Planning group storyboard - Miss Miller

Planning group storyboard 

Planning a group storyboard is important as it brings together all our group members ideas and combines them into one finalised storyboard. This means that we can work straight from this storyboard and use it when filming as a fundamental structure. This will shorten the time spent filming as we have a shot by shot plan, allowing us to put more time into editing the film instead of filming it. My group and I have all sat down and spent time analysing each group members individual storyboards, picking the best bits and putting them all together to make a final plan we could all agree on. We did this through swapping our ideas  and evaluating each of our individual storyboard plans.

As a group we created a storyboard on the grounds that we needed to choose what our best thoughts and ideas were from our individual storyboards and it helped us tie up loose ends and put it all together. It also dealt with any confusion with specific parts of the narrative, for example; how it was going to end and what editing techniques we needed to add within our opening thriller sequence. We have included specific parts from every group members individual storyboards, for example; what sounds we needed  to use to go with the visual pictures, what shots we needed to match the event taking place in the scene, where the location of the shot will be taken, the iconography that will be used in the scene and shot in particular, the actors that will be in the shot and a short and brief description of the narrative and what will happen in each frame and shot.

Our storyboard was not the exact same as my individual storyboard as it started off showing the audience the setting first. This thought originated from Luca's storyboard. This portrays the victim as being vulnerable and powerless as it creates tension for the audience because it makes them aware straight away that the genre of the film they are watching is a thriller due to the fact that it shows the isolated location of the house. We, as a group, decoded to use Luca’s idea as it builds a relationship with the audience from the beginning to the end because the idea is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates a sinister atmosphere and gets the audience feeling suspense and tension and expecting something sudden to happen. The frames after are also conventional to the thriller genre as it creates an enigma to the audience making them want to find out more about what is happening or going to happen to the victim. This idea came from all of the group member’s individual storyboards as we all had the same idea however the idea of having a young victim and a isolated setting came from the film, ‘The Strangers’. This film inspired us as it started off by showing the audience a couple who were tied up with the antagonist standing opposite them indicating that he was about to torture them. It showed the location when the victim in the film got hurt and it showed that nobody was around to hear her screaming which portrayed her as an easy target to the audience as there is no escape. As a group we decided to use the same idea in our opening thriller sequence as it had conventional elements of the thriller genre such as; establishing shot for location and low key lighting throughout to create a sinister atmosphere which both kept the audience enticed into watching the rest of the film.

The frame on our next page of our storyboard starts if with showing a dead individual on the floor with a knife. It then portrays the victim as being powerless as it shows her being separated alone with the person. As a group we chose to use this idea, which originated from Sasha’s storyboard, as it clearly helped set the genre of the film to the audience and then lead to them having brief ideas about the narrative and what is going to happen after which connects them and interests them straight away to find out more. Iconography appears in every thriller film. Most the times it is shown through being a weapon and the fact that our frame started off with the knife it foreshadows events that may take place later on in the film. We, as a group, got our knife inspiration from the film ‘Halloween’. In this film the killer is shown taking a knife then using it to kill the innocent female victim. This inspired us as a group to add into our own thriller as it implies that someone is going to get seriously hurt or in fact die. Using these ideas in these frames means that the audience will understand the narrative clearly and the will get engaged straight away from the beginning, The knife and dead body both being shown makes the audience assume that something bad has already happened and another one is about to take place in the thriller.

The frames on this page start off with a shadow off the antagonist being seen by the victim. As she then starts to walk towards the mirror to see if its him she sees a broken picture on the floor which triggers her some flashbacks which remind her how she become a prisoner and got to that place in the first place. Luca came up with the idea in his individual storyboard of the mirror and not just using a curtain to hide the antagonist as it was more conventional and more of an individual and unique idea. Luca idea will be used as it crates more tension for the audience a cracked mirror foreshadows risk and something dangerous that had already occurred. His inspirations came from the same film used before, ‘The Strangers’. The film ‘Shout’ inspired us to make the sound we are going to be using, a parallel sound as it creates more suspense as the audience expects the victim to die. Parallel was used in this film when the victim was strolling towards the antagonist and as a group we decided to use it in the same aspect and same scenario. Using parallel sound will make the killer appear to be scarier and more overwhelming, which will worry the audience about the victim’s safety. The next two frames are from my storyboard; the broken picture frame and flashback make it easier for the audience to understand the narrative and the plot. The editing techniques used in these frames are linking of section. This makes tension for the audience because they become more endangered in the film and they begin to feel sympathetic for the victim. Linking of section was used in the opening film "Final Destination" when the powder connections to the victims death. As a group we have additionally used linking of sections to create the same impact as it makes the audience think how the shots and flashbacks are going to connect to her death.

Our next page for our storyboard is when all the flashbacks start to occur which put together all the pieces for the audience to help them understand how the victim became a victim in the first place. The flashbacks occur when she is pm Facebook and sees an embarrassing video of her then puts up a status trying to justify what happened and to tell people that it was not her. She then in the isolated room sees a phone on the floor then another flashback occurs to show the messages she was receiving on her phone threatening her from an anonymous person. These ideas for this part of the sequence all originated from my own individual storyboard and, as a group, we chose to include it in the group storyboard as it is an fascinating way of linking the story together for the audience for them to understand how the victim became targeted and became a victim in the position she is in now. This helps the audience build a stronger relationship with the characters as they can put themselves in the victim’s shoes and feel more sympathetic towards her. To create more of a natural scene and make the audience believe that it is realistic and they are experiencing what is actually happening in the film we decided to use dietetic sound od the laptop/ phone and the glass when the victim steps on it. The diegetic sound of the glass additionally makes more of a sinister atmosphere for the audience as the sound of the glass sounds hazardous and infers that the glass is sharp which can be used to harm the victim and hurt her. The glass also foreshadows occasions that are going to occur later on in the sequence. Diegetic sound is used as a part of all thriller movies to create suspense, tension and shock for the audience. We also used the techniques of linking of shots for some of the frames along with jump cut and shallow focus for when the victim sees herself on the floor in a targeted picture. A jump cut will entice the audience and intrigue them into what is being shown on camera for them to want to willing watch the rest of the film to see what will happen. The use of the shallow focus used will show the main object in full focus whilst the rest f the shout is blurry and out of focus which would again engage the audience more and keep them on the edge causing an enigma for them to think about and work out throughout the film. 

The last page on our group storyboard is when the victim gets chased and killed by the antagonist. All of these frames are in the same setting, basement, and iconography is only used in the final frame when the antagonist sytabs the victim. The setting and iconography on this page is very conventional to the thriller genre as it shows the audience that the items they saw before which triggered the victims flashbacks were all foreshadopwing what was going to happen to the victim at the end and it all came true. The lighting is low key and runs on throughout the sequence from beginning to end to create a sinister, dark and scary atmosphere for the audience to be intrigued by from the beginning till the end of the thriller sequence an the only actor is all of these frames is the victim who is joined by the killer at the last frame when she gets murdered by him. For the first frame the sound used is non-diegetic and a climax sound to entice the audience into getting shocked as a suspense is being built through the sounds. The next frame is silence, which builds tension and suspense for the audience and keeps them on edge waiting for something to happen and the victim to get hurt. The frame after this uses suspenseful music as the girl runs up the stairs to build on the tension anticipated by the audience and the sound in the final frame is both non-diegetic and diegetic. The non-diegetic sound would be the climax sound and music and the diegetic will be the stabbing that takes place of the girl. This will build up the suspense and tension and finally shock the audience when they hear the diegetic sound, as they would know the girl has been stabbed, as they would know what it sounds like in real life. The order of the camera shots are; mid shot, extreme close up, low angle and mid shot again and all these shots will show the positioning of the character which would show the audience what is happening as they will see more background and not just the victim. The close up would show a reaction shot which would make the audience feel more sympathetic for the feelings of the victim and the low angle would make the victim look smaller and more vulnerable and weak to the audience which would make them feel even more scared for her safety. Different editing such as; jump cut, reaction shot and fast paced editing will be used to develop on the suspense and tension being built. 

In conclusion, I believe that looking at my storyboard the audience will be able to easily understand the narrative of our thriller and easily relate to it as it is realistic and conventional to the thriller genre. It is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates tension, suspense and shock to the audience which will also build on enigma which will interest them more and engage them into wanting to happily watch the ret o f the film to find out more and what will end up happening. As a group, we all worked together very well to decide what should go where to make it flow and engaging to the audience and not boring and we all mixed it together by including parts of all our individual storyboards in our group one. It shows great planning and use of; camera shot, location, iconography, lighting, actors, sound, editing and narrative description. We created more of a sinister effect to scare the audience more by using a basement instead of just an isolated house as it is dark and dangerous in there and all the audience will know what it is like in a basement which makes it realistic and relatable for them. However, we ended up changing some things to make the group storyboard better and to make our product more conventional and more successful. Originally we used curtains for the antagonist to hide at and for the victim to spot him behind but we ended up changing the idea to using a cracked mirror as it is less cliché and more unique which would engage the audience more, scaring them to watching the rest of the film to find out what happens next and also to make it more conventional and relatable to the thriller genre in order for the product to be a very good and successful one.