How to make a film reference board
By Louie Warren, cinematographer and 1st AC · 22 October 2026
A film reference board is the quickest way to show a crew what a project should look like. Here's how to build one that people actually use, from the first frame you save to the day of the shoot.
What a film reference board is for
Words like “moody”, “naturalistic” or “warm” mean something different to everyone. A reference board swaps them for pictures: frames from films, photographs, paintings and your own tests that show the framing, light, colour, lenses and movement you're after. It's where the director and cinematographer agree on a look, and what the gaffer, production designer, costume team and colourist work from afterwards.
1. Start from the story, not the look
Before you collect anything, write down what each scene needs to feel like, and why. A board built around a feeling (“she's trapped”, “the morning after”) stays focused. One built around shots you like turns into a mood board for every project at once.
2. Collect widely, then cut hard
- Films and series. Frame grabs show how a look holds up across a whole scene. Libraries like ShotDeck and FILMGRAB make them quick to find.
- Photography and paintings. Good for colour, light and composition, especially for stills and look books.
- Your own frames. Camera tests, recce photos and frames from earlier cuts are the most honest reference you have, because they were shot on your kit.
Save more than you need, then cut it down. A board of 20 strong frames gets read. A board of 300 gets scrolled past.
3. Organise it the way a crew works
Split it up so each person finds their part quickly:
- By scene or sequence, so the board follows the script.
- By shot size, from extreme close-up to extreme wide, for blocking and coverage.
- By light and colour: day or night, hard or soft, warm or cool, so the gaffer and colourist can see the whole palette.
- By camera: lens, depth of field and movement, for the camera team.
4. Say what each frame is for
A frame can be on the board for its light and nothing else. Add a note, like “the window light, not the framing”. It saves a lot of conversations on set.
5. Share it and keep it live
A reference board only helps if the crew can open it. Share it before the recce, ask for comments, and keep adding frames from tests and early cuts so it carries through to the grade.
Making a film reference board in Framebank
I built Framebank because I was doing all of this by hand. It does the sorting for you:
- Every image is labelled with its shot size, from extreme close-up to extreme wide, and tags for what's in the frame.
- Its colour palette and brightness are read, so you can sort a board by colour or slide from black and white to vivid.
- The camera, lens, aperture, shutter and ISO are kept from the file, or sent from Resolve and Lightroom.
- The Chrome extension saves any image from ShotDeck, Pinterest or anywhere on the web, with a link back to where you found it.
- Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve send the frame under the playhead to a board, with its timecode.
- Guides lay the rule of thirds, the golden ratio and frame lines from 2.39:1 to 9:16 over any frame.
- Invite your crew to view or add to a board. They don't need to pay.