they cannot explain the main message afterwards, something needs to change.
- Watch for rushed moments. Key benefits, numbers and the call to action need time to land. If you cannot read the on-screen text comfortably, it is too fast.
- Watch for dead moments. A scene that holds after its point is made feels slow, even in a short video.
- Check the ending. The call to action and logo should stay on screen long enough to register.
Feedback that belongs here, and feedback that belongs later
Knowing which notes to give at which stage is the most useful skill a client can have in an animation project.
Useful at the storyboard and animatic stage
- "This scene doesn't show the problem clearly. Can we see the user struggling with the old way?"
- "We need the integration with accounting software to appear, it's our main selling point."
- "The product screen in frame 9 is the old interface. Here is the current one."
- "Scenes 4 and 5 make the same point, can we combine them?"
- "The call to action feels rushed. Can the end card hold for longer?"
- "This character looks like a developer, our users are finance managers."
- "Our legal team needs the claim in frame 12 reworded."
Better saved for the animation stage
- "Can the character's jacket be a slightly lighter blue?"
- "The movement here should feel bouncier."
- "Can the transition be smoother?"
- "The shadow on the desk looks too dark."
These are about execution and finish. The storyboard is too rough to judge them, and the animators will handle them anyway. Raising them now distracts from the structural questions that really matter.
Too late after the animatic is locked
- Adding a new feature or message.
- Reordering scenes.
- Changing the voiceover script beyond small word swaps.
- Switching the main character or setting.
All possible, but each means redoing approved work.
Example of a storyboard frame description
Here is how a single frame might be written up in a storyboard for a 60 second explainer about an invoicing app. The sketch would sit above or beside these notes.
Frame 6 of 22 (approx. 0:14 to 0:18)
Voiceover: "Every month, Anna spends two full days chasing unpaid invoices."
Visual: Medium shot. Anna at her desk, surrounded by stacks of paper invoices. A wall calendar behind her. She holds a phone to her ear, looking tired.
Action: The calendar pages flip quickly from 1 to 2, a small clock above her desk spins. Anna sighs, shoulders drop. One paper stack slowly tips over.
Camera: Slow push in toward Anna across the 4 seconds.
On-screen text: "2 days a month" appears top left, in brand font, on "two full days".
Sound: Phone ringtone, page flips, soft paper slide as the stack falls.
Transition to frame 7: The falling papers fill the screen and wipe to the app dashboard.
This level of detail tells everyone exactly what the scene needs to do. It also gives the client clear things to check: is "two days" a claim we can make, does Anna look like our customer, is the dashboard in frame 7 the current version.
Common mistakes
Judging the drawing quality
Storyboards are rough on purpose. A client who says "the characters look odd" at this stage is usually reacting to sketch quality, not design. The approved style frames show what the final look will be.
Approving without the script open
Reviewing a storyboard from memory misses mismatches between words and pictures, which are the main thing to catch here.
Skimming the animatic once
One view gives an impression. Pacing problems show up on the second and third viewing.
Leaving key stakeholders out
If the head of marketing or the founder sees the video for the first time at animation, their notes will often be structural. Bring every decision maker into the storyboard and animatic review.
Saving big changes "for when it's animated"
Some clients find it hard to imagine the final result from sketches and prefer to wait. That is understandable, but it is exactly the expensive path. If you cannot judge a scene from the animatic, ask the studio for a short style test of that scene instead.
Sending scattered feedback
Notes from five people in five emails, some contradicting each other, slow everything down. Consolidate, resolve conflicts internally, then send one document with frame numbers or timecodes.
Summary
The storyboard fixes what is on screen. The animatic fixes how long it stays there and how it flows. Together they let you test the entire video at a fraction of the cost of animating it. Review them carefully, focus on structure and clarity rather than polish, involve every decision maker, and you will avoid most of the expensive surprises that happen later in production. For the full sequence of stages, see the animation production process.
You can see how storyboards turn into finished work in our portfolio, and how we approach it in our 2D animation service. If you have a script and want to see it on a storyboard, reach out through the contact page.