Film Directing 108: Thumbnails for the beginning director

LEVEL 100 blogs are for film students and first-time directors taking on the directing role for a short film. The series is designed to help and guide new filmmakers through the director’s prep duties, pre-production activities, and principle photography dynamics.

Thumbnails lead to better films

Thumbnails are an important part of the director’s visual planning process.

‘Thumbnail’ is the term for a simple storyboard frame. It’s a small, quick sketch that shouldn’t take longer than 10 or 15 seconds to create.

You should be able to comfortably fit a dozen thumbnails on a standard 8 ½ X 11 sheet of paper and still have room for notes that you may want to add about each frame.

Additional notes can help explain the action or remind you of details you can’t show in a thumbnail, such as ideas for lighting, pacing, or a lens you might like to try. (lens choices will be later).

Thumbnails illustrate the size of the shot and the character position in the frame. This helps the different departments understand the director's goal for the camera set-up.

Thumbnails can be particularly helpful for chase scenes or action scenes.

Thumbnails ARE NOT fine art. They are ideas.

In the industry, directors are well-advised to bring their thumbnails to a meeting with a storyboard artist – if the budget allows for one. Thumbnails improve creative discussions about what’s needed in a shot, and this usually results in a more efficient and productive session.

But for our purposes, as beginning directors, we’ll use them as the visual illustration of the shot list. They are the frames you intend to shoot. Storyboards will come later.

While creating thumbnails, the director may realize they need another shot. Or they have too many. That's all part of the director’s process. Adding shots, subtracting shots, refining shots, combining shots – it’s all part of the natural evolution of visual storytelling.

Sketching a thumbnail can happen at any time. When you read the script for the second or third time and see a description that gives you a strong visual idea – draw it.

Your initial inspirations are important. Keep track of them in your directing notes.

Doodles on a page, rough sketches, visual ideas, foreground and background thoughts – these are all important.

A well-written screenplay will generate plenty of ideas for images.

Thumbnails are an effective communication tool. If you have six hours on a set and you have four thumbnail frames, the production team can anticipate the work that needs to be done.

Getting the work done in the time allotted is referred to as ‘making the day’.

Producers want their filmmaking team to ‘make the day’. Falling behind and/or not completing work is a problem. And it can be a big problem if you’re not returning to the location.

In pre-production, the first assistant director works with the director to create the schedule and provide the timing for the day. Planning how long any shot will take is a calculated guess. Experience matters here.  

Thumbnails help to plan and create a schedule that will work.

There are digital sketching tools available, and they may prove helpful for a beginning director.

The suggestion here, however, which is tried and true over decades of filmmaking, is to work with a pen and paper to scribble out your ideas.

The purpose of schematics, shot lists, and thumbnails is to build as much of your film on paper as you can.

You’ll get better at drawing thumbnails. And you’ll make better films.

That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?