A storyboard is useful when it keeps three decisions separate: what a shot should communicate, what its prompt should describe, and how it will connect in the edit. This worked coffee-pour plan shows all three, with actual text, JSON and Markdown exports from DreamForge’s Storyboard Builder.
We executed the same planning functions used by the website on November 6, 2026 with the published inputs. The result is a reproducible production sheet, not a rendered film. No camera footage, image analysis, video-model request or audio generation took place.
The brief and the sequence
The brief is: Show a simple coffee-pour ritual: prepare the cup, show the pour, and finish on a still close view.
This has a beginning, one visible action and an ending. The shared subject note specifies a plain cream cup, a dark wooden tabletop and the same glass coffee server. The shared style specifies natural cinematic photography with restrained color. We chose a 9:16 — portrait framing suggestion for the plan. No provider has been configured to that ratio.
| Shot | Purpose | Direction entered | Draft timing | Edit note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Orient the viewer | A hand moves the server beside the cup; static medium view. | 4 seconds | Cut to the pouring detail. |
| 02 | Show one readable action | A narrow coffee stream enters the cup; static close view. | 5 seconds | Cut after the server returns upright. |
| 03 | Resolve the sequence | Steam rises from the filled cup; slow approach. | 4 seconds | Hold the final frame before the edit ends. |
The draft timings add to 13 seconds before editing. This is an arithmetic planning total, not an observed video duration or a claim that a provider supports those exact lengths.
Recreate the shared brief
Open the free Storyboard Builder. Keep Universal and Text-to-video, choose 3 shots, and use these shared fields:
- What should the sequence communicate? Show a simple coffee-pour ritual: prepare the cup, show the pour, and finish on a still close view.
- Shared subject / character: A plain cream cup on a dark wooden tabletop, beside the same glass coffee server.
- Shared visual style: Natural cinematic photography with restrained color
- Framing suggestion: 9:16 — portrait
- Shared reference notes: Text-only plan. No image supplied or analyzed; prepare rights-cleared references in the provider if required.
Leave motion amount and pace at their per-shot defaults. Enter each shot’s description, action, camera, timing, purpose, preservation, ending and edit note from the complete input record. The IDs in that file identify the recorded run; the website creates its own working shot IDs. JSON is a reference sheet, not an import feature.
The camera fields in the storyboard accept written directions, so the static medium and close views below do not require a hidden preset. Exact reference assignments are blank in this run; we did not provide images.
The three actual prompt outputs
Shot 1: Set the table
A plain cream cup stands on a dark wooden tabletop beside a glass coffee server. A plain cream cup on a dark wooden tabletop, beside the same glass coffee server. A hand moves the server into position beside the cup. A static medium view shows the tabletop arrangement. Keep the cup's plain surface and the tabletop arrangement consistent. End with the server close to the cup and its spout above the rim. Natural cinematic photography with restrained color.Shot 2: Show the pour
A closer view frames the server spout and the cup. A plain cream cup on a dark wooden tabletop, beside the same glass coffee server. A hand tips the server and a narrow stream of coffee enters the cup. A static close view holds the spout, stream and cup rim inside the frame. Keep the cup's shape and rim visible. End as the server returns upright and the coffee stream stops. Natural cinematic photography with restrained color.Shot 3: Finish on the cup
A close view of the filled cream cup on the same tabletop. A plain cream cup on a dark wooden tabletop, beside the same glass coffee server. Thin steam rises gently above the coffee. A slow, steady dolly moves toward the subject. Keep the cup's shape and rim visible. Finish with the cup rim entirely visible. Natural cinematic photography with restrained color.The shared subject and style appear in the independent shot prompts because this is text-to-video planning. Repeating them makes each exported prompt usable on its own; it does not prove that separately rendered cups will match. In an image-to-video plan, the source image has a different role. Runway’s text and image guidance were checked on November 6, 2026 for that distinction.
Inspect what stayed outside the prompts
The generated planning record contains the sequence brief, each shot’s purpose, duration suggestion, and edit transition as separate fields. The execution checks confirmed that those purpose, duration and transition strings were not inserted into the paste-ready prompts. The two static camera views and the final approach remained explicit camera directions.
That separation matters in practice. “Cut to the pouring detail” is an instruction for the edit between clips. It should not silently become a request for the model to cut within the overview. Likewise, a five-second note is a target to check in a provider’s duration control, not a parameter configured by the paragraph.
The text run also exposes a planning gap: it contains no authorized image references. If you later choose an image-based workflow, prepare a suitable source for every view, assign it to the right shot, and revise any action that the reference cannot support. A blank reference field is useful information, not evidence that preparation is complete.
Take the actual production sheet with you
- TXT export: prompts, settings and checklists in a text editor.
- Markdown export: the native production-sheet layout, including editorial notes.
- JSON export: the native version-2 planning record, with three distinct shots.
- Complete worked-example bundle: this case plus the single-shot and camera-revision inputs and outputs.
The run verified three distinct shot entries, a readable prompt for every shot, and matching prompt text across the native TXT/Markdown exports. Parsing the exported JSON reproduced the same planning record. Repeating the same inputs returned the same outputs. These checks validate the planning files, not creative approval of a film.
After rendering, compare the cup’s outline, tabletop, server and light between shots. Inspect the pour from start to finish, then test the cut into the resting cup. Save the provider, model, supported settings and actual observations beside the sheet. Use the workflow checklist to review the finished export rather than treating a successfully written plan as a finished video.