Animatic
Also known as story reel · Leica reel
A storyboard edited into a rough video, with each panel timed and laid over scratch dialogue, music and sound, so a team can watch a sequence before animating or shooting it.
In practice
An animatic is a storyboard turned into a rough video. The panels are edited in sequence, each held for the time its moment will take on screen, and laid over a scratch track of temporary dialogue, music and sound effects. Some animatics add simple camera moves or a few extra drawings, but the goal is not polish: it is to watch a sequence before anyone spends money making it.
Animation studios have used them for decades, under names like story reel and Leica reel. Live-action productions use them too, for action scenes, visual effects and commercials, where an animatic can sell an idea to a client or show a stunt team exactly how long a moment lasts.
For a writer, an animatic is the first time a script is measured in seconds instead of pages. A scene that reads well can drag when it is timed, and a joke can need a longer pause than the page suggests. Story artists and editors send changes back to the script from this stage, which is why animated films are rewritten far into production.
A scene, and how its animatic times it
EXT. ROOFTOP - NIGHT
PIA (12) backs up to the far edge, eyes on the gap to the next building.
She runs. Jumps.
Silence. Her sneaker hits the far ledge, half on, half off.
PIA
(to herself)
Totally meant that.
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On the page this takes a few seconds to read. In an animatic, the board artist holds the backing-up panel, cuts fast through the run and gives the silence a full beat before the sneaker lands. Watching it, the team can feel whether the pause is long enough for the joke, and whether the jump needs another panel.
How an animatic is made
Draw or gather the storyboard panels, one for each shot or key moment of the sequence.
Record a scratch track: temporary dialogue read by the crew or the writers, placeholder music and rough sound effects.
Bring the panels into an editing program and lay them over the track, setting each panel's duration to the moment it represents.
Add only the motion that matters, such as a pan across a wide panel, a zoom or a few extra drawings for a key action. Then watch it, note what drags or rushes, and revise.
Animatic vs. storyboard and previs
A storyboard is a set of still panels with no timing; it shows what each shot contains. An animatic adds time and sound, so it shows how long each shot lasts and how the sequence feels.
Previs, short for previsualization, goes further: rough 3D animation of a sequence with virtual cameras, used to plan complex action and visual effects. Many productions move from storyboard to animatic to previs as a sequence grows more expensive.
What an animatic means for the script
Expect timing notes. When a story team times a sequence, they often find dialogue to trim and silences to add. Write action lines that name each beat clearly, so the artists know which moment matters.
Listen to the scratch read. Hearing dialogue against pictures is a fast way to find lines that are too long for their moment. In Plot, keep the longer version of a scene as a separate take before you cut it for timing, so you can compare the two side by side if the cut goes too far.
Animated scripts keep changing. The animatic is where many story problems are first seen, so animated films revise through boards and reels long after a live-action script would be locked.
Common questions
What is an animatic?
An animatic is a storyboard edited into a rough video, with each panel timed and set to temporary dialogue, music and sound, so a team can watch a sequence before making it.
What is the difference between an animatic and a storyboard?
A storyboard is a set of still panels without timing. An animatic edits those panels into a video with timing and sound, so the sequence can be watched.
Why is it called a Leica reel?
Early animation studios filmed their storyboard drawings with Leica cameras to make these reels, and the name stuck as another word for an animatic.
Do live-action films use animatics?
Yes, especially for action scenes, visual effects and commercials, where timing a sequence before shooting saves time and money on set.