How to design a storyboard

Inception 2010, Directed by Christopher Nolan, introduction analysis

I have chosen to analysis this film, due to the high amount of drama that it used to draw in the audience. There are many enigmas; what is happening? why are they dreaming? who are the children dancing and why are they relevant?

Inception, directed by Christpoher Nolan did extremely well in the 2010 box office, to it's constant enigmas, it's on going storylines, but mostly because of the use of advertising. Leonardo Dicaprio, a man very famous worldwide for his acting in films such as Shutter Island and Titanic, draws in an audience himself.

Setting:
Main character cobs begins by washing up on the shore of a beach, we have no idea where he is or why he could be there. the children playing on the beach are the first enigma that we are introduced to. as we can tell from the isolated choice of area that there shouldn't be any children running around this area.  He is dragged by Chinese guards into a Chinese authentic building where the conversation leads the audience to believe that him and his partner "arthur" are planning to extract thoughts from somebody's mind. This is where the person realizes what is going on, so he wakes up, only for us to be lead into another dream.

Locations:
The locations of this opening sequence are chinese looking old palace, the war torn country outside the old apartment, and the train.

The various enigma codes within this are:

• Why are they in his dream?
• How did they get in his dream?
• What are they trying to extract?
• Who is the women, who is known to Cobb, trying to ruin their plan?

Cinematography
As Cobb is wahsed up on the beach, through the medium close up, we feel like we have been washed up on the beach with him. This is also done through the imaging of the waves hitting the camera hard, making the camera sway.
As the dream is beginning to end, the scene begins to shake very quickly, as if you were there.
There is a lot of shot reverse shot pattern to show the clear conversation that is happening.

Sound
The sound is very effectively used in this scene, such as Cobb washing up on shore. - We can clearly hear the sounds hitting his face and crashing into his body. This helps the audience to feel like they are right next to him. 
Also when the dream is collapsing you can hear all the sounds of the building breaking and the water crashing through when he is pushed into the bath.

Rear Window Opening Analysis, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954

I have chosen to analysise this clip due to it been a Thriller movie, that does follow the conventions but is not high in violence. My film will not contain any voilence, much like Rear Window contains very low on screen amounts.

The camera is steady and comes towards the window. The curtains are drawn with a window been shown to the audience, we are not aware yet what it means. But through non-diagetic we see the words 'Rear Window', and 'Alfred Hitchcock' placed upon it, instantly showing us the type of film that we are about to watch, due to our previous knowledge of Alfred Hitchcock and his various work. Then the camera travels towards the window to establish the setting, a dolly zoom is used to create a dramatic entrance to the scene. The scenery from the window is shown and this is quite pleasant and create a peaceful atmosphere. However, through the window we can ehar the ambient sounds such as people in the streets and car horns going off, suggesting that something is about to happen from behind this window.





This is the first sequence we can see which could potentially contain some drama. As we are not aware what is going on, we can only hear the conversation what is being said, we begin to want to know more. I personally wanted to know what he was talking on the phone! The difference between this shot and the last is that this shot is shown from the outide looking in, maybe to show his relaxed expression, however, the earlier scene was in the outside looking out, giving the audience an early idea of what they are to expect. From his facial expression, we can see that his attention is not all focused on the phonecall, but he infact has something else on his mind. Placed after this shot, is a shot of what he is looking at, which we find to be the other people in their flat doing certain activities in their home.

The Beginning Clips & Their Influences

In this clip they use a master shot of a diner scene, and then they edit into it the shots of black and white to personify the feelings of each of the people inside the diner. When speaking in a way that influences the main character it is shown in black and white, however, when it is in reality, it is shown in colour.

The very influential ways of which they create effect from the audience, are through the music, when they are taking over the diner, there is metal music in the background. The music is very influential it shows the moods of the characters and what they are doing.

My influences from this scene are the use of the colours, the contrast between the colour and the black and white leaves the audience wondering what is going on. I would like to create this questioning from the audience. I will be using a all greys in my opening scene, and then cutting to colour after my opening sequence.



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Goodfellas follows the genre of Thriller, the use of crime drama, but also the way it uses a non-linear editing; i.e. the beginning been at the end.
I am choosing to use this order of scenes because it helps to create suspense towards the audience. I know this because as an audience member myself, when watching this scene of the film, I wanted to know more of what was going on, I also wanted to know:
- Who he is?
- Why they are stabbing him?
But mostly, what storyline the film would follow.

My influences from this video are the use of a non-linear start; in that the end of the film, or near the end is right at the beginning. But also I've taken the use of violence in this film, and used it to create suspense for my audience in my imagined sequence.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Analysis.

This opening sequence, is the beginning of the thriller film 'the girl with the dragon tattoo.' 

The beginning of this sequence is very abstract, it is what I am aiming for. Although mine will not be this long, I am aiming to be working with the music, in order to create a successful and   emotion building first scene.

This is one of the first scenes from the title sequence and just by looking into it, you can begin to see a number of things. One of these things is that just by looking at the scene which contains a small section of a keyboard, you can tell that there will be a lot of technology in this film. this is backed up by the scene in a few seconds where you can see a lot of USB wires. Also in this scene you see it says 'enter'. This signifies that you have to make a decision about whether you want to 'enter' and watch this film or not. Giving the audience a choice of what they would like to do.

In this sequence we can see the black liquid leaving the mouth of the person, the black coming out connotes the evil that is leaving her body, that had entered earlier in the opening scene. Also within this we can see signs of worrying, panic and suffering through this scene. 
The liquid around her has overtaken her life, it is actually inside her mouth, connoting that the story line is going to involve this person closely, and harm her in some way.







This scene also adds to the idea that there is lots of violence coming up in this film, due to the figure that we cans see within the fire burning alive.
This shot has a contrast from the rest of the images, due the use of colour that we have not seen before. The colour is very vibrant and connoting that this film is going to stand out.

Animatic

Film Studies A2 by Bethany Hirons on GoAnimate

Animated Presentations - Powered by GoAnimate.

I have had to stop using GoAnimate for my work as I am not able to get the right shots that I want to be using when shooting my film: for example, I couldnt not create the effect that my character is walking forward and the camera is shaking at the same time.

Noir Forrest

The effect I am trying to create in my imagined scene. I like the use of the light shining through from the back, and also the black.
I am using the graveyard on Sculcoates Lane which has been neglected for some years, the headstones date back to the 1800's and there are trees everywhere. The floor is covered in moss and leaves and this will be under the female body.

How will the audience know that this is not the opening?

1) It will say in non diagetic text on the screen that this is 2017, which will begin to make sense when they see the later clips and hear the voice over of the character talking about 1997, and then it will cut to 2016.

2) Another reason the audience will understand that it this is the end is due to the use of colour on the screen. I will not be using the conventional black and white however, I will be enhancing the use of blues and greys to show making it seem like much more of a dream world scenario.

This is using my film lanuage knowledge I have from my AS Coursework, and applying it to my coursework that I am doing now. I feel that with my extensive knowledge I can help the audience to understand.

Noir Music

I intended to use between 0.15 and 0.26 of this during the title sequence in my imagined clip. This will set the tone of my sequence to come, leading up to the voice over.
I found this video on YouTube, and will be extracting the sound to use in my animatic to see how it will sound. Due to my piece been the opening sequence, the titles will be shown but also they will appear with this music.

Characters & Casting Considerations

Guy Mckenzie
In my extensive research on Noir I found that Guy is a name used frequently as it suggests little about the character, the protagonist is the one in the screen play who all the other characters do not fit in with. My character will be based on Axeley from a recent Neo Noir film: L.A Confidential 1997. He will not fit in with the rest of the characters, he is a bit of a geek and applies by the rules, in the flashback we see a different side to him, however, in the pub, we see him ask for a martini which shocks the bar tender.
Guy will wear a suit, with slick back hair and glasses.
Guy will be played by Steven Mars.

Ed Exceley
Grey suit, slick back hair, black wide frame glasses.
The character is established through my next scene as a police officer, and therefore has to be wearing this suit so that the audience are aware of what his purpose is. 
His hair will be gelled back using hair gel,  my design of this character has come from watching L.A Confidential.
Although I have designed my character to look like Guy McKenzie, he has a very outgoing and overly confident personality, leading to him getting hated by the gang on district 12. Taking ideas from Chinatown, I have chosen to make him look vulrnable, i.e. getting attacked in the first few shots, meaning he will be wearing a bandage on his face.





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Chosen Cast Main Character

I have chosen to use this as my character because I feel that he portrays the 'Guy Pearce' style appeal that I have chosen to use.
In order to get my character to look in the appeal, I got him to wear a suit, slick back hair + makeup to clear any imperfections.









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Consideration Number 1:



I did not use my first consideration due to the colour of his hair. Although something so little, when doing research into characters, it is much more widely known that darker hair is known when having confident and loud characters. An example of this would be the characters played by Robert Downey Junior.









Casting Considerations 2:

I did not use this consideration due to colliding planning schedules. He was unable to make the shooting schedule I had to prepare and therefore I had to form a contingency plan.











Casting Consideration 3:



I decided not to use Blue in my filming due to the same reason as number 1; hair colour but also because of his childlike face. When looking at Blue, I didn't feel like an audience would be intimidated by his stature.

Reconstruction Finished & Evaluation

Our finished piece of work filmed in Wyke Sixth Form College, this is starring Harley Young, Myself (Bethany Hirons), Ellie Walker and Katie Smith.

Evaluation

In order for us to produce this task we had to be placed into group consisting of between 4 and 5 people. As a group we had to deconstruct and reconstruct the opening sequence of ‘the maltese falcon,’ by creating a storyboard, handing out roles between the members of the group, decide on locations, props and costumes.

I feel from this task I have gained some new skills; there are working to a shooting schedule, using inniative when plans are going wrong, shooting different camera angles and also how to use an editing suite thoroughly for a longer period of time. The final piece was not as long as we intended it to be, due to shooting problems, this has taught me and the group members that pre planning thoroughly is essential to make a film and produce it thoroughly on time.

Along with the positives that came with making this preliminary piece, we also had some problems to face, Amy Fenwick (the storyboard artist in our group) was ill for the majority of our lessons together, making it awkward for us to prove that we were planned enough to shoot. We overcame this problem by filming in a room within college which had an overhead projector inside, so that we could watch the film whilst we were shooting, this was to make sure we got the best camera angles to match the piece we were reconstructing as possible. However, one thing which we did not do, was shoot all of the scenes from one camera angle at the same time, so we did not have continuity between the over the shoulder shots.

The room that we had planned to shoot in within college was a small office, used for exams, however, when it came to our first day to shoot the fire alarm went off, meaning that was one lesson less for us to shoot, but the other times the room was also full, making it harder for us to shoot in there, leading to a scene change on our last day of shooting, which is noticeable within our final piece through the change in scenery. One way of which we could have got over this would be too make sure we plan with Selena (the officer in charge of the room), when we are able to use the room during our lessons, study periods or own time.

Using the editing suite also proved a problem for our group, we had used a camera which took tape, meaning that when we put the footage onto the editing suite, we lost some of our footage in the process and also had to sort through some other pieces checking what was needed and what was not. Although a positive of this experience is that I know when I shoot my final piece, to use a memory stick if possible as the technology is much more reliable.

I feel from this piece of work,  I have learnt to use camera angles effectively, use editing suites with ease but also that working as a team is essential in making a successful clip. If I was to do this again, I would use better planning and also making sure that everyone is aware of the script.

Deconstruction + Reconstruction Plan

Group:
Katie Smith (www.katiesmitha2.blogspot.com)
Ellie Walker (www.elliewalkera2filmstudies.blogspot.co.uk)
Harley Young (www.harleyyoungfilmstudies.blogspot.com)
Amy Fenwick (www.a2filmstudiesamyfenwick.blogspot.co.uk)
Bethany Hirons (www.bethanyhironsfilmstudiesa2.blogspot.com)

Director - Amy Fenwick
Producer - Beth Hirons
Camera Operator - Ellie Walker
Storyboard Artist - Amy Fenwick
Production Manager - Harley Young
Editor - Katie Smith

Actors:
Spade - Harley Young
Archer - Katie Smith
Miss Wonderly - Beth Hirons
Effie - Ellie Walker

Possible location:
Oak 37
Green Room
College Field

Costume:
Spade - Black suit
Effie - Dark dress
Miss Wonderly - Dark womens suit, Faux fur around neck, Fascinator, black gloves
Archer - Trilby, dark suit, flower in front pocket.

Props:
Cigarette Skin, Fake Cigarette, Hand bag, Pen + Paper, Gun, Teabag

2/10 - Initial Production Plannig, deciding on costumes
3/10 - Storyboard begins to be made, aim to have all of it done
4/10 - Begin filming in Oak 41
8/10 - Finish the filming process
9/10 - Any last shots to be finished
10/10 - Begin the editing process, putting all sequences into order and timings
11/10 - Turning them into black and white and exporting it onto a memory disk to go onto our blogs.


Shots:
Location
We chose to use this location because it is alike that of the one used in Maltee Falcon.
We however, will have to hide the computer and the printer, as the film did not exist in the time of technology.

We chose to take this photo of the sanfransico scene because it matches the start of the Maltese Falcon. We used the camera to do a close up of this image, appearing as if we filmed it on set.








 This was the font we used for the window scene, we used microsoft word to make this.