storyboard-creation

Imported from halt-catch-fire/mutiny (guides/video/storyboard-creation/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add halt-catch-fire/mutiny --skill storyboard-creation. Copyright stays with the author.

Install the belt CLI skill: npx skills add belt-sh/cli

Storyboard Creation

Create visual storyboards with AI image generation via inference.sh CLI.

Quick Start

Requires inference.sh CLI (belt). Install instructions

belt login

# Generate a storyboard panel
belt app run falai/flux-dev-lora --input '{
  "prompt": "storyboard panel, wide establishing shot of a modern city skyline at sunset, cinematic composition, slightly desaturated colors, film still style, 16:9 aspect ratio",
  "width": 1248,
  "height": 832
}'

# Stitch panels into a board
belt app run infsh/stitch-images --input '{
  "images": ["panel1.png", "panel2.png", "panel3.png"],
  "direction": "horizontal"
}'

Shot Types

Generating Each Shot Type

# Close-Up — emotion focus
belt app run falai/flux-dev-lora --input '{
  "prompt": "close-up shot of a woman face showing concern, soft dramatic lighting from the left, shallow depth of field, cinematic film still, slightly desaturated",
  "width": 1248,
  "height": 832
}'

# Medium Shot — dialogue scene
belt app run falai/flux-dev-lora --input '{
  "prompt": "medium shot of two people talking across a table in a cafe, warm afternoon light through windows, natural composition, cinematic film still, 35mm lens look",
  "width": 1248,
  "height": 832
}'

# Wide Shot — establishing
belt app run falai/flux-dev-lora --input '{
  "prompt": "wide establishing shot of a futuristic laboratory interior, dramatic overhead lighting, long corridor with glass walls, sci-fi atmosphere, cinematic composition, anamorphic lens style",
  "width": 1248,
  "height": 832
}'

Camera Angles

Camera Movement

In storyboards, indicate movement with arrows drawn on panels.

Continuity Rules

The 180-Degree Rule

Imagine a line (axis) between two characters in conversation. The camera must stay on ONE side of that line.

         Character A        Character B
              ●─────────────────●
             /                   \
           /     CAMERA ZONE      \
         /     (stay on this side)  \
       📷          📷          📷
     Camera 1   Camera 2   Camera 3

Crossing the line confuses the viewer about spatial relationships. Only cross intentionally (with a neutral shot in between or a visible camera move).

Match on Action

When cutting between two angles of the same action, the action must continue seamlessly:

Panel A: Hand reaches for door handle (medium shot)
Panel B: Hand grabs door handle (close-up)
         ↑ Action continues from same point

Eyeline Match

When a character looks at something, the next shot should show what they're looking at, from their approximate point of view.

Panel A: Character looks up and to the right
Panel B: The object they see, framed from slightly below-left

Screen Direction

If a character moves left-to-right in one shot, they should continue left-to-right in the next. Reversing direction implies they turned around.

Panel Layout

Standard Formats

Panel Annotation Format

Each panel should include:

┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SCENE 3 — SHOT 2                   │ ← Scene and shot number
│                                    │
│   [Generated image here]           │ ← Visual
│                                    │
├────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Shot: MS, eye level                │ ← Shot type and angle
│ Movement: Slow dolly in            │ ← Camera movement
│ Duration: 4 sec                    │ ← Estimated duration
│ Action: Sarah opens the letter     │ ← What happens
│ Dialogue: "This changes everything"│ ← Any spoken lines
│ SFX: Paper rustling, clock ticking │ ← Sound effects
│ Music: Tension builds              │ ← Music cue
└────────────────────────────────────┘

Storyboard Workflow

Step 1: Shot List

Before generating images, write a shot list:

SCENE 1 — OFFICE, DAY

1.1  WS  - Establishing shot of office building exterior, morning
1.2  MS  - Sarah walks through office, carrying coffee
1.3  CU  - Sarah's face, notices something on her desk
1.4  ECU - An envelope on the desk, unfamiliar handwriting
1.5  MS  - Sarah picks up envelope, opens it
1.6  CU  - Sarah's eyes widen as she reads
1.7  ECU - Key phrase on the letter (insert text)

Step 2: Generate Panels

Use consistent style across all panels:

# Establish a consistent style prompt suffix
STYLE="cinematic film still, slightly desaturated, warm color grade, 35mm lens, shallow depth of field"

# Panel 1.1 — Wide establishing
belt app run falai/flux-dev-lora --input "{
  \"prompt\": \"wide shot of a modern glass office building exterior, morning golden hour light, people entering, $STYLE\",
  \"width\": 1248, \"height\": 832
}" --no-wait

# Panel 1.2 — Medium shot
belt app run falai/flux-dev-lora --input "{
  \"prompt\": \"medium shot of a professional woman walking through a modern open office, carrying coffee cup, morning light through windows, $STYLE\",
  \"width\": 1248, \"height\": 832
}" --no-wait

# Panel 1.3 — Close-up
belt app run falai/flux-dev-lora --input "{
  \"prompt\": \"close-up of a woman face looking down at her desk with curious expression, soft office lighting, $STYLE\",
  \"width\": 1248, \"height\": 832
}" --no-wait

Step 3: Assemble Board

# Stitch panels into rows
belt app run infsh/stitch-images --input '{
  "images": ["panel_1_1.png", "panel_1_2.png", "panel_1_3.png"],
  "direction": "horizontal"
}'

belt app run infsh/stitch-images --input '{
  "images": ["panel_1_4.png", "panel_1_5.png", "panel_1_6.png"],
  "direction": "horizontal"
}'

# Then stitch rows vertically for full page
belt app run infsh/stitch-images --input '{
  "images": ["row1.png", "row2.png"],
  "direction": "vertical"
}'

Style Consistency Tips

• Use the same style suffix across all panels (lens, color grade, lighting)
• Use FLUX LoRA if you need consistent characters across panels
• Keep the same aspect ratio for all panels
• Generate more panels than you need and select the best
• If a panel doesn't match the style, regenerate with adjusted prompt

Common Mistakes

Related Skills

npx skills add inference-sh/skills@ai-image-generation
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@ai-video-generation
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@video-prompting-guide
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@prompt-engineering

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