Speak Cinema: The Storyboard Card Game

Speak Cinema. Now in your hands.

Every shot you’ve ever loved was a decision. Where to look. How close to get. What to make you feel. It was made on paper first.

That’s storyboarding. And it’s a language you can learn.

Speak Cinema: The Storyboard Game is 130 colour-coded cards that teach the visual language of cinema. Play it as a game, use it as a cheat sheet, teach it as a course. It has been classroom-tested in the best film and animation schools in the world and was built from the series 70,000+ people followed.

What’s inside

• Camera (30 cards): shot sizes, framing, placement, angles. The same cards as the Speak Cinema series.

• Cinematography & Edit (48 cards): camera movements, focal lengths, compositions, lighting, cuts, transitions.

• Story (52 cards): narrative shot types, genres, and 30 situation, presence and conflict prompts.

• Pocket guide: rules, exercises, and classroom activities.

Each family has its own colour-coded back, so you draw exactly what you need.

How it works

Draw a story prompt. Draw your shots. Build the scene.

In class, I run an exercise called Game of Boards. Groups draw 36 cards and turn them into a complete 20–40 panel storyboard. It forces decisions. Why this angle? Why cut here? That’s where the learning happens.

Play solo to warm up, with friends to challenge each other, or in class as a full course.

Who it’s for

• Film, animation and design students
• Teachers who want a hands-on way to teach visual storytelling
• Filmmakers, animators and creators who want to sharpen their eye
• AI creators who need to direct images, not just generate them

Why now

AI can generate an image in seconds. It can’t decide what your story needs. Knowing why a shot works, and when to use it, matters more than ever. This deck trains that judgment.

Who made it

I’m Paul Lalo, storyboard artist, motion designer and animation director with 15+ years of experience. I teach storyboarding and animation at film and animation schools in Australia and France, including Griffith Film School, ESMA, ECV and 3iS.

These cards started as teaching tools in my classes. Then came Speak Cinema, a 30-day video series with one episode per card, followed by more than 70,000 people. Many of them asked the same question:

“Can I buy the physical cards?”

This campaign is the answer.