Storyboard generation
Also known as: automatic storyboarding, edit plan generation
Producing a plan of which shots go where before any cutting happens, so a sequence has a shape instead of being a ranked list.
Updated
What it means
Storyboard generation is the step between scoring footage and assembling it. Scoring says which moments are strongest; the storyboard says which of them opens, which carries the middle and which ends the video.
Without it an automatic edit is a leaderboard. The six highest scoring seconds play in whatever order they were filmed, and the result has no build and no release even though every shot in it is good.
The plan is usually a template filled with real footage: an establishing shot here, three action beats, a quieter moment, a closing frame. That structure is what gives a cut a Story arc rather than a ranking.
How it works in practice
Slots are typed rather than generic. An opening slot wants a wide establishing frame, so it is filled from clips that look like an Establishing shot rather than from the top of the score list.
The activity decides which template is used, which is why Activity classification runs before this stage. A dive wants long takes and a slow build; a skatepark session wants short ones.
Slot counts flex with target length. A shorter cut drops the quieter slots first, because context is the part a viewer misses least when time is tight.
What to watch out for
Templates read as templates when they repeat. Two videos from the same system with the same opening and the same closing beat feel manufactured, however good the footage in them is.
Forcing a slot is worse than leaving it empty. If no establishing frame exists on the card, inserting the least bad candidate puts a weak shot in the most visible position in the whole video.
A plan built before duplicates are removed also wastes slots. Three action beats filled from the same repeated attempt look like a mistake, which is why Near-duplicate clip grouping has to happen before the plan is filled.
How RawClip handles it
Chosen moments are arranged against a structure that suits the activity rather than played in score order, so a highlight opens somewhere, builds and ends. Slots with no honest candidate on the card are dropped instead of filled with the least bad clip available.