How to Write Character Descriptions for AI Storyboards
How to write character descriptions for an AI storyboard: age, look, costume and one distinctive detail. Precise story elements give you the same character in every shot, from first image to last.
Chapters (6)
In this lesson you will learn
- How ScreenWeaver creates characters from character cues and places from scene headings
- How to spot and fix duplicate story elements
- Why you add objects yourself, and which ones deserve it
- How to write a camera-ready character description: age, look, costume, one detail
- How to describe a place so it looks the same in every shot
- Why these descriptions become the reference for every storyboard image
Your script is written, and ScreenWeaver has been reading it all along. In this lesson the characters who speak and the places in your scene headings become story elements, the bridge between writing and the storyboard. For The Night Ferry that means Elias and Maya, plus the jetty, the ferry cabin, the ferry deck and the island harbour.
You will check for duplicates, add the objects that matter, like the compass and the photo, and write the most important text after the script: camera-ready descriptions. A character description for an AI storyboard lists age, look, costume and one distinctive detail, never backstory or feelings, and places get the same treatment. In the storyboard, these descriptions become the reference for every image, so a precise one keeps the same Elias from the jetty to the harbour. Lesson 6.1 of a free screenwriting course.
Full transcript
0:04Your script is written, and Screenweaver has been reading it all along. Every character who speaks, and every place in a scene heading, has become a story element. These elements are the bridge between part one, the writing, and part two, the storyboard.
0:22Open the story elements in the sidebar. Under characters, Elias and Maya, created from your character cues. Under places, the jetty, the ferry cabin, the ferry deck, and the island harbour, created from the scene headings.
0:39Check for duplicates. If you see Maya and the girl, or the jetty and the dock, a name changed somewhere. Fix the name in the script, and remove the extra element.
0:52Objects are different. A script doesn't mark them, so you add them yourself. Click Add Object, and create the compass. Once it exists, Screenweaver suggests it as you type it in an action line, so it keeps one name from the first page to the last. Add only the objects that matter to the story. In the Night Ferry, the compass, and the photo.
1:17Then the descriptions, the most important text you'll write after the script. Each element has one, and it's reused every time the element appears in a shot. Write it for the camera. Elias. Man. Sixty. White beard. Grey fisherman's sweater. Weathered hands. A brass compass on a cord. Age. Look. Costume. One distinctive detail. Not his backstory. Not his feelings.
1:45The places get the same treatment. The ferry cabin. A tiny wooden wheelhouse. Brass instruments. A thermos. A faded photo turned face down. Rain on the windows.
1:59Why so much care? Because in the storyboard, these descriptions become the reference for every image of a character or a place. A vague description gives you a different Elias in every shot. A precise one gives you the same man, from the jetty to the harbour. The work you do here saves hours later.
2:19Your exercise. Check that every character and place exists once. Add your key objects, and write a camera -ready description for each. Next, the ten mistakes beginners make, and how to fix them. Add your key objects, and how to fix them.