The storyboard
What happens after Next: the preview, the treatment, the scene cards with their stories and timecodes, the big screen, the free and paid preview lengths, and unlocking the rest of the song.
#What arrives, and in what order
Press Next · Create storyboard and the page switches to step two. A status line at the top says what is happening (Preparing your song, then writing the story, then the frames), with a remaining-time range next to it once the engine can estimate one. Scenes appear as they are ready, in song order; if you have scrolled away, a small dot on the arrow tells you new frames landed. A minute or a few later the line says Saved. Every scene is yours to refine.
You can leave the page. The storyboard keeps going and the project waits in Projects; a free preview also mails you when it is ready.
#The preview comes first
The first storyboard never covers the whole song: it previews the opening, so you see the direction the engine took before the rest is written. Without a plan the preview is free; Plans and credits has the allowances.
After the preview a card at the end of the strip says There's more to your song with the remaining time range. Two ways forward: Unlock the rest writes and frames the rest of the song now (the confirmation quotes the credits and names the range), or Next · Make the film does the same as part of the film, so you approve once. Free previews cannot be extended; that is what a plan is for.
#The page
- Your song. Scene by scene. with the project title and its length on the right.
- The story. A collapsed panel with the full treatment: what the film is about, in prose. Worth reading once; it explains why the scenes are what they are.
- N scenes and two arrows. Each click moves three scenes; the strip also scrolls with a trackpad or a swipe.
- The filmstrip. One card per scene, in song order.
- Quality and Next · Make the film at the bottom. Making the film.
#A scene card
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| Frame | The keyframe the motion will be shot from. Click it to open the big screen. |
| Number and timecode | Where the scene sits in the song. Scenes are addressed in bars underneath, which is why one is three seconds and the next is twelve. |
| Title and story | The scene as the director wrote it. The story is editable: change a word, press Save story, and the card reminds you the image now needs a retake to match. |
| Take N ▾ | Appears once a scene has more than one take. Every take is kept; pick any earlier one. |
| Retake image · Edit image · Rewrite | The scene tools. They fold away while the scene is busy. |
#The big screen
Click any frame to see it at full size with its title and story. The left and right arrows (or the arrow keys, or a swipe on a phone) move to the neighbouring scenes without closing; the counter at the top keeps your place. This is the fastest way to review a whole storyboard: open scene one and hold the right arrow.
#The treatment
The treatment is the spine of the film. It is what the rewrite tool reads when you change a single scene, so the new scene still fits between its neighbours. If you enriched your direction at the intake, Your developed direction sits under the strip too, ready to quote.
#Stopping and continuing
While a storyboard on a plan is being written you can press Stop storyboard. Nothing already made is lost, and the strip ends with a Continue storyboard card; an interrupted storyboard continues the same way. A free preview is short and simply runs to the end.
The storyboard looks nothing like my direction
Read the treatment first; sometimes the engine took a legitimate route to the same place. If not, this is exactly what the preview is for. Sharpen the direction (a place, a turn, an ending) or swap the references, then start a new project. Your song analysis is reused.
Why are there so many scenes in the chorus?
The edit follows the energy of the track: one shot per bar in the loudest passages, long takes in the quiet ones. A four-minute song with big choruses lands around 70 to 110 scenes. Fewer, longer scenes in the chorus is a direction you can write.
Can I reorder scenes?
No. Each scene is bound to its bars, and the film is cut on the grid. You can rewrite a scene to be something else, or retake its image.
Where did my second free preview go?
Free previews are limited per day and per month; the footnote under the intake says when they are used up and offers a plan. Plans and credits has the allowances.