Tutorials4 min read
What Is an Animatic? Definition and Examples
An animatic is your storyboard timed to sound: the cheapest way to feel a film's pacing before final renders. What it is, how it differs from a storyboard and a previs, and how to build one with AI.
An animatic is the bridge between a storyboard and a finished film: your storyboard panels placed on a timeline and timed to sound. It's the cheapest, fastest way to find out whether your film actually works, before you spend time and tokens on final shots.
Animation studios have used animatics for decades. In AI production they matter even more, because generating final video is the expensive step, and an animatic tells you which shots you actually need before you generate them.
Why animatics matter
A storyboard shows you the shots. An animatic shows you the film: its rhythm, where it drags, where a beat lands. Problems that are invisible in static panels become obvious the moment you watch them play in time with sound. Catching a pacing issue at the animatic stage costs minutes; catching it after final renders costs a re-shoot.
An animatic answers questions a storyboard can't:
- Is this scene too long for what it says?
- Does the joke land, or is the pause too short?
- Do we need an extra reaction shot here, or a cutaway there?
- Does the music cue hit the right moment?
Storyboard vs animatic vs previs
| Storyboard | Animatic | Previs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Still panels, in order | Panels on a timeline, timed to sound | Rough moving shots |
| Answers | What is in each shot? | Does the sequence play? | How does the camera move? |
| Cost to change | Seconds | Minutes | Hours |
With AI video the boundary between animatic and previs blurs: you can swap a still panel for a quick, cheap video draft and keep everything else on the timeline.
What goes into an animatic
- Panels or shots on a video track, each held for its intended duration.
- Voiceover so dialogue timing is real.
- Music to set the emotional tempo.
- Sound effects to mark beats and transitions.
Together these turn a sequence of pictures into something you can feel. Temporary audio is fine; you are judging timing, not mix quality.
How to build an animatic with AI, step by step
- Start from your storyboard. Each panel becomes a clip on the timeline. (Need a storyboard first? See our AI storyboarding guide.)
- Set durations. Hold each shot for as long as the beat needs: short for action, longer for emotion.
- Add a temp voice. Generate voiceover with an AI voice tool and place it on its own track. (More in AI voiceover and sound design.)
- Layer music and SFX on separate tracks and sync them to the cut.
- Watch it full screen and revise. Re-time, re-order and trim until the flow feels right. Watch it once with fresh eyes the next day.
- Upgrade panels selectively. Where a shot's timing depends on motion (a fall, a run, a reveal), drop in a quick video draft so the timing is real.
For a worked example with real panels, a timing table and review notes, see how to make an animatic, step by step.
From animatic to final
Once the animatic feels right, you have effectively locked your edit. Now you generate or upgrade each shot to final quality, replacing the storyboard panels one by one. Because timing is already solved, this stage is pure execution, and you only generate the shots that survived the cut. That is where an animatic pays for itself.
How to do it in Cinemagiq
- Open your storyboard's timeline. In Cinemagiq the storyboard timeline is the animatic, with four tracks: Video, Voiceover, Music and SFX.
- Generate the audio you need. The Generation Studio's Audio tab makes ElevenLabs voiceover (eight premade voices, up to 5,000 characters per take), sound effects (0.5 to 22 seconds) and music (30 to 120 seconds). Steve, the built-in AI assistant, can also generate audio and place it on the storyboard timeline for you.
- Add audio per sequence. Sequence audio is placed with its start times worked out for you, so the sound follows the cut.
- Try alternatives safely. Use Save As to clone the animatic before a big re-time, and play it back in the full-screen player.
- Review shots in time. On the Production Board, Compare in Timeline plays one or more shots side by side and lets you set their review status while they play.
For a cut with trims and transitions, the Video Editor gives you a video track with trim, volume and Cut, Fade or Dissolve transitions, plus voice and music tracks.
The animatic is where a film stops being a plan and starts being a film. For the full pipeline, see our complete AI filmmaking guide.
Storyboard, time and assemble your animatic in one workspace with Cinemagiq.
Frequently asked questions
What is an animatic?
An animatic is a storyboard placed on a timeline and timed to voiceover, music and sound effects. It lets you experience the pacing and flow of a film before committing to final, expensive renders.
What's the difference between a storyboard and an animatic?
A storyboard is the still panels that plan each shot. An animatic adds time and sound: the panels are sequenced and synced to audio so you can feel timing, rhythm and emotional beats.
What is the difference between an animatic and previs?
An animatic is built from storyboard panels, usually still or lightly moving. Previs (previsualisation) is a rough moving version of the shots, often in 3D, used to plan camera moves and staging. With AI video, the line blurs: you can drop quick, cheap video drafts into the animatic in place of panels.
How long does it take to make an animatic?
Usually hours, not days, once the storyboard exists: place the panels, add temp voiceover and music, and adjust the timing. Most of the time goes into re-timing, which is exactly the point.
Do I need final audio for an animatic?
No. Temporary voiceover and a placeholder music track are enough to judge pacing. AI voice generation makes good temp tracks fast, and you can replace them with final recordings later.