Storyboards are cartoon-like drawings that act as blueprints for the creation of a filmed scene. They let filmmakers consider the visual flow and feel of a shot in relation to other shots in a sequence without the expense of having to film it first. Changes can be made with a pencil and eraser rather than with expensive full production crews.

Storyboards were traditionally used primarily for animated movies due to the expense involved in creating every film frame by hand. In animation, it was not practical to try a scene several different ways. Storyboards came to be used in live action movies as well, particularly for special effects sequences, so that elements filmed separately could be created to work together properly for the final shot. Difficult action sequences were sometimes storyboarded as well, to assist in the efficient planning of such shots.

Raiders of the Lost Ark was almost completely storyboarded, which was an uncommon thing in 1980 for a live action movie. Storyboarding each scene let everyone know in advance exactly what the director had in mind, and kept the elaborate production on schedule and under budget. Storyboarding has since become more common, especially in the effects-laden pictures of the modern era.

For the new Tatooine Dunes scenes in the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, storyboards were standard operating procedure, a tradition at Lucasfilm by this time. The storyboards let George Lucas and the production team communicate visually with each other about what the new shots could offer and how they would flow. Rough ideas could be sketched out quickly and considered, rearranged within the sequence, or modified. An idea that seemed to work would get refined in further sketches until the final storyboard was often a work of art.

In the collection of storyboards shown here, you can see several different approaches to the shots making up the new Tatooine Dunes sequence. Some of the ideas went on to be filmed, while others were discarded - the dispatch of probe pods by the landing craft, for example, and the early design of the lander. In many cases storyboards show a combination of elements, of which only some were retained for the final, actual shot. These storyboards let you see the range of possibilities for the Tatooine Dunes shots, and offer a glimpse into the creative process and into visions of Star Wars that almost were.