# Video Storyboard

> World-class video storyboard writer for marketing, advertising, brand films, social spots, and product videos. Use when the user asks for a storyboard, video script, ad concept, commercial treatment, video pitch, or shot-by-shot breakdown for any film, ad, social video, explainer, or brand content. Produces an all-text markdown storyboard with richly described visuals (no images, no sketches) — every frame includes shot, action, on-screen text, voiceover, dialogue, sound, and timing. Grounded in the canonical literature on marketing storytelling and ad video production (Donald Miller's StoryBrand, Joseph Campbell / Christopher Vogler's Hero's Journey, Blake Snyder's Save the Cat, Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling, Chip & Dan Heath's Made to Stick, Luke Sullivan's Hey Whipple Squeeze This, David Ogilvy's Ogilvy on Advertising, Giuseppe Cristiano's The Storyboard Artist).

- Skill: `thatjuan/video-storyboard` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 7 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add thatjuan/video-storyboard`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/thatjuan/video-storyboard/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: thatjuan (https://skillmd.com/u/thatjuan)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/thatjuan/video-storyboard

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# Video Storyboard

A world-class storyboard writer for marketing and advertising video. Produces an **all-text markdown storyboard** — frames are described in rich, specific prose (cast, wardrobe, location, lighting, lens, motion, color, props, on-screen graphics) instead of drawn. Every storyboard pairs a strategically grounded narrative with frame-level production-ready detail.

The skill is grounded in the canonical literature of marketing storytelling and ad video production. See [Storytelling Canon](references/storytelling-canon.md) for distilled frameworks and the books they come from.

## Storyboard Generation Workflow

### Phase 1 — Brief Intake

Extract the creative brief. Every frame later traces back to it. If input is sparse, ask focused discovery questions before generating.

| Brief Element | What to Extract |
|---------------|-----------------|
| **Product / Service** | What is being sold, what it does, what makes it different |
| **Single-Minded Proposition** | The one idea the audience must walk away with — the SMP |
| **Audience** | Who, their world, their tension, the moment they hear this ad |
| **Strategic Goal** | Awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty, repositioning, launch |
| **Tone** | Emotional register — heartfelt, deadpan, absurd, cinematic, gritty, dreamlike, premium, irreverent |
| **Format & Duration** | 6s bumper, 15s, 30s, 60s, 2-min hero film, vertical social, UGC, demo, episodic |
| **Channel & Context** | Where it plays — TV, YouTube pre-roll, IG/TikTok feed, OOH digital, cinema, in-store |
| **Mandatories** | Logo placement, legal supers, brand safety zones, pack shot, end frame, music ownership, dialogue language(s) |
| **Brand Voice** | Existing brand world, prior campaigns, things to avoid |
| **Budget Signals** | Production scope clues — single location vs. multi-city, talent scale, VFX appetite |

For platform-specific durations and beat cadences, see [Ad Formats](references/ad-formats.md).

### Phase 2 — Strategic Story Setup

Before any shot thinking, lock the story spine.

1. **Cast the Hero** — In marketing storytelling the *customer* is the hero, the *brand* is the guide (StoryBrand). Name the hero in human terms: who they are, what they want, what blocks them.

2. **Define the Conflict** — Internal (how they feel about their problem), external (the practical obstacle), and philosophical (the larger "why this is wrong"). All three sharpen the spot.

3. **State the Premise** — One line: "[Hero] wants [desire]. But [obstacle]. So [brand action]. Now [transformation]."

4. **Pick the Story Frame** — Choose the narrative skeleton that fits the duration, format, and tension. Frames available:

| Frame | Best For | Source |
|-------|----------|--------|
| **StoryBrand 7-Part (Character / Problem / Guide / Plan / Call to Action / Failure / Success)** | Brand films, explainers, DTC | Donald Miller |
| **Hero's Journey (compressed)** | 60s+ brand epics, transformation stories | Campbell / Vogler |
| **Save the Cat beat compression** | Narrative spots with character arc | Blake Snyder |
| **Pixar Story Spine ("Once upon a time… Every day… One day… Because of that… Until finally…")** | 15–30s spots, social, simple emotional arc | Emma Coats / Pixar |
| **Problem → Agitation → Solution (PAS)** | Direct-response, performance, demos | Classic copywriting |
| **Vignette / Anthem** | Brand films, manifesto, recruitment | Ogilvy / Hey Whipple |
| **Demo-Anchored** | Product-feature spots — show, don't tell | Ogilvy |
| **Two-World (Before/After, Them/Us, World-A/World-B)** | Comparison, repositioning, category disruption | Hey Whipple |

See [Storytelling Canon](references/storytelling-canon.md) for the full beat sheet of each frame.

5. **Apply Stickiness Filters** — Run the premise through Made to Stick's SUCCESs (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories). Strengthen any weak axis before proceeding.

6. **Find the Conflict / Twist** — Hey Whipple: "conflict is always more interesting." Identify the unexpected reversal, the visual joke, the emotional gut-punch, or the demonstration moment that earns the viewer's attention. No twist = no spot.

### Phase 3 — Treatment

Write a one-paragraph treatment before going to frames. A treatment is the spot in prose: tone, world, who we meet, what happens, what we feel, how it ends. This is the document the director would shoot from. Length: 120–250 words.

### Phase 4 — Beat Map

Translate the treatment into beats sized to the duration. A beat is a story unit — usually 2–6 seconds. See [Ad Formats](references/ad-formats.md) for typical beat counts per duration.

| Duration | Typical Beats | Typical Frame Count |
|----------|--------------|---------------------|
| 6s bumper | 2–3 | 2–3 |
| 15s | 4–6 | 4–6 |
| 30s | 7–10 | 7–10 |
| 60s | 12–18 | 12–18 |
| 2:00 hero film | 20–35 | 20–35 |

Each beat carries one job: hook, setup, escalation, turn, payoff, brand reveal, CTA.

### Phase 5 — Frame Generation

Expand each beat into a fully described frame. Frames are the heart of the deliverable. Every frame contains:

| Field | Content |
|-------|---------|
| **Frame #** | Sequential number |
| **Timecode** | `00:00–00:03` style — start and end |
| **Shot** | Shot size + angle + lens + movement (e.g., "Slow push-in MCU, 50mm, eye-level") — see [Shot Language](references/shot-language.md) |
| **Visual** | Rich prose describing what the camera sees: location, time of day, weather, light direction and quality, color palette, cast, casting notes, wardrobe, props, action, blocking, expressions, motion within frame, VFX or graphic treatment. Specific not generic. See [Visual Description Craft](references/visual-description-craft.md) |
| **On-Screen Text / Super** | Any title cards, lower-thirds, kinetic type, captions, legal supers |
| **Voiceover (V/O)** | Narrator copy, in quotes, with read direction (warm / clipped / wry / urgent) |
| **Dialogue** | Character name + line + delivery direction |
| **SFX** | Diegetic and designed sound effects |
| **Music** | Track behavior — "swelling strings build", "track drops out", "needle-drop into [track / vibe reference]" |
| **Transition** | How this frame moves to the next: hard cut, match cut, whip pan, dissolve, smash cut, J-cut, L-cut, graphic match |
| **Note** | Optional director's-eye intent — the *why* of the frame in one sentence |

For detailed shot grammar, see [Shot Language](references/shot-language.md). For prose technique that makes visuals filmable without an image, see [Visual Description Craft](references/visual-description-craft.md).

### Phase 6 — Audio Architecture

Audio is half the spot. Plan it as an arc, not a per-frame afterthought.

| Layer | What to Define |
|-------|---------------|
| **Music** | Genre, instrumentation, tempo, energy curve across the spot, drop/swell moments, mnemonic/sting placement, license posture (custom score, library, needle-drop reference, sonic-logo end) |
| **V/O** | Voice profile (age, gender, accent, timbre, archetype reference — "wry late-30s woman, dry like Aubrey Plaza"), pace, total word count vs. duration (≈2.5 words/sec read) |
| **Dialogue** | Casting voice notes, language, regional notes |
| **SFX** | Designed vs. naturalistic, signature sounds, moments of silence |
| **Sonic Branding** | End-frame sonic logo, mnemonic motif placement |

Ogilvy's principle applies: the spot should also work with the sound off — so visuals carry the SMP independently.

### Phase 7 — Brand & Closer

Every spot ends with a closer. Define:

| Element | Spec |
|---------|------|
| **Pack / Hero Shot** | The product / logo moment — described in prose (lighting, surface, motion, hero pose) |
| **End Frame** | Final still composition — logo position, tagline, URL/handle, legal/CTA |
| **CTA** | Verb-led action ("Switch today.", "Book at brand.com", "Tap to try") |
| **Legal Supers** | Required disclosures, asterisk copy, terms placement |
| **Sonic Logo** | Mnemonic landing on the end frame |

Ogilvy: commercials that end on the package change brand preference more than commercials that don't. Earn the end frame.

### Phase 8 — Self-Critique Pass

Before delivery, run the storyboard through these filters:

| Filter | Check |
|--------|-------|
| **Sound-off test** | Does the SMP land with no audio? |
| **Six-second test** | Does the hook land in the first 2 seconds for social, first 5 for broadcast? |
| **One-idea test** | Can the viewer summarize the spot in one sentence? If not, cut. |
| **Conflict test** | Is there real tension, surprise, or stake — or is it just visual wallpaper? |
| **Specificity test** | Could two different directors shoot wildly different films from this? Tighten until no. |
| **Brand presence test** | Is the brand integrated into the story, or pasted on? |
| **Cliché test** | Hey Whipple's smoke-out — diverse hands stacking, sunsets, slow-mo high-fives, generic uplifting piano. Cut and replace. |
| **Truth test** | Ogilvy: "Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your own family to read." |

## Output Format

Final deliverable is a single markdown document with this structure:

```markdown
# [Spot Title] — [Brand] | [Duration]

## Logline
[One sentence — the spot's premise]

## Strategic Setup
- **Audience:** [...]
- **Single-Minded Proposition:** [...]
- **Tone:** [...]
- **Format:** [Duration, channel, aspect ratio]
- **Story Frame:** [Chosen narrative skeleton]

## Treatment
[120–250 words of prose — the spot as a director would read it]

## Audio Architecture
- **Music:** [...]
- **V/O:** [Voice profile + total approx. word count]
- **SFX posture:** [...]
- **Sonic logo:** [...]

## Storyboard

### Frame 1 — `00:00–00:03`
**Shot:** [size + angle + lens + movement]
**Visual:** [Rich, specific prose. Multi-sentence if needed. Casting, wardrobe, location, light, color, action, blocking, expression, motion.]
**On-Screen:** [Any super / kinetic text]
**V/O:** "[Copy]" *(read direction)*
**Dialogue:** *[Character]* "[Line]" *(delivery)*
**SFX:** [...]
**Music:** [Behavior at this beat]
**Transition:** [Out of this frame]
**Note:** [Director's-eye intent]

### Frame 2 — `00:03–00:06`
[...]

[...continue for every frame...]

### Final Frame — End Card
**Visual:** [Pack shot / logo composition described]
**On-Screen:** [Tagline, URL, legal]
**V/O / Sonic:** [Closer audio]

## Production Notes
- **Locations:** [...]
- **Cast:** [Hero, supporting, extras — count and casting brief]
- **Wardrobe / Props:** [Critical items]
- **VFX / Graphics:** [If any]
- **Mandatories:** [Logo, legal, pack-shot]
```

For a complete worked example using this format, see [Storyboard Format](references/storyboard-format.md).

## Reference Documents

| Reference | When to Consult |
|-----------|----------------|
| [Storytelling Canon](references/storytelling-canon.md) | During Phase 2 — picking and applying a narrative frame; distilled beat sheets from StoryBrand, Hero's Journey, Save the Cat, Pixar 22, Made to Stick, Hey Whipple, Ogilvy |
| [Ad Formats](references/ad-formats.md) | During Phase 1 and Phase 4 — duration-specific beat cadences, platform conventions (TV, YouTube, IG/TikTok, OOH, cinema, UGC, demo, anthem, episodic) |
| [Shot Language](references/shot-language.md) | During Phase 5 — precise vocabulary for shot size, angle, lens, movement, framing, lighting, transitions |
| [Visual Description Craft](references/visual-description-craft.md) | During Phase 5 — writing rich, specific, filmable prose that replaces a sketched frame |
| [Storyboard Format](references/storyboard-format.md) | During Phase 5 and Phase 8 — exact markdown output spec with a full worked example |