# Plan a product-video storyboard

A storyboard records what each scene explains and how its result connects to
the next scene. Use it after
the brief and before narration. Start with concept flow, establish the visuals,
write words for those visuals, then record or synthesize audio and refine timing.

## Completed example: a ticket finds its team

DispatchDesk is a fictional support-routing product. The following behavior and
data are invented for this teaching example and do not describe a real customer.

**Viewer:** A support lead considering a routing rule.

**Takeaway:** A matching rule assigns a checkout ticket to Payments and preserves
its urgent priority. Assignment does not mean the support issue is resolved.

**Persistent example:** DD-1042, “Checkout fails after payment,” Category:
Checkout, Priority: Urgent. Do not quietly change its identity between scenes.

| Beat       | Viewer question                  | Entry state                                                                | Visible action                                                          | Exit state / visible evidence                                                           |
| ---------- | -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| request    | What needs attention?            | Ticket DD-1042 is visible, unassigned and urgent.                          | Frame the subject, category, priority and unassigned team together.     | The same ticket is readable with its problem established.                    |
| rule       | What determines the destination? | DD-1042 remains visible.                                                   | Reveal the illustrative rule: Category equals Checkout; assign to Payments. | The condition and destination can be compared with the ticket.               |
| assignment | What does the rule change?       | The matching ticket and rule are visible.                                  | Show evaluation, then change the team from Unassigned to Payments.      | DD-1042 is assigned to Payments; subject, category and Urgent remain.        |
| boundary   | Does that rule move everything?  | Keep the rule stable; identify a second ticket, DD-1043, Category Billing. | Evaluate the Billing ticket against the same Checkout condition.        | The second ticket stays unassigned by this rule. No claim about other rules. |

The fourth beat belongs in a teaching version when the boundary matters. A short
launch film may end after the assignment, provided its wording does not imply
that every incoming ticket matches.

## Scene contract to duplicate

### [Stable beat id]

- Viewer question: [one question this scene resolves]
- Intended understanding: [one complete sentence]
- Entry state: [surface, data, selected object, camera framing]
- Product evidence: [dated source for each depicted behavior]
- Depiction: [real capture / accurate reconstruction / labeled illustration]
- Visible action: [what changes, who or what causes it]
- Result frame: [what a paused viewer must be able to inspect]
- Exit state: [data and framing passed to the next scene]
- Continuity check: [which facts must remain unchanged]
- Visual timing needs: [reading, action, inspection, transition; estimates only]
- Narration intent: [what the eventual words need to explain, not final copy]
- Open questions: [owner and evidence needed]
- Visual review: [draft / changes required / approved, reviewer, version]

## Choose the treatment before filling every row

Try distinct ways to explain the same behavior: follow one ticket, compare a
manual and routed path, or change one condition while keeping the example stable.
Write a short reason for selecting one. A sequence of unrelated attractive shots
does not become coherent simply because the topic is the same.

For DispatchDesk, following one ticket keeps the subject, urgency and destination
available for comparison. A controlled second case clarifies the condition. That
choice determines the data and surfaces in the board.

## Review before motion

Create stills or a simple visual draft from the planned surfaces. Check every
important framing at the intended player size. Confirm that a viewer can identify
the starting problem, the causal action and the resulting state.

Read adjacent rows together. If one ends with an assigned ticket and the next
opens with an unassigned copy, either show an explicit reset or fix the mismatch.
Use one shared data ledger so the same ticket cannot acquire different facts in
different scenes.

Only after the visual sequence works should you write narration to it. Later,
measure the recorded audio and revisit scene boundaries and interior event cues.
An estimated duration is not a guarantee of a synchronized final cut.

[Read the full guide](https://20cuts.com/how-to-storyboard-an-explainer-video).