A storyboard is the list of scenes for your video, each one tied to a stretch of the song. SongPilot can write it for you, or you can add scenes yourself. Either way, each scene later needs a clip before you can render.
Before you start
The storyboard needs a linked song. If you try without one you get Link a song first. It builds scenes from the song’s lyric structure and timing, so a song with no structure or length can fail: you may see Could not generate storyboard, or a Storyboard could not be created notification. If it fails while you’re on the page, the studio also shows “The storyboard didn’t finish”. Open the project tools menu (the three dots at the top right of the studio) and choose Edit song structure to fix the song without losing your place. See edit lyrics for a song.
Have the director write it
- Open the project. On Timeline, choose Generate storyboard. The button shows roughly what it costs.
- If your format is a shorter one and the song’s sections have times, you are asked “Which part of the song?” Pick a section and choose “Use this section”. Full music videos skip this step and use the whole song. If the sections have no times, the director works from the whole song, and the confirmation tells you so.
- If you weren’t asked about a section, confirm at Generate storyboard? with Spend credits. If you picked a section, “Use this section” shows the price and starts straight away.
You then see Your director is writing the storyboard with its stages: Reading the lyrics and writing the treatment, Setting the look, Planning every shot and Saving the storyboard. This can take a few minutes. You can leave the page; the storyboard keeps being written and appears when you return. You also get a Storyboard is ready notification.
The credit figure is an estimate. The charge is based on what the director actually used, once the scenes are saved. A storyboard that fails charges nothing, and retries don’t add charges.
The director also writes the style bible: one look, world and story for the whole video. On Full AI fill you are then asked about generating clips. Auto teaser goes straight on using the price you already agreed, and only asks if the clips come in well over it.
Add scenes by hand
This costs nothing.
- On Timeline, the coloured bars are your song’s sections. A section with no scene yet has a small add button, and using it adds a scene covering that section.
- Add (or Add Scene) opens a dialog with Start time, End time (minutes and seconds, such as 1:05) and Section Type. Scenes need to be at least one second long.
Read the board
Timeline shows the song’s sections and the scenes on top of them, with a legend for what’s ready. You can zoom in and out. “Watch cut” plays the clips you have in order over the song. It’s a rough preview; the render makes the real one.
How you edit a scene depends on the project’s path.
Auto teaser and Full AI fill
There are no tabs here. Selecting a scene opens its own page, where you can edit:
- Scene title
- What happens, the action, mood and focus of the shot
- Look & style
- Shot type and Location / setting
- Cast in this scene: Auto, Custom, or none for a B-roll scene with no one on camera. A clip can use the likeness of up to three members.
Fields save when you click away from them, and anything unsaved is saved before a clip generates. The three-dot menu, Scene tools, has a re-plan option that shows its rough price and has the director rewrite this one shot from its lyrics and the style bible, keeping its timing. It’s charged for what it actually uses. Back to storyboard returns to the board.
Guided phone MV
You get three tabs: Timeline, Scenes and Record. Selecting a scene opens it on Record, with its details in a side panel: frame, timing, camera setup, style notes and the recording instructions for whoever is on camera. Changes here wait for Save Changes.
The same panel has “Generate Frame”, which makes a still image for the scene. The button shows its price and it is charged once the image is stored; a failed one charges nothing.
Split or remove a scene
Merge: the merge icon on a scene card (Auto teaser and Full AI fill) or in the scene’s side panel (Guided phone MV) joins a scene with the next one. Takes from both stay. The next scene’s AI clip is dropped and this scene’s clip doesn’t stretch, so generate a new one. You can’t merge a title card, or a scene whose clip is still being made.
- Split: in Auto teaser and Full AI fill, a scene over 10 seconds shows an amber “Over 10s” chip that opens Split scene. In Guided phone MV, the scissors icon in the scene’s side panel does the same. Choose where the cut lands and choose Split here. Each side must be at least a second. Takes and clips stay on the first half, and the second half starts with no clip.
- Delete: the trash icon on a scene card, or Delete scene in Scene tools. You are warned that the scene and its takes are removed, and it can’t be undone. Other scenes don’t move, so deleting a scene in the middle leaves black for that stretch in the render unless you fill it. Clips from that scene stay in your asset library.
Add an intro title card
In the Scenes header’s three-dot menu, or in Scene tools, choose Add intro title card. It becomes scene 1 and opens for editing, with the song or project name filled in. It needs no clip. You can set it on black or turn on Use cover art, and it can last up to 15 seconds. A project has one title card.
Match scenes to the beat
Once there are scenes and a linked song, the song chip shows a tempo menu, labelled Tempo or with the BPM if it’s known. Detect BPM (or Re-detect BPM) estimates the tempo from the song’s audio, or from lyric timing if needed, and uses no credits. With Snap scenes ticked, it moves your scenes’ start and end times onto the beat. Set BPM manually accepts 20 to 400.
Set the look with the style bible
Style bible opens a page for the whole video. It saves as you go and costs nothing to edit:
- Look and World (primary), the lighting and the main location family
- Cast (members) and Wardrobe
- Through-line, Motifs and Story beats
Regenerating the storyboard refreshes all this. Turn on Lock look to keep your look and world when it does.
Regenerate, or go back
In the Scenes header’s three-dot menu, choose regenerate. Regenerate storyboard? tells you how many scenes will be replaced and what it costs. If you picked a section, the price was on that step instead. The current board is archived, with its takes and clips.
To go back, open the project tools menu and find Storyboard versions, or use the same Scenes menu. Pick a restore entry such as “Restore v2 · 12 scenes” and confirm at Restore storyboard? Your current board is archived in turn, so nothing is lost by trying one.
To reuse this structure on other songs, Save as Template in the same menu saves it. See save and manage templates.
What to do next
Fill your scenes with generated clips, recorded takes, or both.
