How many storyboard frames does a commercial need?
The short answer is one frame per shot. A commercial cuts roughly every two to three seconds, so a 30 second spot is 10 to 15 frames and a 60 second spot is 20 to 30. The longer answer depends on who the board is for, because a board for a client and a board for a crew are two different documents that happen to look alike.
The frame count, by length
Start from the running time and the pace of the cut. A fast, music-led spot cuts every second or two; a calm brand film might hold a shot for four or five. Divide, and round up for the shots you will add while boarding.
| Length | Fast cut (1.5 s) | Typical (2 to 3 s) | Slow (4 to 5 s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 seconds | 4 | 2 to 3 | 1 to 2 |
| 15 seconds | 10 | 5 to 8 | 3 to 4 |
| 30 seconds | 20 | 10 to 15 | 6 to 8 |
| 60 seconds | 40 | 20 to 30 | 12 to 15 |
| 90 seconds | 60 | 30 to 45 | 18 to 23 |
These are starting counts, not targets. If the script is a single take walking through a kitchen, the board is three frames showing where the move starts, turns and lands. If it is a product montage cut to a drum track, it is forty.
Client board or crew board?
A client board shows every shot. The client is approving the edit before it exists, so they need to read the whole film in order, at the ratio it will run at, with the voice-over or supers under each frame. A gap in the board is a gap they will fill with their own imagination, and you will meet that version on the day.
A crew board shows the hard shots. The camera team does not need a drawing of a medium close-up of someone talking. They need the product hero shot, anything with a rig, a stunt or an effect, and any frame where the composition is the point. On a crew board, ten frames that matter beat thirty that decorate.
On most commercials the client board comes first and the crew board is a subset of it, marked up with lens, movement and notes once the shot list exists.
What each frame needs
- The frame at the delivery ratio. 16:9 for most online and TV, 9:16 for Reels and TikTok, 4:5 for the feed. Board vertical from the start if it delivers vertical.
- A shot numberthat matches the shot list, so “frame 7” means the same thing to everyone in the room.
- The shot size and any movement, as an arrow in the frame and a word underneath: push in, pan left, handheld.
- The words that play over it. A client reads the voice-over line first and the drawing second.
You do not need to draw well. Stick figures with a clear eyeline, a horizon line and an arrow say everything a crew needs, and a still from another film or a phone photo of a colleague standing in position often says it faster than a sketch.
A board for Friday, day by day
If it is Monday and the client wants a shot by shot board for a 30 second spot on Friday:
- Monday: write the shot list. Go through the script line by line and note every cut, with a size and a rough duration. Add the durations up. If they do not come to 30 seconds, fix it now, on paper.
- Tuesday: references. Find a still or a quick phone photo for each shot. This is where the look gets decided, and it is much faster than drawing.
- Wednesday: draw or place the frames. One frame per shot, at the delivery ratio, numbered to the shot list.
- Thursday: words and an animatic. Put the voice-over and supers under each frame, then cut the frames to the track or a read of the script. It is the only way to see whether the spot fits its length.
- Friday: present in order. Walk the client through the pages and read the voice-over out loud. Collect changes against frame numbers, not descriptions.
The free storyboard template maker sets the ratio, the frames per page and the total count for the spot, and prints numbered A4 pages. The shot list template numbers the shots and adds up the running time, which is Monday done.
The mistake that costs the shoot
Boarding and listing in two places, then revising only one. The client approves frame 9 as a wide, the shot list still says close-up, and on the day nobody knows which one was signed off. Whatever tools you use, the board and the list have to describe the same numbered shots. Why they drift, and how to stop it.