Creator Blob #23 - My storyboard process

How do I write for YouTube videos? 

To give some background, I used to work for an ad agency. One of my roles was to be a storyboard artist for commercials. Since storyboards were used to sell ideas to clients and later passed on to another team to film, they were very elaborate and fleshed out. But since I'm not selling an idea to a client and I'm the "team" who would be using my storyboards, I've diluted the process to meet my needs.

Here is the method I developed over the last couple of years:

1. Writing an abstract

This is what writers would call the "word vomit" stage — just writing ideas down with no inhibitions. This stage also pressure checks the viability of a video idea.

2. Create an outline

Ideas from the abstract are organized into an outline so there’s a semblance of a story with a beginning, middle, and an end.

3. Expand and research

The outline is expanded into talking points. A lot of writing and research happens at this stage. Something interesting to note is that people construct sentences differently when they talk versus when they write. So I often have to read everything out loud to see if it actually sounds like something someone would say versus something someone would write.

4. Create the storyboard

A storyboard is made based on what I’ve written. I come up with how the visuals will look like to represent the written script. During the process, the script will change to accommodate for the visual. 

In the pictures above: Examples of storyboards. When I first started creating videos, I would draw the entire storyboard. Later, to save time and since these were for me to use, I ended up writing notes instead of drawing. If I ever have someone else create graphics based on my storyboards, I would draw these complete with a color palette to reference.

5. Create graphics

After the storyboard is made, the graphics are created. Because of the time crunch, I often have to decide on making concessions. (For example, maybe I had a grand idea of a monkey playing the drums. But because of time constraints I won’t have time to create the monkey, so I’ll just settle for just drums and add sound effects to represent the monkey.) If I had all the time in the world, I would take an entire month for a single video. But if you’ve read my blog about slowing down, I’m trying to make my way back to one video per week.

6. Re-write script based on graphics

Because of some compromises with the graphics, the script will change so it syncs up with the visuals. Any adjustments with the script are made at this point. 

7. Voice record

And finally the voiceover gets recorded.

8. Assemble voice, graphics, sound effects, and music

And this is when it all comes together. There are times I might have to loop back and redo a graphic or re-record something, but it’s rare because of this process I’ve established.