Storyboarding

A storyboard is a series of images similar to a comic strip which is used in the early stages of creating a film. The story boarding stage normally comes after the script has been approved. They help to visualize the film by showing actions, camera angles and dialogue in the scene. Although not rough sketches the drawings used in storyboards are never normally highly detailed as they are designed to give people a general fell for how the film will look. By not including great amounts of detail in the storyboard it keeps everything open to change if need be. 

Here is an example of part of a storyboard :

This section of the storyboard was used for Star Wars. It is not clear which one it is from because it is an early concept. As you can see there is very little in the way of backgrounds, leaving to open for change. Also the writing at the bottom shows camera angles, movement and basic actions of the clip.