Previsualization (often shortened to previs or previz) is the process of creating preliminary visual sequences of a commercial or film before principal photography begins. In advertising previsualization, this means creating animated sequences that show exactly how a spot will look—including camera angles, timing, visual effects, and talent blocking.
How Previs Differs from Storyboarding
While storyboarding produces static 2D illustrations of key frames, previsualization creates animated sequences that show camera movements, timing, lighting, and spatial relationships in action. This makes previs particularly valuable for commercials involving complex visual effects, stunts, precise choreography, or multi-camera setups where the spatial layout of a scene is critical.
Commercial previz serves multiple purposes. It helps directors communicate their vision to clients and production teams, identifies potential technical challenges before expensive shoot days, and allows for creative experimentation without real-world constraints. Changes during production are extremely costly—crew, talent, and location costs can run into thousands per hour—whereas changes during previs cost a fraction.
When Previs Makes Sense
Previs for ads is most valuable for high-budget productions where technical complexity creates risk. Automotive commercials with CGI vehicles, food and beverage ads requiring precise product shots, luxury brand campaigns with elaborate set pieces, and any spot involving visual effects all benefit from previsualization. For these projects, previs typically pays for itself many times over by preventing costly mistakes on set.
Previs also plays a role in the script-to-screen workflow, sitting between storyboarding and production planning. It provides the production team with a precise blueprint for execution, reducing uncertainty and improving efficiency on shoot days.
The Business Case for Previs
The return on investment for previsualization is well documented. On high-budget shoots, even a single wasted setup can cost tens of thousands in crew time, talent fees, and location charges. Previs identifies potential problems—a camera move that does not work in the physical space, a transition that feels awkward at actual timing, a product shot that lacks impact—before those costs are incurred. For productions involving visual effects, previs is particularly critical, as it defines the precise camera data and framing that VFX teams need to deliver seamless integration.
AI-Powered Previsualization
Previs has traditionally been created using 3D animation software, requiring specialised skills and significant time investment. AI tools are now accelerating this process—allowing teams to generate photorealistic previs sequences faster and at lower cost. AI storyboarding and AI animatic technologies can produce previs-quality content that was previously only achievable with dedicated 3D studios, making previsualization accessible for a wider range of projects and budgets.
Myth Labs combines AI image and video generation with expert creative direction to produce previs-quality content for advertising—faster and more affordably than traditional methods.