The pipeline map; the treatment's five slots; shot-list audit habits; the style-frame bridge.
Motion design · graphic design · animation — 4 hours, drop-in friendly
Motion Design: Boards, Style Frames, Scripts, and Production Assistants
A complete preproduction chain — treatment → shot list → style-frame prompts → task list — and the judgment to know where AI helps motion work and where it wrecks it.
01This Week at a Glance
You will make: a 15-second motion treatment pack — one of three directions, fully developed.
Video generation, honestly: control, continuity, cost, rights.
Tide pools: treatment → shot list → AE task list → style frame prompt.
One Prompt, Three Treatments → your full pack → 90-second pitches.
Why this matters in real work
Motion design lives or dies in preproduction — and preproduction is exactly where AI is genuinely strong, because treatments, shot lists, and task lists are structured, checkable documents. Video generation is the least-ready part: studios use it for mood and previs, not finals. AI is your production assistant, not your animator.
02Key Concepts
1 · Where AI sits in the motion pipeline
| Stage | AI usefulness | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Brief / treatment | ★★★ | Options + structure; your taste picks |
| Script / VO draft | ★★★ | Drafts fast; your voice edits |
| Storyboard / shot list | ★★★ | Structured + checkable; timing maths needs you |
| Style frames | ★★ | Week 4 skills; previs-quality, not finals |
| Animation itself | ★ | Keyframes, easing, acting — the job stays yours |
| Video generation | ★ (previs/mood) | Continuity + control weak; credits cost money |
| Render / export / admin | ★★★ | Checklists, naming, specs — pure friction |
2 · The treatment: 120 words that decide everything
Five slots, every time: visual approach (territory language), pacing logic (how time behaves), type behaviour (type is a character — say how it acts), palette (named, limited), sound feeling (one line changes everything).
The edit-two-lines move
AI drafts the treatment; you rewrite the two lines that matter. After that it's yours — and you'll feel the difference.
3 · Shot lists: structured, checkable, slightly wrong
Shot #, duration, action, camera, type on screen, asset needed, transition out. AI builds these fast, with two reliable failures:
Watch out — the two failures
- Durations don't sum. You asked for 15 seconds; it produced 17 in a confident table. It does arithmetic-shaped output — you do arithmetic.
- Fantasy shots. It will specify the fluid sim you can't make by Friday. Killing those shots isn't failure — it's called producing.
4 · Style frames: the Week 4 bridge
Brief-shaped prompt, type zone reserved, kill round, repair. Generate the world; comp the type yourself — models still mangle letterforms, and type in motion is your craft.
5 · Video generation: the honest state (mid-2026)
- Good for: mood reels, pitch previs, abstract texture, image-to-video on your own style frames.
- Bad at: continuity across shots, precise art direction, type, anything approved frame-by-frame.
- Costly: credits burn fast; queues eat lab time.
- The evaluation pattern that outlives every tool: control · continuity · cost · rights. (Gen-4, Veo, Kling today; Sora's consumer app already died once.)
03This Week's Words
TreatmentThe 100–150 word sell: visual approach, pacing, type behaviour, palette, sound.
StoryboardSequential frames planning the piece. AI roughs them; timing and acting are yours.
Shot listThe production table of every shot. Prime AI territory — audited by you.
Style frameOne fully-resolved frame defining the look.
AnimaticBoards cut to time with scratch audio — the cheapest place to find timing problems.
Kinetic typeTypography as the performer. Models can't do it; you can.
PrevisCheap rough visualization for decisions before production.
Text-to-video / image-to-videoGenerated motion. Previs and mood, not finals.
ContinuityConsistency across shots — generative video's classic failure.
PacingHow time behaves. The motion designer's actual instrument.
04Demo: Tide Pools — Concept to Production Plan
I made this, so can you
A rough concept ("20-second title sequence for a documentary about tide pools") through four moves — every artifact checkable, every one edited by a human.
Prepared demo artifact
Instructor backup / finished example: shotlist.html. Use it if the live tool run fails, or to reveal the finished structure after critique.
- Treatment (120 words, five slots) — then two lines edited live. Taste, visibly applied.
- Shot list — 7–9 shots, durations must total exactly 20s, hardest shots flagged. The sum is wrong on the first try; watch the recount.
- AE task list — grouped by pre-comp, assets, animation, finishing — then the producer's edit: merge, cut, halve the fantasy hours.
- Style frame prompt for shot 3, type zone reserved — Week 4 skills aimed at motion.
What to notice
Every artifact is checkable; the human edit pass tightened all four; the chain reuses for any motion job — kinetic type, product spot, title sequence, gig-screen loop.
05Step-by-Step Workflows
The preproduction chain (any motion job)
- Brief (Week 2 skeleton): message, audience, duration, platform, constraints.
- Treatment ×3: three contrasting directions; pick one; rewrite its two most load-bearing lines yourself.
- Shot list: durations sum to spec (verify by hand), assets named, hardest shots flagged.
- Audit pass: kill fantasy shots; re-spec for your real toolkit and deadline.
- Style frames: 1–3 key moments, Week 4 discipline, type zones reserved.
- Task list: grouped, estimated — then re-estimated by you (halve its optimism).
- Document: the pack is your process evidence and your pitch artifact.
The 60-second timing audit
- Sum the durations column — by hand, not by trusting.
- First 2 seconds: does something earn attention?
- Breath: one hold ≥ 1.5s, or is it all churn?
- The out: does the last shot resolve, or just stop?
06Prompt Recipes
The treatment writerAct as a motion design director. Concept: [piece, duration, platform, audience]. Write a treatment in 120 words covering exactly: visual approach (use this territory: [your verified qualities]), pacing logic, type behaviour, palette, sound feeling. No shot list yet. Then list the 2 biggest risks in this direction.
The three-treatment expander (lab core)Take this one message: "[your message]". Give me THREE contrasting 15-second treatments: (1) kinetic typography — type is the only performer; (2) product/object spot — one hero object, real-world light; (3) abstract title sequence — texture and motion carry the feeling, type minimal. Each: 100 words, the five treatment slots, one risk. Don't pick a winner — that's my job.
The shot list builderBreak my chosen treatment into a shot list table: shot #, duration (must total EXACTLY [15] seconds), action, camera/movement, type on screen, asset needed (2D anim / footage / generated still / pure type), transition out. 5–8 shots. Flag the two hardest shots and say why. Then list every asset I must gather or make, as a checklist.
The AE task list generatorFrom this shot list, build my After Effects task checklist grouped by: project/pre-comp setup, assets to gather or make, animation tasks per shot, finishing (grade, sound placement, exports for [platforms]). Estimate hours per group honestly, then add 30% because you're an optimist.
The timing doctorHere is my shot list: [paste]. Audit it like a broadcast producer: do the durations sum to [15s]? Does the first 2 seconds earn attention? Where does the piece breathe? Does the ending resolve or just stop? Suggest the single highest-impact timing change.
The style frame promptWrite one image-generation prompt for the style frame of shot [N], strictly in this treatment's territory: [paste treatment]. Composition must reserve [zone] for typography. Medium/process words, palette named, no text in the image.
07Lab: One Prompt, Three Treatments (70 min)
Cold start friendly. No message of your own? Standing one: "Slow down — Dublin moves better when it breathes."
- Three treatments (15 min): run the expander; pick one + write two sentences on why — the pick rationale is assessed thinking.
- Edit the treatment (10 min): rewrite its two most load-bearing lines in your own words.
- Shot list (15 min): build it; run the timing audit by hand; kill/re-spec fantasy shots.
- Style frame (15 min): generate one frame (Week 4 discipline) or write the full frame brief + thumbnail sketch.
- Task list (10 min): generate, then producer's edit — cross out, merge, re-estimate.
- Pack it (5 min): treatment + shot list + frame + task list.
Zero-generation track
The entire pack except the style frame image is text. The frame becomes prompt + sketch — which is exactly what studios call a frame brief. Equal credit, professional document.
Pairs option
One "director" + one "producer" per pack works beautifully — swap roles at the shot list.
08Integrity Check
This week's four
- Which two treatment lines did you rewrite — are they actually yours now?
- Did you verify the timing maths yourself?
- Client pack: planning documents usually need only a process note; generated style frames need disclosure.
- Generated scratch music? Check the rights state first — it's contested. Never client deliverables.
09Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Treatments all feel like ads | Your message is a slogan. Give it a feeling + audience; ban advertising clichés explicitly |
| Durations don't sum | They won't. Recount yourself; tell it the correct total and which shots to trim |
| Shot list demands skills you don't have | Good catch — that's producing. "Replace shots needing [3D/sim] with achievable 2D alternatives" |
| Style frame ignores the type zone | Name the zone AND its purpose; regenerate or crop to create it |
| Hour estimates are fantasy | Always. "+30% because you're an optimist" helps; your own history helps more |
| Type animation ideas feel generic | Models suggest the same 6 type behaviours. Use them as the banned list; design the seventh |
10Resources
- ArticleLinkedAI Tools for Motion Design That Are Actually Helpful — School of MotionA working studio educator's sober take on what's real vs. noise — the same "friction, not finals" stance as this course.
- ArticleLinkedUsing Storyboards & Moodboards for Better Compositions — School of MotionBoards and frames as design thinking — the standard your AI-drafted boards must live up to.
- GuideLinkedHow to Storyboard for Motion Graphics — BoordsA clean step-by-step storyboard method; map each step to what you'd delegate vs. keep.
- DocsLinkedGen-4 Video Prompting Guide — Runway (official)For when you DO try video gen — note how much of it is camera language and shot discipline you already have.
- ResearchLinkedIntroducing Runway Gen-4 — Runway ResearchThe vendor's own best-case demos — examined in class with the rubric: what's controlled, what's lucky?
- VideoVerify before teachingRunway Academy / official tutorial playlistsOfficial walkthroughs change with each model version — grab the current one the week you teach.
- CourseVerify before teachingAI Motion — Motion Design SchoolA paid structured course for students who want to go deep afterwards; verify current state before recommending.
Optional extension
- Cut an animatic: style frame(s) + shot list timings in any editor, scratch VO from your phone. Watch where the timing lies to you.
- Run the expander on a real client-style brief (society event, friend's single launch); send the pack and note what they pick.
- Hard mode: storyboard your shot list entirely by hand in 12 thumbnails. Where did your drawing disagree with the plan — and which was right?
Next week: Animation and Story → — characters, continuity, and why the model sheet matters more with AI, not less.