How to Make an Animatic: From Boards to a Timed Cut
How to make an animatic is mostly an assembly job: take your storyboard stills, lay a scratch soundtrack first, and time each hold in an editor until the sequence plays like a rough cut. You are not finishing animation. You are testing whether the shots, in time, actually tell the scene.
Quick answer
- Time the audio first. Drop a scratch track on the timeline, then stretch each still to the real length of the shot.
- You can start from boards you already have, from a script, or from AI stills. The timing pass is the same job in each case.
- Keep the frames rough. Polish hides pacing problems and slows every revision.
- CinemaDrop can make the parts (script, consistent Elements, storyboard frames, optional short clips, scratch audio). It has no timeline and no compiled animatic export. Time the cut in an editor after a ZIP handoff on Basic and up.
What you're making (and what you're not)
An animatic is a timed storyboard with scratch sound, played back as video: numbered stills, and sometimes a few short motion clips, held for the length of each shot against temporary dialogue, music and effects. You watch the scene before you spend production time on it.
If you need the meaning of the term, the animatic vs storyboard distinction, how either differs from 3D previs, or how studios use story reels, start with our guide to what an animatic is. This page does not retell that ground. It is the hands-on timing pass that comes after you already know what you are trying to make.
One boundary is worth stating once: an animatic is not finished animation, and it is not a substitute for measured 3D blocking. Its job is pacing, story clarity and agreement. When a still cannot answer a spatial question, that is a flag for previs or a later motion test, not a reason to over-animate the cut.
What you need before you start
You do not need a finished film kit. You need a plan for the beats, numbered frames, a scratch track, and a timeline tool.
- A script, or at least a beat sheet and a shot list, so each still has a job.
- Numbered frames, kept loose: drawings, photographs, or generated stills. If you still need to build those panels, how to storyboard with AI covers that step. This guide starts when frames exist and the job becomes timing.
- Scratch dialogue, temp music and a few effects. A phone voice track is enough for a first pass.
- A timeline: CapCut, Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, or a storyboard app you already use that has an animatic mode.
Pick your starting point
The assembly order changes slightly depending on what you already have; the timing rules do not.
| You already have | Start here | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Drawn or photographed boards | Number the frames in shot order, record or drop a scratch track, and import the stills onto that audio. | Missing inserts and unreadable holds. Add only the frames the cut actually needs. |
| A script, but no boards yet | Mark the beats and a rough shot list first, then make stills for those shots only. | Overboarding. A dialogue scene often needs fewer frames than the script suggests. |
| AI stills, or a mix of stills and a few clips | Treat generated frames like any other boards: number them, keep them rough, and time them to audio in an editor. | Spending credits on motion before the still cut works. Animate only the shots where a hold cannot answer the question. |
How to make an animatic, step by step
This sequence is tool-agnostic. Use the same eight moves in a free editor or in a dedicated storyboard app: audio first, then holds, then a cold review.
Step 1: Lock a beat sheet
Write down what has to happen, in order, before you touch a timeline. A beat sheet can be a scene outline, a marked-up script, or a simple shot list with one line per shot. Note entrances, turns, jokes, reveals and any moment that must land on a sound. If a shot has no job, skip the frame.
Decide aspect ratio and broad framing now. For a refresher on sizes and moves, see types of camera shots, then come straight back to timing.
Step 2: Get frames, and keep them rough
Gather or generate one still per shot, plus a second frame only when a pose or camera position actually changes inside the shot. Number every file in story order (010, 020, 030) so you can insert a beat later without renaming the sequence.
Leave the stills unfinished on purpose. Clean line work makes people argue about taste instead of pace. A readable silhouette and a clear eye line are enough. If you are generating stills, pick one simple style and stay with it.
Step 3: Lay the scratch track first
Record or generate the temporary soundtrack, and put it on the timeline before the pictures. Perform the dialogue at a natural pace, even if you are the only one in the room. Flat, rushed line-reads shrink every hold.
Temp music and a couple of effects help only when they mark a beat, such as a door close or a walk that has to last a certain number of bars. Do not score the whole scene before you have a cut. Audio is the ruler; pictures are stretched to it.
Step 4: Import the numbered stills
Drop the frames onto the timeline in order. If your editor defaults every still to five seconds or to one frame, ignore that default. The pictures are placeholders on the track, not a finished rhythm. Keep stills, occasional motion clips, dialogue, effects and music on separate tracks, and label clips with the same numbers as the files.
Step 5: Stretch each hold to the real shot length
Play the scratch track and extend or shorten each still until it covers the action or line it is meant to cover. A walk may need several seconds; a reaction may need only a breath. A new location usually needs a beat longer than you first think, because the viewer has to read the frame.
Some storyboard apps start every panel at one second as a placeholder. Toon Boom Storyboard Pro’s getting-started guide describes that one-second default before you time the animatic. Treat any default as a starting length, not the shot’s real duration. Dialogue, movement and reading time set the length, not the software.
Step 6: Add only simple motion, and only where a still fails
Once the holds work, you can hint at movement: a slow push-in, a slight pan, or a cut between two stills inside the same shot. These are timing notes, not animation. Use a short motion clip only when a still cannot answer the question, generated at the lowest useful resolution, and only for the shots that need them. Most of an animatic should stay still.
Step 7: Watch it with someone who has not read the script
Export a review version and play it without pausing to explain. The most useful viewer is someone who does not already know the scene. If they cannot follow it, or they laugh a half-second early, the cut is telling you something the boards hid. Take notes in shot numbers: “070 is short,” “the reveal lands before the line.”
Step 8: Retiming, then version the export
Go back and move the holds. Cut on the line or the action where it helps, and leave air where a new frame needs to be understood. When the pass is stable, export a dated, numbered file (v01, v02) and keep the project.
Timing that actually works
Most first animatics fail in the same ways: holds are too short, pictures went down before the sound, or durations were locked because they looked tidy. Leave the cut open long enough to learn from it.
Hold length is about reading time, not a formula
There is no honest universal number of seconds per panel. A wide establishing frame and a single-word reaction do not deserve the same hold. Use a simple test: can a first-time viewer understand the new frame before the next cut arrives? If they cannot, the hold is short, even if the line has already finished.
Give the viewer a beat to read a new composition, especially after a location change or a jump in screen direction, then cut. Lingering because the drawing looks nice is the other mistake.
Cut on dialogue and action, not on even spacing
Evenly spaced stills feel mechanical. Let a line finish, or split it across two frames if the picture changes mid-thought. Cut on a movement when the movement is the point. If nothing in the sound or the action asks for a cut, you may have two frames that should be one hold.
Do not lock durations too early
Do not lock durations too early. A common trap is to set every clip to a neat two seconds and then write dialogue into those boxes. That is backwards. Leave the stills unlocked while you perform the lines and watch the first reviews. Duration is a conclusion you reach, not a grid you impose.
Perform the lines
Scratch dialogue should have intention, even if the recording is rough. A muttered, half-timed read will make every shot feel hurried. If a character pauses, record the pause. If a joke needs a dead beat, leave the silence in and hold the reaction frame across it.
Number and version everything
Shot numbers on the files, timeline clips and review notes should match. Export a new version rather than overwriting the file people already commented on. You cannot compare v03 with v01 if both are called final.
Tool paths: editors, storyboard apps, and AI panels
You can make a storyboard animatic in more than one kind of tool. What matters is that something on your desk has a real timeline, and that you are honest about which tool does which job.
Editors for the timing pass
CapCut, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve are the usual places to time stills against a scratch track. They all let you stretch holds, split a shot, drop a temp music bed and export a review movie. If you already edit in one of them, stay there.
Dedicated storyboard apps, if you already use them
Tools such as Toon Boom Storyboard Pro or Boords keep panels and a timeline in one place, which is convenient when your boards already live there. Use that path if it is already your workflow. You do not need to switch tools just to follow this guide.
Some AI previz products also play a board in-app as an animatic, with shot durations you can drag. ScreenWeaver is one example of that different, in-app approach. It is a competitor, not a model for CinemaDrop. If a tool already gives you playback inside the board, use it. If it does not, the editor path is the honest one.
AI panels, short clips, and the CinemaDrop handoff
AI is useful for the parts: a script, consistent character and location Elements, storyboard frames, optional image-to-video clips, and per-shot scratch speech or effects. In CinemaDrop, that path is Script Wizard or a pasted script, Elements you can @-tag in shot prompts, then frames in the storyboard. Video starts on Basic. If a shot needs motion, prefer Kling 4.0 (Basic and up, 3–30 seconds, down to 720p). Use Seedance 2.5 on Plus and up when you want a 480p draft clip. Image-to-video uses the shot image as the start frame. Lite has no video, and music generation is Plus and up.
CinemaDrop has no timeline, no animatic view and no compiled MP4. Export is a ZIP of storyboard assets, and that export is on Basic and up. You take the stills, any short clips and the scratch audio into CapCut, Premiere or Resolve and time the cut there. Lite can still help you draft a script, boards and text-to-speech, but it cannot export the ZIP or generate motion clips, so it is not the plan for this full path. Start frames in the storyboard builder, and turn a chosen still into a clip later with image-to-video if the still is not enough.
How to make an animatic for beginners
If you have never timed a board before, use the shortest path and stop when the scene is understandable.
- Collect or generate rough stills for one short scene only, not a whole film. Number them.
- Read the lines into your phone, once, at a natural pace. Import that take. Do not rerecord until you have watched the first cut.
- Open CapCut or DaVinci Resolve, lay the audio, and drop the stills on top. Stretch each hold to the line or action it covers.
- Play it once for yourself, then once for someone who has not read the script. Change only what they could not follow.
- Export version 01. Do not add camera moves, effects or new drawings until that pass makes sense.
Beginners usually stall by polishing frames, hunting for the perfect animatic maker, or generating a motion clip for every shot. Skip all three. A readable still, a performed scratch track and one honest review will teach you more than a prettier v01.
How to make an animatic: FAQ
How do you make an animatic, step by step?
Lock a beat sheet, get rough numbered frames, lay a scratch track first, import the stills, stretch each hold, add motion only where a still fails, watch the cut with someone who does not know the script, then retime and version the export. See the step-by-step section above.
How do you make an animatic for beginners?
Time one short scene. Use rough stills, a phone voice track and a free editor such as CapCut or DaVinci Resolve. Stretch the holds to the audio, do one cold review, and export v01 before you polish anything.
What comes first, storyboard or animatic?
The storyboard comes first. An animatic is those frames, or a close set of them, placed in time against scratch sound. You can add or drop frames while you time the cut, but you need a picture to hold before you can test the pace.
How long does it take to make an animatic?
It depends on the length of the sequence and how rough you allow the frames to stay. Once stills and a scratch track exist, a short scene can often be timed in a single sitting; a longer one takes more review passes. There is no honest universal hour count. See also the timing FAQ on what an animatic is.
What does an animatic editor do?
An animatic editor times the boards: placing stills and occasional temp clips against scratch dialogue, music and effects, adjusting holds, and cutting a review version. The job is pacing and clarity, not final picture or sound.
Can I make one if I can’t draw?
Yes. Use photographs, rough thumbnails, or AI storyboard stills, then time them in an editor. Readable frames and honest timing matter more than drawing skill.
Does CinemaDrop output an animatic file?
No. CinemaDrop does not have a timeline or a compiled MP4 animatic export. It can generate the parts; on Basic and up you export a ZIP of assets and assemble the timed cut in an editor.
What does “animatic” mean, and how is it different from a storyboard, animation, or previs?
Those comparisons are covered in What Is an Animatic? In short: a storyboard is still frames, an animatic is those frames in time with scratch sound, animation is the finished moving picture, and previs is usually rough 3D blocking. Use this page for the assembly steps, not the glossary.
Make the panels, then time the cut
Build the script, Elements and storyboard frames in CinemaDrop, export the ZIP on a Basic or higher plan, and time the animatic in your editor. If you still need the “what” or the worked AI example, read what an animatic is first. Video starts on Basic; Seedance 2.5 is on Plus; Lite cannot do this full path. Plan details are on pricing.
