What is Script, Storyboard and Previs?

Script, storyboard, and previs are all about planning your story before you hit production. The script lays out the story, dialogue, and action. The storyboard turns that into visual panels, showing how each scene will look. Previs takes it further with rough animations to test timing, camera angles, and movement. Together, they give you a clear picture of your story and make it easier to make creative choices early on.

That's what I understand from what I have learned from Philip Hewitson & David Robert. I am super fascinated moving forward. We did an exercise called Le Menu by Claudia Hunter Johnson.

Le Menu is all about identifying the attitudes, values, and experiences that energise our work as screenwriters. It’s like creating a personal menu of the things we know, care about, and are passionate about. Doing this is essential because our own unique perspective is what leads to original and memorable screenplays. Here are those 10 questions:

1. What I love

2. What I hate

3. What I fear

4. What I believe

5. What I value

6. What I want

7. What I know about

8. People who made a difference in my life

9. Discoveries that made a difference in my life

10. Decisions that made a difference in my life

“In order to create art works of many worth, each artist must have something to say, some values, some attitudes, some store of experience – a vision” (2014)

In my understanding, in animation, the script is the foundation. It’s the written blueprint of the story, detailing dialogue, character actions, and the overall narrative flow. Unlike live-action, animation scripts often include more detail about visual elements and timing, as everything must be created from scratch rather than filmed.

Once the script is solid, it’s translated into a storyboard. A storyboard is a sequence of drawings (like a comic strip) that maps out the key moments of the story. It helps the team visualise the pacing, camera angles, and character movements before full production begins. Storyboards are essential in animation because they allow directors and artists to “see” the film before committing to expensive and time-consuming animation.

After the storyboard, the process moves into previsualization (previs). Previs takes the storyboard further by creating a rough, often computer-generated version of the film. This version includes simple 3D models, camera moves, and timing to give a clearer sense of how the final animation will look and feel. Previs is especially useful in planning complex sequences, checking continuity, and spotting potential problems before the detailed animation work begins.

Together, script, storyboard, and previs form the backbone of animation production, ensuring that the creative vision is clear, tested, and ready before full-scale animation begins.

Ref:

https://screencraft.org/blog/the-le-menu-a-useful-tool-to-get-your-story-going Accessed-29.09.2025