Amazon Studios Announces 'Amazon Storyteller' Service

Amazon Studios Announces ‘Amazon Storyteller’ Service

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If you read that headline, you may be confused. What exactly is Amazon Storyteller? Well, it’s a new service from Amazon Studios that allows writers to turn their scripts into storyboards, complete with characters and dialog.

This new storyboard can then be shared with others for feedback. The new service launched today, but is currently in beta. The best part, it’s free.

“We’ve found that many writers want to see their story up on its feet in visual form but find it harder than it should be to create a storyboard,” said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. “Storyteller provides a digital backlot, acting troupe, prop department and assistant editor—everything you need to bring your story to life. We want to see great stories turned into movies and television shows and we’ll continue to develop new features and tools that help people develop great stories.”

Want to know more? Here’s how it works:

Storyteller begins by scanning a movie script that has been uploaded to Amazon Studios. It identifies the scenes, locations and characters from scene descriptions, and “casts” them from a library of thousands of characters, props and backgrounds. Filmmakers can recast or change locations, or they can upload their own images.

Storyteller places the cast in front of the right background so that filmmakers can focus their time on the emotion and energy of scenes by using pan and zoom, changing the facial expressions and positions of characters, adding vehicles or props or adding captions with descriptions or additional dialogue. Once completed, the storyboard can be published on Amazon Studios where other users are able to view it and give feedback on the project.

To check it your yourself, go here.