Timing for Animation, 40th Anniversary Edition, 3rd Edition

Traditional Storyboards

The original form of storyboards originated in the 1920s, when artists would pin their gag ideas up on a corkboard. The idea quickly expanded and a specialist arose, the gag-man or storyboard artist. He or she would create a continuity of drawings delineating the cinematic flow of the film project to come. All the start and stops of a potential character’s actions would be spelled out in a series of sketches. These drawings could be “pitched” or discussed openly in story-sessions, then photographed and matched to a rough soundtrack to further clarify what the final film might look like. These storyboard films have been referred to in the past with various names—the Animatic, Workreel, Storyreel, or Leica reel.

The finished ...