Meaning and translation of カット割り and difference with 絵コンテ

Question

In video production what is the exact meaning of カット割り? I found these two definitions:

撮影（収録）前に、台本上で演出意図に合わせて区切りをつけ、画柄を決めること。(from here)

カット割りとは、各シーンの構図やカット、シーンとシーンのつなぎのことをいいます。(from here)

So basically, it consists of a set of instructions regarding things like cuts, camera angles, linking of scenes that is prepared before shooting/recording. My questions are:

• How is it done in practice? With drawings or in textual form?

• Assuming that the answer to the previous question is in textual form, what differentiates カット割り from 絵コンテ? Just the fact that 絵コンテ is done through drawings and カット割り is done in text form? Or there is also a difference in the type of instructions? I am not sure about this, because searching for カット割り in Google Images I see many drawings that look like 絵コンテ.

• How would you translate it into English?

Thank you for your help!

Answer 1

絵コンテ is a relatively specific term that refers to storyboards like this. They always have pictures, as the kanji 絵 suggests. It's also a job name, and you can see the word 絵コンテ ("storyboarding") in the staff roll of an anime. 絵コンテ is critically important in the production of animes and CG movies, but many Japanese live-action films or dramas do not have systematic 絵コンテ because retaking is usually easy and camera angles and such can be changed at the discretion of the director at the day of the shooting.

From this page:

アニメの場合は必ず絵コンテが必要です。スタッフに絵を描いてもらわないといけないので、元になるものがないと何も作業出来ません。実写の場合は､現場で俳優を立たせて「このアングルから撮ろう」などと口頭で言ってもいいので、必ず絵コンテが必要ということはありません。書かない監督もけっこういるようです。

カット割り is a relatively loose term that includes the concept of 絵コンテ, but simply drawing lines and comments in a text-based 台本 qualifies as カット割り. You can see an example of text-based カット割り in this page.