AI Storyboarding &
Promo Videos for Writers

Writers already think like directors: you build tension, stage reveals, and control what the audience "sees" in their mind. Storyboarding turns that invisible movie into a shareable visual plan — sequential panels that map what the "camera" will see, helping you plan composition, pacing, and key story beats before committing to expensive production.

This workflow gives writers three concrete advantages:

Before you touch any AI tool, plan each shot on paper (or in a doc). The template below plugs directly into Google Vids "Generate video," Google Vids "Ingredients to Video," or Google Flow "Ingredients." Copy it into any doc — Notion, Word, Google Docs, whatever you use to write.

Two tools are your primary image generation options. Both are excellent — they have different strengths, and using both gives you more creative flexibility.

Tool A · ChatGPT Images (ChatGPT ImageGen)

ChatGPT's image generation lets you generate images by asking for them in chat, or via View all tools → Create image. You can upload existing images and request edits, including a Select tool for targeted edits to a specific region. Per OpenAI's documentation, the tool excels at detailed prompt following, rendering text, and iterative multi-turn refinement — including transforming uploaded images or using them as visual inspiration.

Example storyboard stills — The Vanishing Point

These five stills were generated with ChatGPT Images as part of the Vanishing Point ingredient library. Each one solves a different continuity problem: some lock in key scene mood and setting, while others establish character or prop references that repeat across clips. Together they give every generated clip the same visual world.

Storyboard still 1 · The Vanishing Point. A scene mood/setting reference — generates a consistent visual anchor for location and lighting across clips.

Storyboard still 2 · The Vanishing Point. A character/prop reference — keeps the same subject visually consistent from panel to panel and clip to clip.

Storyboard still 3 · The Vanishing Point. An additional cinematic panel to expand the sequence and test visual continuity across more beats.

Storyboard still 4 · The Vanishing Point. A companion panel for pacing and composition variation while keeping the same visual language.

Storyboard still 5 · The Vanishing Point. A final storyboard still to round out the example arc and reinforce shot-to-shot consistency.

Character profile prompt — paste into ChatGPT

Create a CHARACTER SHEET on a clean neutral background.
Character: [Name], [age], [gender presentation], [build], [skin tone], [hair], [distinct feature].
Wardrobe: [main outfit] + [one accessory that signals personality].
World/genre: [your genre], grounded and believable.
Style: [watercolor storybook / cinematic concept art / graphic novel inks / etc.]

Layout:
1) Full body: front view
2) Full body: side view
3) Full body: back view
4) Head/shoulders: 4 expressions (calm, determined, afraid, exhausted)

Keep the character design identical across all views. No extra text.

Location / establishing shot prompt — paste into ChatGPT

Create an ESTABLISHING SHOT storyboard still.
Location: [place], [time period], [season], [weather].
Mood: [lonely / magical / tense / cozy].
Camera: wide shot, eye-level, cinematic composition.
Lighting: [golden hour / moonlit / overcast blue hour].
Include 3–5 key environment details that matter to the story (props/signage/terrain).
Style: consistent with my character sheet style. No text.

Tool B · Nano Banana (Gemini's image generation)

Nano Banana is Gemini's native image generation capability. Per Google's Gemini API documentation, Nano Banana offers multiple model variants including Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro, and all generated images include a SynthID watermark. For writers (non-developers), access it through the Gemini app: select "Create images" from the tools menu, then choose the model — "Fast" for Nano Banana, "Thinking" for Nano Banana Pro.

Google's February 2026 Nano Banana 2 announcement emphasized capabilities especially relevant to writers storyboarding narratives: subject consistency, precise instruction following, and production-ready specs across aspect ratios and resolutions. Subject consistency is the whole game — if you want a character to look like the same person across multiple storyboard panels, this is what you need.

This is where your storyboard becomes a production plan: every storyboard panel becomes one short generated clip, then you stitch them into a promo video. Google Vids runs at vids.new in your browser — no install required.

Per Google's official "Use AI to generate video clips in Google Vids" help page, generated clips are 8 seconds long, 720p, 24fps, in landscape (16:9) or portrait (9:16). Daily limit: up to 10 generated videos per day, resetting at 12 AM PT.

Three ways to generate clips in Google Vids

Importing clips from other AI video tools — including Seedance

If another generator gives you a better shot, export it and import it into Vids for assembly. Google Vids supports adding video clips via the Upload side panel from Drive/Photos and supports common formats including MP4.

Seedance 1.0 (ByteDance) supports multi-shot video generation from text and image, producing 1080p videos. Seedance 2.0 expands to multimodal inputs (text/image/audio/video references) and "director-level control." The practical workflow: create fancier or longer footage in Seedance, then import into Google Vids as the downstream editor and assembler.

If you want a more storyboard-native experience, Google Flow was built for exactly the storyboard-to-scenes workflow — and it treats "ingredients" as a first-class concept. Access it at labs.google.

Per Google Flow's official "Create videos in Flow" guide, you can generate from:

Step-by-step in Google Flow

A promo video becomes a trailer when it has a musical identity, intentional sound design, and (optionally) narration. Here are the tools and the rights conversation you must have with your students.

Music with Suno

Per Suno's official guide, you create songs by describing the genre, mood, and lyrics (or no lyrics) using Simple mode, or Custom mode for more control. You can use your own lyrics via Custom mode.

Voiceover & sound effects with ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs provides three workflows relevant to writers building trailers, per their official product guides:

Adding audio into Google Vids

Per Google Vids' "Add audio" help page: add audio from Drive or upload from your computer via Insert → Uploads. Supported formats include MP3 and WAV. Per-video cap: up to 50 audio objects (music/SFX/voiceovers combined), subject to change. More than enough for a trailer — but worth knowing as a constraint before you build an overly complex session.

Every tool in this workflow touches copyright. The U.S. Copyright Office's official guidance applies to all AI-generated images, audio, and video you create.