Free music video storyboard template.
Music video boards often need to hold several kinds of material at once: performance, narrative, visual setups and transitions.
This template gives each frame room for the image, shot number and a short note, without forcing the video into a rigid scene-by-scene structure.
What’s inside
Widescreen boxes numbered 1 to 6, three across and two down, so a setup can be found by its frame number.
Unlabelled, for the setup name, the lyric or edit point, or whatever a frame needs said about it.
The fields across the top of this sheet, ruled to write on, so a pile of sheets stays sorted by setup.
Landscape A4 with the margins inside the page, clear enough to punch. It prints on US Letter scaled to fit.
Start with the hero images
Pull out the frames the treatment depends on before filling in every piece of coverage.
That might be the opening image, a particular performance setup, a practical effect, one transition and the final shot. Once those are on the board, it is easier to see what supporting coverage the edit will need.
See also: Storyboard Examples · How to Storyboard
Label the setups
Music videos can generate a lot of frames quickly.
Give recurring setups simple names that the crew will recognise: studio red, car night, rooftop performance, bedroom, handheld street.
The exact naming does not matter. Consistency does.
Those labels become useful later when the shots are grouped into a shooting order.
Performance and narrative
If the video combines performance and narrative, make the distinction visible without creating two separate planning systems.
You may want to board the narrative more tightly while treating performance as a set of planned framings and coverage. The board can hold both.
For a performance-heavy job, note any shots tied to a particular lyric, musical change or edit point where that timing is important.
Plan transitions as pairs
A match cut or wipe often depends on the relationship between two shots.
Put the frames beside each other and note the movement or composition that connects them. That is more useful than describing the transition several pages later in a treatment.
Think about vertical versions before the shoot
Music videos are frequently cut into vertical social assets as well as the main film.
If vertical delivery matters, check the hero compositions in 9:16 before shooting. A central performance frame may adapt easily. A wide group setup or carefully balanced negative space may not.
Board a second version where the composition genuinely changes.
See also: 16:9 Template · 9:16 Template
Turn the board into a shoot plan
The edit may jump between six locations and four setups. The shoot should not.
Once the board is working creatively, group the shots by location, lighting setup, talent and practical requirements. Keep the creative sequence intact and create a separate shooting order from the same shots.
That gives the director the board they developed while giving the crew a plan that makes sense on the day.
See also: Storyboard App
Download or use in Storybrdr
The printable template works well for rough planning, treatment development and early conversations.
Storybrdr is useful when the board starts changing, needs to be shared or needs to become the shot list for the shoot.
Boards share by link, export as a PDF, and open on a phone on the day.
The exported PDF is printed by the same engine that printed the blank sheet at the top of this page, which is why the two are the same document.
More on what that looks like: the features tour.