The storyboard
What happens after Next: the preview, the treatment, the scene cards with their stories, timecodes and tools, the cast, 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. While the director writes, The story fills in with the treatment and says Your story is taking shape… underneath. Scenes appear as they are ready, in song order, usually the first ones within a couple of minutes; if you have scrolled away, a small dot on the arrow tells you new frames landed. When the last frame lands 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.
- The cast. Every character the story uses, with their look and description. The cast.
- Talk to your storyboard. The chat, for changes that are easier to say than to click: a scene moved, three scenes rewritten, a character older.
- Scenes N and two arrows. Each click moves three scenes; the strip also scrolls with a trackpad or a swipe. On a phone the count reads "Scenes 3 / 39" as you 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 · Upload image | The scene tools. They fold away while the scene is busy, and say why when the scene waits for another one. |
#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. It asks once (Stop the storyboard here?): every scene that is ready stays saved, and frames already on their way are finished. The strip then 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?
Not by dragging: each scene is bound to its bars, and the film is cut on the grid. Ask the chat instead. It can move, swap, split, merge, add or remove scenes and keeps everything on the bars of the song.
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.