Storyboards: guiding how a scene looks

Storyboards are optional. A scene with no storyboard renders exactly as it always has — the model works from your scene description plus the location, cast and asset references. Storyboards are there for the shots where the default result keeps missing what you had in mind.

The Storyboard tab is the middle option in the Video Studio's Script / Storyboard / Video toggle.

What storyboards actually do

A storyboard frame is a still image of a moment in the scene. When you render that scene, the generated frames are handed to the video model as the top-priority reference images — ahead of the location reference, ahead of the cast references, ahead of the asset references.

That ordering is the whole point. Normally the model reads your scene description and invents a composition: it decides where the character stands, how close the camera sits, what fills the frame. With a storyboard in place it has a picture to match instead of a sentence to interpret, so the rendered shot follows your framing rather than its own guess.

Use storyboards when a scene keeps coming back with the right content in the wrong composition — the character too far away, the wrong part of the location on screen, the wrong moment emphasised.

Two frames per scene: the opening and closing beat

Each scene can hold up to two storyboard frames:

• The opening beat — how the shot looks when the scene starts.
• The closing beat — how it looks when the scene ends.

Together they bracket the motion. Giving the model both a start and an end frame tells it not just how the shot is composed but where it travels over the scene's duration. You can generate just one if only the opening matters to you; a single frame is perfectly valid.

Storyboard tiles are shown in the video's own aspect ratio — 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9 — so what you see is framed the way the finished video will be.

Generating a frame: click the empty tile

There is no "Generate storyboards" button anywhere in the studio. The empty dashed tile is the button. On the Storyboard tab each scene shows its frame slots; clicking an empty dashed tile generates that frame.

⚠️ There is no confirmation step. Clicking an empty tile starts the generation and charges your account immediately — no dialog, no "are you sure", no cost preview to dismiss. Click deliberately, especially while scrolling through a long list of scenes.

Once a frame exists, the tile shows the image instead of the dashed placeholder.

What storyboards cost

Each storyboard frame costs 50 credits, charged at the moment you click the tile. A scene where you generate both the opening and closing beat is therefore two separate charges, not one.

Storyboard frames are charged like any other image generation. For what else in a video draws from your balance, see Story Video credits; for balances, packs and what happens when a generation fails, see How credits work.

Asking Sidekick to make them

You do not have to click tiles yourself. Sidekick — the assistant in the right-hand column of the video editor — can generate storyboards for you when you describe the shot you want. It will move you to the Storyboard tab so you can watch the frame it is working on appear.

See Sidekick for what else the assistant can do inside a video project.

Next steps

• Rendering scenes — turning scenes into finished clips.
• The Video Studio — how the Script / Storyboard / Video tabs fit together.

Updated on: 17/08/2026