Storyboard adaptations

Storyboard Adaptations

After going through the common conventions of horror/slasher films we thought that there were many ideas that were part of our storyboard that didn't fit the 'common trend' of slasher openings. 

Location change and size:
Whilst we kept most of our shots we had to take into consideration the location change from our original idea of the killers lair being in a basement to a garage as we couldn't fine a basement to film in. This would have to be reflected in our storyboard asthe size of the garage is a lot more smaller.
 This put a change in our plans as in our early drafts we had the killer always being in the room throughout the duration of the scene, out of site from the victim who woke, not realizing the killer was in the room with her. Due to the size of the garage this wouldn't work and we would have to put in new shots of the killer coming into the garage and the victim having to hide. 





Our new shot:

Killer's reveal
as well as this in our original opening we wanted the killer to be revealed at the end of the opening by taking off his mask. After class discussion we were made aware that in slasher opening scene's it is rare that the killer is revealed as it leaves the rest of the film to be a mystery. Despite this, we decided to stick to our original plan of having a low angled shot from the victim's perspective, as the shot makes the killer look powerful above the defenseless victim, but not have the killer take off his mask.

New storyboard addition: 

Dead Bodies/actors: We also planned to have a pile of dead bodies in the corner of the killer's lair to display the horrific actions of the killer who show how many people they have killed. However, it was difficult to get extra people to come and film with us as extra's so we decided just to have one dead body in the corner, Lucy from our group. In our original storyboard we had them simply just in the background of the room rather than putting the camera's attention on it. now that there is only one dead body we decided to use more close-up shots of the victim's body.

Storyboard - 1st draft

Our storyboard is an expanded view of the idea that we have for our film opening. The idea is that the victim (played by Kelsey) will wake up in an unknown room that turns out to be the killer's lair. She realises that one of her hands is loose in the rope that she's tied down with and manages to wriggle it out. She reaches up to the table for stability and a knife falls down that she then uses to cut the rest of the rope with on her other hand and her feet. She is able to stand up and looks around finding props, e.g. the killer's journal and knives, then there will be quick shots of the most horrific things in the room - bodies, body bags, and organs in jars on a shelf. There will then be a close up reaction shot of Kelsey as she starts crying at what she sees and wonders how she ended up here.

 

There is then a shot of the killer who is in the corner of the room wearing a mask but is out of focus because Kelsey is in the background, and as she turns towards the killer, she goes out of focus and the camera focuses on the killer who is 'preparing' something so can't hear Kelsey. The next shot will be match-on-action of Kelsey running out of the door and to the field outside. There will be a tracking shot of her running from behind, and it'll be handheld so it looks faster and builds tension and suspense.

 

The next shot is the killer running out of the lair with a hammer and her mask still on, then starting to chase her. The last shot will be a point of view shot from the killer's perspective that shows Kelsey trip over in the mud and the killer gain up to her. The camera will quickly rush at Kelsey and then the screen will go black.

 

 

 

 

We think that this is an effective first draft of our storyboard, however with feedback we will have to make many more to make the idea polished and perfected.

Evaluation of planning our preliminary

What was done?

Our first task was to create a storyboard that had six frames to draw in and create the different shots and camera angles that we would be using for the prelim video. The drawings had to be labelled with what shots they were and also the editing techniques that would be used in each one, for example we would write shot-reverse-shot for the drawing of the conversation.

What went well?

The idea for the video was thought of very quickly and we were quick with what camera angles would go where, and which editing techniques that had to be used would be used in each scene. This meant that when filming started, we were ready to go straight away.

Problems encountered

We aren't the best artists so a difficulty was making it look accurate! We also only had six frames to draw in, so it was a challenge to choose our six angles that we would use for the main outline of the idea.

What would we change if we had to do it again?

If we had some more time to plan, then we may have had a different idea for the plot altogether. Also, some of the angles that we drew weren't used in the actual task. With more time we would have been able to have a fully developed idea of the shots used and at what points, so angles wouldn't have to be discussed during filming.