Scenes, shots and frames explained

StoryTribe uses three words for the pieces of a storyboard, and other tools use the same words differently. Here is what each one means here, how they fit together, and where you'll see them.

Shots: the building block

A shot is the unit everything else is built from. Each shot has its own canvas (the picture), its own script text (the action, dialogue and captions that go with it) and its own properties (Shot size, Angle, Movement, Duration and any others you turn on). On the Storyboard a shot is one card; in the Table it is one row; in the Video editor it is one clip.

A new shot is blank and uses the project's canvas size. If you want a copy of an existing shot, use Duplicate from the shot's menu.

Scenes: how shots are grouped

Every shot belongs to exactly one scene, and scenes sit in order. A new project starts with Scene 1 holding all of its shots. Add scenes as your story needs them with Add scene on the Storyboard, or Add scene below from a scene's menu.

A scene has a title (Untitled scene until you name it) and an optional description. You can also add a section above a scene, such as ACT ONE, to group scenes into acts or chapters.

In the Script view, a scene's heading is its title row, and the shots sit underneath it. When you import a script, each scene heading (the INT. and EXT. lines) becomes a scene, and the text under it becomes shots.

Frames: the picture in a shot

A frame is the image on a shot's canvas: what you draw, place and generate. It is not a separate thing you create; every shot has one. You'll meet the word in the Table view, where the Frame column shows each shot's thumbnail; in the export layouts, which describe how frames sit on a page; and in the Video editor, where each shot's frame plays for its duration.

How numbering works

• With one scene, shots are numbered 1, 2, 3.
• With two or more scenes, each shot carries its scene number: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1.
• Scene numbering in Project settings has two modes. Automatic numbers scenes by their order. Manual keeps numbers you set, such as 46A, so they stay put when scenes move; the shots in that scene then read 46A.1, 46A.2. Importing a script switches the project to Manual.

Where you'll see them

• Story Bible: your story's world and cast, above the level of scenes.
• Script: scenes and their shots as a screenplay, in order.
• Storyboard: one card per shot under each scene's header; drag to reorder.
• Canvas: one shot at a time, with the Canvas tab in the side panel to jump between shots.
• Table (desktop only): one row per shot with its properties, under a banner row for each scene.
• Video: each shot as a clip with a duration, in storyboard order.

If you're coming from other tools

Comic and animation tools call the picture a panel; some storyboard apps call every unit a frame; screenwriting tools talk about beats. In StoryTribe the unit is the shot, and the picture inside it is the frame. There are no panels, and a shot is not a beat: a beat is a moment in the writing, while a shot is a camera setup you can draw, list and time.