The Animatic is essentially an animated storyboard. Approved storyboard panels are digitally photographed or scanned, timed out according to the script’s dialogue and sound effects, and edited together into a rough cut video. This process gives the production team the first sense of the project’s true pace, flow, and final runtime.

The purpose of the animatic is to establish the Pacing Lock (or Edit Lock). The director can now see if a scene feels too slow, if a joke lands correctly, or if an action sequence needs more frames. It is a critical benchmark where the narrative structure and timing are frozen, meaning no new story beats or changes to the overall timing should occur after this point.

The finalized animatic becomes the master reference track for all subsequent departments. The sound effects, temporary music, and dialogue recorded for the animatic (scratch track) are used by the animators to guide their movements and lip-sync. By locking the pacing, the animatic serves as a technical backbone, dictating the exact number of frames and scene transitions the final product must match.