Storyboarding

http://accad.osu.edu/womenandtech/Storyboard%20Resource/
This website just shows us an overview on storyboarding, with definitions of storyboarding, and storyboard language, so is a good website to just brush up on a few facts. There are also a few examples, so we can get an idea of how one should look like.

http://www.youtube.com/user/StoryboardSecrets
I found this user on Youtube called 'StoryboardSecrets', and I found that this person's videos were quite useful. In the videos, we see the person drawing the storyboards, and he talks over the top, giving us tips on the best ways to draw them. For example, the video named 'How To Choose the Best Angle and Composition' was very useful, and showed me quick and easy ways to draw different angles, and what works best.

Storyboarding

Why is storyboarding an essential part of the film making process?
- It helps the director to visualize scenes before they have been shot.
- It allows the director to see if there are any potential problems before shooting, therefore saving time.
- It helps the actors, as they know what to do; it's a visual way of presenting a script.
- It shows the narrative flow of a story, and we can see how the film progresses easily.
- It shows the camera angle, camera distance, camera movements and lighting, so this helps the director to shoot the shot.
- It tells us how the shots are linked together (e.g. cut, mix to), so this tells the editors what to do during editing sessions.
- They show how each shot would look like, so we can imagine the mise-en-scene easily, and this makes it easier for the prop managers as well as the director.
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'P' is for Psycho
1. What is happening in the opening sequence of the film?
In the opening sequence of the film, we can see that it is about a man who seems to be a killer, murderer, or 'psycho'.
The film begins with a low angled wide shot of a toilet door, with low key lighting. The dark lighting tells us that the film is going to be quite scary and maybe a horror or thriller, and the shot of the door tells us that we are probably going to find out what someone is doing inside. The shot then mixes to a low angle midshot of a man. We can at first only see his legs standing by a sink, and then his upper half, via a tilt. These shots are all shot from a low angle, making the character seem larger and more dominant. The scene is then cut to a slow pan, and we get to see his belongings. We see that he has taken off his watch, and taken out his wallet, notepad and photograph.
Next is a key image, a close up of a plug hole, with blood flowing down into the sink. We then assume that he has taken part in a murder of some sort, as he is washing the blood off his hands. We then have other close ups of his hands, with him wrapping a bandage up and clenching his fist, showing aggression, and reinforcing the image of him being some sort of killer.
The shot then tilts up to his head, and finally, we have a close up of his face. We can finally see who he is, but this is interrupted by the sound of a door opening, and his head turning to the side, to see who has entered the toilet. We then see what he sees; the shot is cut to a midshot of a boy entering, and then the camera is back on our main character - he is now tucking a gun into his belt.
The entering of the boy seems to enrage the main character, and we see an extreme close up of his eyes. From this image we can see the emotion and anger, and there are shadows from lighting underneath, so reinforces the character of being a 'psycho'. We then hear him say 'BAD MOVE, KID...', the screen fades to black, and there is a brief pause. Suddenly, we hear gun shots, and as viewers, assume that he has killed the innocent boy.


2. How is the narrative flow established?
The narrative flow has been established with shots linking on to eachother smoothly, via tilts, pans, cuts and mixes. For example, the midshot of his legs is linked together with the shot of his upper body via a tilt.
The shots also all link together story-wise, too, as all the shots are in the toilet and part of the same scene; there is no jumping between two scenes that are happening at the same time.


3. If you were directing this sequence, what aspects of the storyboard would you like to change?
If I was directing this sequence, there would be a few alterations that I would make. For example, the pan across his belongings is marked as 'very slow'. I would speed this up, as there aren't many objects that the viewers properly have to examine, and a 'very slow' pan would just waste screen time. I wouldn't make it a whip pan, just speed it up so we get a glimpse of his belongings.
And in shot 10, we see the main character tuck a gun into his belt. I think this is a bit pointless and doesn't really go with the story, as this means he tucks a gun into his belt, and then immediately takes it out to shoot the boy...? Instead, I think it would be better if we saw a close up of his hand next to his gun already in his pocket, as if he is thinking about taking it out. This way, we can still highlight the fact that he has a gun, and it goes better with the story.
Finally, at the end, the shot fades to black. The fade would completely ruin the anticipation and exciting mood; it should cut immediatly to black instead. This would make a dramatic ending, with the gunshots in the background too.

Introduction to Narrative Theory

This is the opening sequence to the film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. This is the third instalment to the Pirates of the Caribbean series, which we would categorise under action, adventure and fantasy. So if viewers have already seen the first two, they would already know the main characters; Captain Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner. However, the opening scene of At World’s End doesn’t show any of them, but other pirates instead.

The scene begins with a close up of a rope; one used to hang people. It slowly pans across, from right to left, allowing the sun to beam on the edges of the rope, creating a serious atmosphere. This is also reinforced by the silence; there are no sound effects whatsoever, creating that solemn mood. Next, the shot is cut to a flag and then a close up of peoples’ feet, all chained together. This tells the audience that people are being held prisoners, and the loud sound of the chains being smashed to the ground, and a drum in the background almost make the viewers jump.

We then see wider shots, and can now see that there are many prisoners, all chained together, and people of high position – maybe the navy or army, due to their uniforms and guns – lining them up. There is now a voiceover, from the representative of ‘Cutler Beckett’, giving the orders, and we realise that it is Lord Beckett who is lining all the prisoners up to be hung.

There are then a series of shots; showing the prisoners’ faces, standing while the officials place the rope around their heads, the announcer/representative, and finally, the man who pulls the lever. The floor opens up, and we get a long shot of beneath the stage, and the feet of the many people who have now been hung. This is quite a disturbing image, and the viewers can tell that this opening is serious, so will not be expecting a light hearted comedy for the rest of the film (though there is comedic value, from Captain Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp).

The shots of people getting hung continues for about a minute, so the viewers can see the vast amount of people getting hung, and this repetitive notion adds to this sombre atmosphere. The fact that the whole scene is also tinted blue also adds to the sadness.

Finally, (at 1:33 in this YouTube video) the scene reaches its turning point, as one of the people getting hung is a small boy, who looks around the age of 12. We see him stepping up to the stage, and when underneath the rope, we have a high angle shot of him, making him seem even more vulnerable – he already is in a very vulnerable state, he’s only a small boy and he’s going to be hung to his death! We then see a close up of his hands, and he is holding a pirate’s coin, - one of the ‘pieces of 8’. This is a key image and prop in the film, so is introduced is the first scene.

We then get a mid long shot of the boy, and the camera zooms in, and we now hear that he is singing. He is in fact singing the song ‘Hoist the Colours’, a pirate song. His voice is quite high, and is a large contrast to the quiet beginning, which makes the song sound quite creepy and haunting.

He sings the first verse on his own, and is then placed on a barrel (he is too short to be hung) and this again adds to his vulnerability. The screen is then focused on another pirate, who starts to sing, and after that, all the pirates join in too. The sound effects and music in this scene are done amazingly well; it really creates a great and eerie atmosphere. The song itself is quite scary on its own, but as they are all singing it in a solemn voice, they come together as a choir and it’s actually quite spine-tingling! The addition of the banging chains and handcuffs not only give a beat to the song, but add to the fact that they’re prisoners and about to be hung to their death; it’s done extremely well in my opinion. Near the end of the song, one of the officers says ‘Lord Beckett, they’ve started to sing.’, in which he replies ‘Finally.’

The last beat of the song is actually the pull of the lever, and we realise they have now been hung. The screen then cuts to black, with the coin falling down, and the title ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’ appears.

This is, in my opinion, actually one of the best scenes in the film, and is done to a great standard. It is only one scene, so doesn't confuse the viewers, and each shot is just simply cut to eachother, so that the film simply flows. It introduces the film, with the theme of the pirates against the navy and Lord Beckett (Lord Beckett being the one we automatically don’t like, and the pirates being the ones we support), but doesn’t show any of the other main characters. This is so that the audience are just in the right mind frame for the film, and the whole scene seems to take them out of the cinema and into the film, with the great atmospheric music. So although not that much is actually told in the opening scene – as Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner or Elizabeth Swann are not shown, and most of the people who are shown are killed straight away – it just gives the audience a background story and gets them immediately drawn into the film.

(Note – the opening sequence also doesn’t need to immediately introduce the main characters straight away, as this is the third in the series – the audience should already be familiar with them.) 

Our Film Still

1. Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be described as representing your chosen genre.
Our shot represents the genre horror/thriller/slasher. It is a MCU of a teenage girl sitting in a toilet cubicle, and all we can see is her feet and her hand dangling down, under the toilet cubicle door. (And the bottom of the cubicle door creates a frame within in a frame.)
There is very minimal lighting, with shadows all around, creating a very dark image, so this helps to represent the genre of horror/thriller. The actress's second finger is also cut and bloody, so this helps to portray the genre too. And as she is a teenager (although we cannot actually see her face, we assume she is a teenager by what she is wearing - skinny jeans, pink converse and black nail varnish) it shows the subgenre to be teenage horror.



4. What would you do differently in hindsight?
If we were to reshoot or edit the photo, I would probably make sure the camera angle is right, to make sure that the shot is straight. (At the moment, the bottom of the toilet cubicle is not perfectly horizontal). I would probably also move the bits of tissue on the right hand side out of the picture, so that the background is totally dark and black, so that our eyes are definately drawn to the brightness of the shoes and hand, and not the white part on the side.
So we could either reshoot with the camera angle correct and move the bit of tissue, or just edit the photo now, by rotating it slightly and cropping it. If editting I would also slightly adjust the contrast to make the difference between the character and mise-en-scene even more prominant, and the end result would look something like this:

3. Identify what is successful about your shot.
Our shot is successful because I think that it identifies the genre well. I am really proud of our team's lighting; the desired effect was created very successfully with the pad light. The fact that our actress was perfect for our shot definately helped: her finger was bleeding and her nail varnish that day was black!2. What did you actually do to achieve the effect?
To achieve the dark shadowy effect of the shot, we turned out all the lights in the toilets, and just used a small pad light, with the barn doors half closed. This produced a small thin light, directed and concentrated onto her feet, and created darkness and shadows all around. The shot is a mid close up, so that the audience can concentrate on her feet and her hand in the shot, but also see the background and mise-en-scene, so that they know where the character is placed. We also got the actress to slightly undo one of her alces and dangle her arm, which makes her look vulnerable and alone, and make the audience ask themselves, 'Is she dead?' She is also wearing black nail varnish, and this also helps to connote the genre of horror.