Even though storyboarding can be traced back to the Stone Age when pictures were drawn on cave walls, they first came into commercial use during the 1930s when Disney needed detailed drawings of stories before its animators started on costly productions. Movie directors use storyboards to define creative and technical details for use by the film crew. Film storyboards are detailed and show camera angles, costumes, positions of actors in shots in addition to sets and set designs. Hollywood studios and many independent film producers hire storyboard artists who will draw the sketches according to the director's specifications, but some directors, including Steven Spielberg, make their own.
Authors use storyboards to sequence complicated and intricate plots in their work. By making rough sketches of various planned storylines, they can then organize and rearrange elements and scenes, identify mistakes and remove them. Comic book writers who do not draw the pictures to their stories sometimes use storyboards to explain dialogues or plots to the artists.
Web designers use a type of storyboard where they note and sketch all essential parts of a website before going online. These notes and sketches include text, graphics, pictures and sound or movie files. By figuring out the branching and structure of the website, and determining what information will be presented beforehand, designers are able to work more efficiently. This process avoids unnecessary deletions and re-organization of the web pages later.
Teachers and educational therapists use some types of storyboards to help children understand sequencing, and to express or explain the progress of an event or a story. Some storybooks come ready made from publishers, asking children to place pictures in the right order to tell a story. On other occasions, a teacher might ask students to draw a storyboard following a class trip or after reading a story to them. The storyboards in education and therapy give indications whether children understood a story, or if there are cognitive problems.
Companies and businesses use simplified types of storyboards when preparing marketing strategies, planning re-organizations or presenting developments to customers, financiers or employees. These business storyboards are photos, drawings and diagrams that, when put in sequence, illustrate an incentive, proposal or the history of the company.