The thing about making film or TV, is that the viewer has to experience the story as if it is happening in ‘real’ time, even though you’re making scenes for it in a totally unrelated order, determined by budget, resource availability and weather.

Storyboarding is key to making this approach work. It makes sure everyone knows which part of the story is being told at any one time, so they can get the context of the scene they’re creating now.

A storyboard also does two jobs at once – it gives the reader a strong idea of what the finished scene should look like, alongside tips and hints of how to get there.

I particularly like the first frame of this one, from Dr Who, that shows the desired effect, and then describes it in words that are almost poetry:

“A skein of scrappy nebula like substance drifting diaphanous through space.”

followed by the utterly pragmatic:

“detol [Dettol] in water”.

This is why I’m a fan of including images in process descriptions. Not only as a visual prompt for people who see things better that way, but also as a complement to words, that can remind everyone what the result should feel like.

Not an easy job to do, but like every Dr Who series I’ve watched, worth the effort.

Discipline makes Daring possible.