A storyboard is a series of drawings that plans every shot of an animation, or every key moment of a game, before it is made. A shot is one continuous view from the camera. Every shot has a shot size (how much we see), a camera angle (where the camera looks from) and sometimes a camera movement. Choosing these well is how you tell the story visually.

The basics of storyboarding were covered in Story Development and Scriptwriting and in Storyboards – Professional Video Creation (Part 1). This post focuses on the camera.

Anatomy of a professional storyboard panel

• Scene and shot number – for example “Sc 2 / Sh 4”, so the team can find every shot.
• The frame – drawn in the final screen shape (usually 16:9 widescreen).
• Action – what the characters do.
• Dialogue and sound – lines, sound effects (SFX) and music cues.
• Camera notes – shot size, angle and arrows for any movement.
• Timing and transitions – how long the shot lasts and how it joins the next one (cut, dissolve, fade).

Shot sizes

Shot size	What it shows	Use it to…
Extreme long shot (ELS) / establishing shot	A whole landscape, town or building; characters are tiny or absent.	Show where and when the scene takes place.
Long shot (LS) / wide shot	The full body of the character and plenty of surroundings.	Show action, movement and how a character fits into the space.
Full shot / medium long shot (MLS)	The whole body, or from the knees up, with some background.	Show body language and groups of characters.
Medium shot (MS)	From about the waist up.	Conversations and everyday action.
Close-up (CU)	The face or one important object.	Show emotion and reactions.
Extreme close-up (ECU)	A tiny detail, such as an eye or a key.	Build tension or point out a clue.

Camera angles

• Eye level – neutral and natural; the audience feels equal to the character.
• High angle – looking down on the subject, which can make it seem small, weak or lost.
• Low angle – looking up at the subject, which can make it seem powerful, heroic or threatening.
• Bird’s-eye view – directly overhead, good for maps, mazes and showing patterns.
• Worm’s-eye view – from the ground looking up, making things look huge.
• Dutch angle (canted angle) – the camera is tilted, so the world feels uneasy or strange.
• Over-the-shoulder (OTS) – from behind one character looking at another; common in dialogue.
• Point of view (POV) – we see exactly what a character sees.

Camera movement

• Pan – the camera turns left or right from a fixed spot.
• Tilt – the camera turns up or down from a fixed spot.
• Dolly or tracking shot – the whole camera moves towards, away from or alongside the subject.
• Zoom – the lens changes to make the subject bigger or smaller without the camera moving.
• Crane or pedestal – the camera rises or lowers.

Keeping shots clear

The 180-degree rule says the camera should stay on one side of an imaginary line between two characters, so they keep facing the same way on screen. Shot-reverse-shot cuts between two characters in a conversation, often using over-the-shoulder shots.

Cameras in games

Game cameras are often controlled by the player or by code, so designers choose a camera style that suits the gameplay: first-person (seen through the character’s eyes), third-person (following behind the character), side-scrolling, top-down or isometric (a raised, angled view). Cutscenes, short non-interactive scenes, use the same shots and angles as film. For a game, storyboard the cutscenes and a few key gameplay moments, showing what the player sees and what they can do.

Example

The first scene of an animation, Nia’s Big Night, planned with six shots:

Shot	Shot size and angle	Action and sound
1	Extreme long shot, high angle (establishing)	A hillside town at sunset; the sound of distant steelpans.
2	Medium shot, eye level	Nia rushes into the panyard, out of breath.
3	Close-up, eye level	Her face drops: her pan stand is empty.
4	Point of view, slow pan	We see what Nia sees: the empty rows of pans.
5	Low angle	The band leader appears, arms folded, looking down at her.
6	Over-the-shoulder	From behind Nia as she promises, “I’ll find it.”

Watch this Pixar in a Box video to see how Pixar artists use the camera to tell a story:

Exercise

1. Name the shot size of each still A–G in Figure 2.
2. Watch the opening two minutes of an animation or a game cutscene. List each shot and name its size and angle.
3. Camera angle montage (group activity): plan the first scene of an animation story as a storyboard of six to nine panels using at least three different camera angles. Label each panel with its shot size, angle and any movement. Then act out or draw each shot, photograph them, and arrange them into a labelled montage (a grid poster, slideshow or short video).
4. Choose a game you know and describe its camera style. Explain how it helps the player.
5. Try an online storyboard tool, such as Storyboard That, or draw on paper and scan it.

Answers to question 1 (from the image’s description on Wikimedia Commons): A medium shot, B extreme close-up, C close-up, D extreme long shot, E long shot, F full shot, G medium long shot.

Next: Character Design for Different Genres: Shape Language, Silhouette, Colour, Props and Abilities

Syllabus link: This post is relevant to the CAPE® Animation and Game Design Syllabus, Unit 1: Fundamentals of Animation and Game Design, Module 3: Story and Character Development – Specific Objective 3 (“create a storyboard for a game or animation”).

Attributions to media used in this post:

Storyboarding template 02.jpg – Tomas Mitkus – Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)

VocaDi-Entertainment,CameraRange.jpeg – Stills: Blender Foundation (Sprite Fright); compilation by chris 論 – CC BY 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Camera Movement – Pan.png – Nathan W. Fullerton – CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Contra-zoom aka dolly zoom animation.gif – Mike1024 – Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)

© 2026 Vedesh Kungebeharry. All rights reserved.