A storyboard allows you to translate your vision on to paper and to your crew. It should be clear enough that if you weren't available on the day of shooting, any cinematographer could take the storyboard and shoot it and edit it precisely.
Important: remember to number each scene and shot! You will get confused on the day of shooting otherwise.
When it comes to showing motion on a storyboard, there are multiple ways. You can either draw arrows and then simply follow them. You can draw motion lines, which more subtly show the direction in which the camera would move. The final way is drawing multiple frames, this way works just the same as the others but is more time consuming, it does however show detail more clearly.
When storyboarding you should treat it like it's animated, that way you will draw everything. The tendancy when storyboarding film is to skip out small details and just draw the main events. This won't be helpful on shooting day.
In the pre-production stage, it enables the director and DOP to see the flow of shots and the movement of the camera and actors. It is better to have too many shots in the initial storyboard, and then cut it down from there. This will enable you to see if you have any major gaps or shots that don't make sense.
The size you draw your storyboard can vary depending on what you are shooting. If you know that your film is going to be shot in wide screen, then draw the board accordingly.
Make sure you draw the actors in frame and have a constant background (although a free-hand drawing won't be exactly the same everytime - that's okay. As long as it is continuous.) If the frame is constricting your background, come out of the lines slightly. That way you can loosen and de-clutter your image.
In the post-production stage, it helps with the editing as it allows the editing team see the order of shots and the transition needed at the end or beginning or particular shots.
Finally, you don't have to be a top artist in order to storyboard. As long as it gets across the order and flow of the film, it's great. Even Steven Spielberg drew stick men!
Very good blog entry - understands the process of storyboarding well. I like the way in which you have introduced the importance of the storyboarding process in relation to your pop music video. You have identified and explained well the need to visualize the concept and narrative/performance of your band/artist. Storyboarding needs to be completed!
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