Storyboard and Animatic: How to Protect Your Budget

The storyboard and the animatic are two stages that protect your project's budget: in the first you see drawn boards of the main shots and review the narrative, and in the second you see the boards in a trial video with real timing and a rough sound and review the rhythm. Any change at these two stages costs a small part of what it costs after animation, which is why no serious animation begins before written approval of them. The worst thing an animation client can face is receiving a finished video they paid a lot for and discovering that the direction or the rhythm does not match their vision; asking for change then means an almost complete re-production. This guide is for whoever commissions animated work and wants to know what to review and when. For all the stages from idea to screen read [children's animation production basics](/en/blogs/learn-the-basics-of-childrens-animation-production-from-idea-to-screen), and for the script that precedes them [instructional scriptwriting](/en/blogs/instructional-scriptwriting).

### 📊 Storyboard and animatic: four points - 🖼️ **The storyboard:** Drawn boards of the main shots: camera angles, scene composition and sequence of events. - 🎬 **The animatic:** The boards in a trial video with real timing, a rough voiceover and temporary music. - 💰 **The benefit:** A change here costs a small part of what it costs after animation. - ✍️ **Written approval:** What is approved here protects both sides: you know what you will receive, and the studio starts animation with confidence.

What is the difference between the two stages? ----------------------------------------------

	The storyboard	The animatic
What it is	Successive still boards	The same boards in a video with timing and sound
The question it answers	Is the story clear and the sequence logical?	Is the rhythm right and the timing comfortable?
What you review	The narrative, camera angles, shot composition and whether each shot is needed	The length of scenes, the transitions and the match between sound and picture
Cost of change	Very small: changing a board	Small: reordering or trimming
What comes out of it	Approval of the narrative	Approval of the structure and the timing

Neither replaces the other: the boards may be clear and the rhythm tiring, and the timing may be good while the story is incomplete. And we learned that the foundation, like the animatic, is one of the most important stages because everything after it is built on it. Why does change become a disaster after animation? -------------------------------------------------- Once animation and colouring start, every element in the scene is tied to the others. Changing a camera angle, removing a shot or altering the rhythm of a scene means redoing hours or days of work. That is why serious studios do not begin animation before a written approval. And a client who skips these two stages to save time may pay the price twice over at the end of the project. How do you review the two stages? Five steps -------------------------------------------- 1. **Review the storyboard for the narrative first:** is the story clear? Is the sequence logical? Is each shot needed? These questions are settled on drawn paper, not on a finished video. 2. **Read shot by shot:** what does the viewer see here? What do they understand? Is there more than one idea in a single shot? 3. **Review the animatic for rhythm:** it reveals timing problems: a long dull scene, a fast confusing transition, a shot that needs an extra second. Fix them now. 4. **Listen to the rough sound:** on headphones and on a phone speaker, since rhythm is judged by the ear as well. 5. **Approve in writing:** once satisfied, sign an approval of the animatic that states what is locked. What is locked after the animatic is approved? ---------------------------------------------- - **The structure and order of the scenes:** so they are not rewritten without an estimate of the cost of rework. - **The overall timing:** the length of scenes and the transitions. - **What stays open:** small details such as colours, side details and the final touches, within the agreed number of revision rounds. - **How radical changes are requested:** their cost and effect on the schedule are estimated before execution, and written down. This is why the number of revision rounds at each stage is a written item in the contract; read [five questions for choosing an animation studio](/en/blogs/key-factors-choosing-animation-production-company) for the questions to ask, and [animation prices in Egypt](/en/blogs/motion-graphics-video-prices-2026-comprehensive-guide) to know what sets the price and what goes into it. What do you write in an animatic approval document? --------------------------------------------------- - The project name, the date of approval and the version of the animatic approved. - The name of your approver, and their role. - The total length and the approximate length of each scene. - A list of changes required before animation starts, if any. - What this approval locks and what stays open for review. - How the cost of any change to the structure after approval is estimated. This document is short but it protects you from the most frequent production disputes: “I thought that scene would be cut” or “I did not agree this order”. When the approval is written and specific, the discussion moves from memory to the document, and each side knows what it builds its next stage on. Common mistakes in reviewing the storyboard and animatic -------------------------------------------------------- - **Skipping the two stages to save time:** so you pay the difference many times over later. They are part of production, not an addition. - **Reviewing the animatic with the eye only:** since rhythm is judged by the ear too. - **Verbal approval:** so the two sides later differ on what was agreed. Write the approval. - **Asking to change the structure after approval:** without realising it is rework. - **Several approvers:** so contradictory notes arrive. Name one approver. - **Neglecting the rough sound:** which is half the experience of rhythm. Suppose a body commissioned a short introductory video. When the storyboard boards arrive it notices that two scenes say the same idea and asks for them to be merged. In the animatic it notices that the explanation scene is longer than a viewer will bear, so it is shortened. It then approves in writing, and animation begins on a stable structure. This is a hypothetical example to show the method, not something that happened. How do we work? --------------- Hawadet Studio is an early-stage Arabic animation studio. In all our work reviews pass through successive stages (the script first, then the storyboards, then the sound, then the final cut) under a flexible revision policy within a scope agreed in advance. Our path includes storyboards and then an animatic that settles the rhythm before hand-drawn animation. The biggest mistake that forced us to redo work was rushing the foundation steps to save time, so we advise you, with any studio, not to squeeze these two stages. Our work is on the [projects page](/en/projects). Frequently Asked Questions -------------------------- ### Are the storyboard and the animatic paid stages? Yes, they are part of production and among its most important stages, because they protect the rest of the budget. A studio that skips them to lower the price raises your risk. ### How many shots should the storyboard include? Every main shot in the video. Simple shots can be abbreviated, but any shot with camera movement or an important transformation should appear. ### Can the story be changed after the animatic? It can, but at a higher cost the further production has gone. That is why a serious review at the animatic is necessary.

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#### Hawadet Studio Team 2D & 3D Animation Production Studio The Hawadet team is an animation production studio, working in hand-drawn 2D and cinematic 3D, specialising in children's content, educational animation, and original IP development for broadcasters and streaming platforms. These articles explain the production pipeline, from concept to delivery.

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