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Generate storyboard frames with AI

You can have AI draw a storyboard frame for any board. FilmKit builds the request from your description and what it already knows — the linked shot's framing, the linked action and dialogue, the characters in the beat, and the location — then shows you four options to choose from.

Generating frames uses AI credits. To generate a frame, the board must already exist. See Draw storyboards.

Describe the frame

  1. In a project, click Storyboards in the sidebar, then click a board in the filmstrip.
  2. At the top of the side panel, click Image generator.
  3. In Visual description, describe what the frame should show, in your own words.
    If you leave it empty, FilmKit uses the board's Action caption. The empty field shows that action text as its placeholder. To start from the action text and edit it, click Use action.
  4. To have AI write the description for you, click Write it for me.
    A suggestion appears under Review suggestion. Edit it if you like, then click Use suggestion, or click Discard suggestion. Nothing changes on the board until you use the suggestion. If someone else changes the description in the meantime, discard the suggestion and ask for a new one.

Framing, characters, and location are added automatically, so the description only needs to say what happens in the frame.

Generate and choose a frame

  1. Below Visual description, click Generate options.
    FilmKit draws four options and adds them under Results, newest first. Drawing happens on FilmKit's servers, so you can close the window or switch boards while it runs.
    While a board's options are being drawn, everyone who opens that board sees who started it, and Generate options is unavailable until it finishes. A board generates one set at a time. If it fails, the reason shows under the button for everyone on the board.
  2. Click an option to use it. The frame is added to the board as its background image and marked In use.

Every option you generate stays under Results for that board, even after you close the project or switch boards. To switch to another option later, click it. Older sets are behind Show older.

Check the frame prompt

Below Results, click Frame prompt to see what FilmKit sends, in parts:

  • Style: The generation style chosen for the board.
  • Framing: The size and angle of the linked shot.
  • Subject: Your visual description, or the action caption.
  • Action: The board's action caption, when you also wrote a visual description.
  • Dialogue: Who is speaking in the linked dialogue and how, for example whispering. The spoken words aren't sent, so the frame doesn't show speech bubbles. Voice-over and off-screen speakers are left out.
  • Characters: The characters the action, description, or dialogue names, described from their character bibles. If none is named, all characters in the scene.
  • Location: The place in the scene heading.

The final prompt is put together on the server, so the preview can look shorter than what's sent — for example, if you can't open the screenplay. If no character in the scene has a look reference turned on, a No reference badge appears, and the characters' look comes from their character bible text alone.

To improve the framing, link the board to a shot that has a size and angle. To improve how characters look, turn on look references for them. See Plan shots and Collect look references.

Use a generation style

A generation style is a reusable visual treatment, such as a pencil sketch or a graphic novel look. Boards use the FilmKit storyboard style until you choose another.

Do any of the following:

  • Choose a style for the board: On the Image generator tab, choose a style from the Generation style menu.
  • Create a style: Click next to Generation style, click New style, enter a Style name and a Prompt fragment that describes the look, then click Save.
  • Edit, duplicate, reorder, or delete a style: Click next to Generation style, then use the buttons next to the style. A deleted style moves to the project's Trash, and boards that used it go back to the FilmKit storyboard style. When you restore a style, it's selected again only for the board you're working on. See Restore deleted items from the Trash.

Styles are shared by every board in the project.

Check your AI credits

AI credits come from your space's allowance for the current period. The Image generator tab shows how many remain, below Visual description. To see what an action costs, hold the pointer over its button:

  • Generate options uses a fixed number of credits for the set of four options.
  • Write it for me reserves about one credit up front; the final amount depends on the length of the text.

If you don't have enough credits for an action, FilmKit tells you how many it needs and how many remain.

See also