Planning Group Storyboard- Miss Miller

Planning Group Storyboard

The purpose of the group story board is to bring together all of our ideas and combine them into one finalised product. This means we can work straight from this storyboard and use it when filming as a basic structure or plan. In turn, this will reduce the time spent filming as we have a shot by shot plan, allowing us to spend more time editing, the most time consuming aspect to creating a film. My group and myself have all sat down and spent time analysing each group members individual story boards, picking all of the best elements and joining them together to create a final plan we could all agree upon. We did this through discussion but also reviewing each of our in depth individual storyboard plans.

Frames 1-4

In the image displayed on the left this presents frames 1-4. We agreed that the thriller film would begin with inspiration from my individual story, this regards to the use of the swing set and incorporation of the young boy. This idea of a flash back to begin our thriller was inspired by the film 'Halloween', and how the thriller presents an over view of a young child's life. We agreed that the swing successfully presented our first main theme of childhood. A clear juxtaposition would also be created with the connotations of frivolity and happiness present by the swing and the extremely saddened body language the young boy is displaying. Although the this opening was taken from my individual story board, the group agreed joining Jemimah's cinematography ideas shown in her story board, would make the scene more effective. Jemimah's idea was to simply film the flash back frames in a sustained mid shot. This applies well to my swing scene as it make it easy for us to edit each frame in a variety of speeds and lengths, which I had initially intended to capture. The aim for these four frames is solely represent the antagonist's life, within the past and present in a matter of seconds.  From 1-4 the duration of the antagonist's adolescent park scene uses a great screen time than the antagonist with in the present day. This displays connotations of how the antagonist as a child, was forced to suddenly mature over night- the night time setting of the closeup present shot emphasizes this idea. These four frames are highly conventional as the imagery of childhood is paired with joyous sound effects and child voices in the background of the scene. Children are a prevalent feature of thriller films, this is because they are vulnerable, and therefore easily manipulable. In turn, this provides a highly ambiguous scene as the audience is film introduced into the narrative. 




Frames 5-8

The image to the right presents frames 5-8, and takes through the journey the female protagonists embark on, as they travel back from a night out. This group story board differs from my individual story board as these frames in which the female characters begin walking from the bus stop, are featured within the first 4 of my frames. I have learnt that when drawing out a story board I must be extremely detailed, presenting every frame. In my individual story board, I did not include all of the swing frames as I intended to feature in our opening thriller film, simply summarised the swing movement in particular. When talking and analysing each group member's story board I realised that mine was not as detailed as it could be, we therefore used sections from Rishika and Jemimah's story board, to present the female characters beginning their journey home. These four frames do not feature any close ups or shots that provide a great amount of detail, especially the character's facial expressions. We agreed that the lack of detail provided, especially in terms of facial expression, through the use of a two shot, high angle and long shot, would increase the tension building. This is because the audience can not easily read the characters and analyse what they are feeling, whether that is tense, nervous or vulnerable. The prevalent theme of ambiguity is highly conventional of the thriller genre, the sense of unknown is used to keep the audience in suspense and subsequently shocked, when they discover what was previously hidden. These frames, displaying the female character's journey, were very easy to agree upon as we all had extremely similar elements to our individual storyboard. For example, we had all included a panning shot in our story boards; we agreed that a panning shot was a perfect way to display the characters walking, whilst included a vast amount of setting, to inform the audience of their location. As well as this, the camera follows the characters mirroring the what it would look like if the audience where there in the scene following them. This draws the audience into the scene, building a closer relationship with the female characters, as they are place in the action.

Frames 9-12

Frames 9-12 display the sudden noticing of the antagonist by one of the female protagonist, as the other character is distracted on her phone. We agreed  to incorporate elements of each group members frames as they were very similar, in terms of predominate focus upon the first female victim. We agreed that the there would be more frames filming the female victim that notices the body, as this creates a stronger bond between the audience with this character, making the audience more shocked when she is suddenly killed soon after. In contrast with the previous four frames (5-8) these frames display a use of close ups, as they are used to present the extreme detail of the protagonist eyes. We agreed that the aim of this close up in particular, was to make the audience feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic, as the image is up close and personal, and they are left staring directly into the eyes of the supposed killer. These frames of our group story board are highly conventional of a thriller film, this is because the build tension, through the use of music, but also include off screen sound effects, paired with the action on screen. The off screen sound effect used is a scream and as the audience cannot identify or located specifically the sound, the audience are left questioning. In turn, this emphasise the prevalent theme of hidden identity and ambiguity. Talking within our group I developed a better understanding of this particular scene and found that Jemimah's point of view shot, used when walking up to the protagonist was a perfectly fitting. The point of view shot outs the viewer in the female victims position and builds tension, as the audience question what is going to happen to themselves next, as they are left feeling like they are in the action.

Frames 13-16

Frames 13-16 display the struggle for attention the female victim is subject to, as her best friend is distracted, talking on her phone. When talking amongst the group I discovered that, our views of the female death scene, followed swiftly by the desperate running of the remaining female character, were very different. Within my individual narrative I had elongated the moments the remaining female character sits with the dead body of her best friend. With allows the audience to capture the emotional trauma, through the female characters facial expressions. This idea is presented within frames 13-14, although I feel if we were drawing this out again we could have made our finalized ideas more clear. Within this frames in particular, I explored with the group my concerns about the nighttime setting of our scene. I discussed that the darkness may prove an issue; although we want to film in the dark, we also have to be able to see the protagonist's facial expressions. I suggested the scenario of the character fumbling for her phone torch, as she takes a short cut into the ill lit Forrest. This scenario provides the illumination needed of the character's facial expressions, whilst remaining believable. This highly unnatural style of lighting creates a juxtaposition between the realism of our point of view shot, displaying the characters feet as she runs from her friends murderer. I feel the point of view shot paired with the lighting is highly conventional of a thriller film, as is places the audience in the characters position, enhancing the tension, as they anticipate what will happen to themselves next. As well as this, this pairing of lighting and close intensity of the camera angle is inspired by the famously thrilling, 'The Blair Witch Project'. The overall aim of these frames is, to put the audience through emotion turmoil as the scene swiftly changed from, the discovery of her best friend's dead body, to the remaining female character's chase scene and desperate flee from the scene. In addition, the running of the female character both, builds a dramatic sense of tension, whilst holding a sustained conventional theme. This conventionality is conveyed through the general idea of a victim and antagonist pursuit, and the various minor elements of the scene, such as the low key lighting and uncomfortable closeups.

Frames 17-18

The final two frames, 17-18 end our thriller opening. The two frames depict the female characters final desperate attempts to escape from the antagonist, falling in her sheer panic. A victim or female character falling, in the attempt to escape from a supposed killer, is highly conventional of this genre. This is because the character is perceived as extremely vulnerable and too terrified to comprehend their surroundings, through a clear mind.  Therefore, the audience are extremely tense and sympathetic for the female victim. This idea works well with our thriller because, although a chase scene would build a lot of tension, the fall helps to intensify this, producing an extremely dramatic atmosphere to end on. We decided upon the last frame very easily as we had all discussed this prior to our group story board and included it within our individual story boards. Our reasons for the point of view shot were that, the audience would be placed in the antagonist's position and taken from their comfort zone they had adapted to e.g the life and characteristics of the female victim, and forced to into the mind of a supposed killer. The viewer is left staring at their victim and watching the terror inflicted upon them. In turn this provokes a variety of emotions from the audience, whether that be sympathy, suspense, tension etc, leaving them wanting to watch more so they can simplify their emotions and create a clear perception of what will happen to the female victim. Whilst the prevalent low key lighting is present our thriller will end with the scream of the female victim. This use of parallel sound enhances the realism of our film and creates a memorable sound that lingers with the audience. The over all aim of frames 17-18 are to end our thriller in a dramatic and emotive manner, ensuring the an extremely tense atmosphere for the audience and suspense so that the viewer wants to continue watching, in order to find out what happens next. 

In conclusion, through creating a group story board, this has allowed us to further familiarise ourselves with our narrative, it has also provided us with the opportunity to talk through our ideas toward the film and make sure we have not overlooked any minor details. I personally feel that we have achieved an evenly balanced story board. By evenly balanced I mean the amount of ideas and frames taken from each of our group member's individual story board's. Subsequently, this means that we have a variety of ideas incorporated into our thriller, many of which I had not considered before speaking to my group members.