1. Create a title frame. The title area of your storyboard should contain your intended topic or general idea of the commercial.
2. Designate frame numbers or screen numbers. Each of your frames should be given its own unique name or number. Most storyboards follow a format similar to "t6m2s5," which stands for topic 6, module 2, and section 5.
3. Explain actions occurring on each frame. Provide explicit details and your vision behind what should happen in each frame, such as "John throws ball at Cindy."
4. Designate camera instructions. Explain what the camera should be doing for each particular frame, such as "Camera follows John as he walks 4 steps to the left."
5. Include character dialogue. For each frame in the commercial storyboard, write out the intended dialogue, such as "John: Our company is innovative and will get the job done."
6. Describe additional audio. For each frame, add details surrounding any extra audio you want to include, such as sound effects and background music.
7. Provide details on visual effects. If there are to be any visual affects you need to add after filming your commercial, include them in that frame. For example, if your character is talking about the world, mention in your storyboard that a picture of a globe should be turning around in the corner of the screen.
Note:
• Commercial storyboards can be used to pitch ideas to clients and communicating your vision to others.
• If you are creating a commercial storyboard with a group of people, have each person generate their own basic storyboard using the title frame as inspiration to generate new ideas.
• Consider hiring a professional artist to draw pictures if you are using the paper storyboard method in order to appear more professional.
