Storyboard.
A storyboard is your film drawn before anyone shoots it: one frame per shot, with where the camera stands, how long the shot holds, what happens and what we hear. Below, a real one: six frames Nutcracker drew for a 15-second spot, and the film they became.
Draw it once the script is locked, before you brief a director or pay for a shoot.
The toast.
A best man gives a wedding toast while the reception comes apart behind him, and his face does not move.
Straight Face · 15 seconds · 6 shots
13 s
A, chest height, medium: the best man stands frame-left in profile facing frame-right, index card in his left hand, the Straight Face can on the lectern in front of him with its label turned toward the camera. Behind him, deep focus, the uncle in a cream suit slides across the dance floor on his knees, arms out, guests cheering at the tables. His face stays level, eyes on the card.
Best manDave. Twenty years. I have never seen you happier.
22.5 s
B, shoulder height behind him, wide: his shoulder and the back of his head fill frame-left; across the room a groomsman in a navy suit is carried flat over raised hands, glass still in hand; the uncle is still on his knees; the bride laughs at a table on frame-right; the cake stand is far right. He does not turn.
Best manPriya. You are the best thing that ever happened to him.
32.5 s
A pushed in, medium close: his profile fills frame-left, eyes on the card, the can at the lower edge. Behind him, soft but readable, Dave stands on a chair with a tablecloth tied at his neck like a cape and spreads his arms. The best man turns the card over with his thumb.
Best manMarriage is a partnership.
42.5 s
A, wide, locked off: he stands frame-left, unmoved, the card at chest height. Frame-right, Dave in his cape leaps from the chair toward the cake stand in the far corner; the three-tier cake tips and drops on him. White cake bursts across the frame. His eyes stay on the card.
SFXA dance track cuts out. A wet crash. A few laughs.
52.5 s
C, close: his profile fills frame-left, eyes on the card. He lifts the Straight Face can to his lips with his right hand and takes one sip. Behind him, out of focus, a white-covered figure raises two thumbs. His brows do not move.
Best manTo Dave.
62 s
D, low, locked off: the Straight Face can stands on the lectern, its flat mouth to us. The ballroom behind it is soft: cake on the floor, a guest on a chair, the uncle still kneeling.
SuperSTRAIGHT FACE 0.0. Zero alcohol. Zero reaction.
Sample brand, made with Nutcracker
The board, filmed.
«Here’s the can, it’s a 0% beer. Write a funny 15‑second ad for the Super Bowl, make a storyboard and render a production-ready film using Seedance 2 Fast.»
That was the whole brief, sent with a photo of the can. The script, the storyboard and the film came back in the same Brainstorm. Two short replies and a switch to Seedance 2.5 fixed what we didn’t like.
The film keeps the board’s six shots at the board’s own seconds. It had three references: the best man and the room, drawn as sheets first, and the photo of the can, so every shot shows the same ones.
The toast · Sample brand, made with Nutcracker
What goes in a panel.
Five boxes per shot. Here is shot 4 of The toast, box by box.
- Frame
- One instant of the shot, mid-action, with one idea filling it.
- Seconds
- How long the shot holds. The shots add up to the spot: here, 15 seconds.
- 2.5 seconds
- Camera
- Its letter on the room plan, how high it stands, how close it is, and whether it moves.
- A, wide, locked off
- Action
- Who is where in frame, what we see of them, and what they do. Left and right are always the frame’s.
- he stands frame-left, unmoved, the card at chest height. Frame-right, Dave in his cape leaps from the chair toward the cake stand in the far corner; the three-tier cake tips and drops on him. White cake bursts across the frame. His eyes stay on the card.
- Sound
- Every line by kind: dialogue with who says it, voiceover, sound effects, the super.
- A dance track cuts out. A wet crash. A few laughs.
One room, four cameras.
Why most AI storyboards fall apart: an image model draws every frame alone. It turns faces to the lens, swaps left and right, and moves the door between shots.
So before any frame, Nutcracker directs the film in words and plans the room: what stands where, the line the camera never crosses, and a letter for each camera spot. Every frame is written from that plan.
The director’s rule
«The rule: every gag happens in the same frame as his unmoving face. We never cut to a reaction of his, because he has none.»
The viewer stands at the edge of the dance floor, a guest who can see everything he refuses to see.
The room
The axis is his eyeline running south. Every camera stays west of the lectern or directly behind him.
- A
- west of the riser, chest height, facing east. He stands frame-left, in profile, facing frame-right. The lectern and can are in front of him, the dance floor and tables run frame-right, and the cake stand is far frame-right in the background.
- B
- directly behind him on the riser, shoulder height, facing south. His right shoulder and the back of his head fill frame-left. The dance floor is the centre, tables left and right, and the cake stand is far right.
- C
- A pushed in close, same side. His profile fills frame-left, the can and card are at the lower frame edge, and the room is soft frame-right.
- D
- west of the lectern, low, facing east. The can in the lower centre, its face to the room, and the ballroom soft behind it.
Mute it.
Hide every line. The frames alone should tell the story, from the first shot to the payoff.
Three more before you show anyone
Same room
The door, the tables and the cake stay where the plan put them, in every frame.
Follow the cut
Whoever leaves frame-right comes in from frame-left. Eyelines meet. Props stay in the same hand.
Draw the face
No frame can draw “nervous”. It can draw lips pressed thin and eyes on the card.
Cross these out.
Camera
Dynamic drone shot over the party.A camera move needs a job in the beat. The toast’s camera stays at the side of the riser, so every gag lands in the same frame as his face.
Action
He looks left, nervous.Whose left? Write frame-left. And draw what the face does, not the feeling: eyes on the card, mouth level.
Frame
Wide shot of the reception.A frame is one instant, mid-action: the uncle mid-slide, the cake mid-fall. One idea a frame.
Look
Cinematic, premium, moody lighting.Adjectives decide nothing. The toast is lit bright and even, in deep focus, because the gag must be seen.
Sound
Upbeat music throughout.The room we hear is the room we see. His voice stays close and level, with no music under it.
Make your film.
Send one sentence and a photo of your product. Nutcracker writes the script, draws the board and renders the film, in one chat. 7 days free, no card.
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