The Difference Between an Animatic and a Storyboard

A storyboard is defined as 'a sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a film or television producton.' Here is an example of a storyboard:


The definition for an animatic is 'a preliminary version of a film, produced by shooting successive sections of a storyboard and adding a soundtrack.'

Click here for an example of an animatic.

The difference between the two planning techniques is that, while a storyboard is a collection of images displaying what the various shots will entail, an animatic of the same project would use the same images (whether drawn or photographed etc.) and create a slideshow with them including added sound/music. This enables you to determine how long each shot will last and the transitions you plan to have between each shot/scene.