Our Storyboard

This is our storyboard for our Thriller Idea 'Dammia'

Storyboard drawn by Amr
Edited and Written by Natasha, Olly and Naomi

What is and How Are Storyboards Used in the Film Industry

Since the production of movies storyboards have become a fundamental process of the pre-production stage.

A storyboard shows shot to shot of what happens in the scene and shows what is inside the frame, it also allows to plan the timing/duration of a shot, location, Camera angle/movement, Sound and Lighting

Storyboards are visual aids for the crew and director of a film, they simplify the scenes into a simply and comprehendible structure. They help plan the ideas of a film and as well are easy to re-arrange and experiment with in case the director wants to try something differently. Additionally, it helps give a sense to how the scene will be filmed and what will be inside the frame. It also saves a lot of time and money in pre-production instead of doing complicated CGI storyboards; it allows more time for changes to the scene and is cost-efficient. It also is helpful for the editor in post-production because it gives them a sense of the directors perspective. Lastly, It helps everyone to be organised on the same page when filming.

Nowadays, films are becoming much more expensive and technical to film and storyboards help save time and money in pre-production. It gives a simple and clear of the directors views and intentions.

Here are some famous Storyboards:

The Bridge

Psycho

Harry Potter

Star Wars

'Dammia' Thriller Pitch: Outline, Casting and Location

Test Shoot:

Feedback and New Scene Outline

Feedback:

After pitching our idea we received various feedback to improve and fix a few elements to the opening sequences:

• The girl should be dead , in order to avoid the stereotype of a girl being drugged up. We decided that the girl will be the man’s dead sister, which he has dug up from a grave

• We have removed the teddy bear and the shots of the clock ticking.One of the points was to show more parts of her getting ready instead of just the face. E.g. nails painted, corset being tied.

• We were also told that the man should show more affection towards the girl. More care and love like a brother and sister relationship.

• Additionally, the needle of the record player should hit the end of run. 

New Scene Outline:

•       Sink, water coming out

•       Brushing teeth

•       Dribble it out

•       Hair in sink, mud washing out

•       Pan of dressing table 

•       Eyelashes being curled

•       Hair Dryer blowing hair

•       Eyeliner being put on 

•       Mascara being put on

•       Record player

•       Brushing dirt of nails

•       Brush hitting powder

•       Powder putting on girl

•       Lip stick being taken out

•       Lip stick being put on lips

•       Dress/corset being tightened

•       Brushing of hair

•       Needle of record hits the end

•       Nails being painting  

•       Curling hair

•       Mans hand record being turned off 

•       Picking up leather gloves

•       Cotton swab cleaning dirt of toe nails

•       Leather gloves being put on by man

•       Girls blue feet shown.

•       Man walks out

•       Black out.

The parts highlighted in gold are the addition and changes we have made to the original scene outline

Reflection of test shoot

Reflection on test shoot:

During our shoot and after editing, we discovered some changes we would like to make to the opening sequence.  Overall, I felt that our test shoot was a really gave the sense of a thriller, the shots we took conveyed a very tense and eerie vibe. The shots we filmed (e.g. lipstick being applied on lips) kept the audience on edge. Additionally, the ambiguous situation placed the audience in a threatened situation, thus amplifying the tension.

The pace of the opening sequence could be faster, we could cut between shots faster, and slightly extend some shot s in order to create a contrast and variety between shot lengths. The length of the test shoot was 1:45 minutes, therefore we could add more shots of make-up being applied and shots of the room to increase the length up to 2 minutes.

The idea we are trying to convey is clear to the audience to a certain extent. I feel that we should add more clues that she has been kidnapped. However the challenge, would be to give more information of her being kidnapped, however maintain the mystery and tension of ‘who is applying the make-up’. We could re-organise the shots in order to start giving very small clues mid-way through the clip, so by the end it the audience would understand that she is not applying her make-up.

I believe that tension was successfully created in our test-shoot. This was especially seen with the diegetic sound of the hair-brush pulling her hair and the toothbrush brushing her teeth. Small elements and details within the clip created a tense environment.

We would prefer to have more variety of camera angles to create a more interesting aspect to the footage. When filming our real thriller we would like to use a Macro-lens in order to get closer to the subject (girl) especially when filming details such as the eye-liner being applied and blush powder floating in the air. We need to include different camera angles and movement to give another dynamic to the clip rather than use many close-up shots focusing on the girl. This would also affect the pace e.g. close-ups tend to make the pace faster whilst long-shots generally slow down the pace.

We need to add more hints that she is not getting ready herself in order to create a more uncertain and mysterious element to the clip. It would also confuse the audience more which will keep them intrigued until they discover that she is being dressed up by the grown man.

I think generally there weren’t any major problems that we encountered whilst filming however there are many features that we could develop, for example: The sound of the brush pulling her hair. We could extract this sound and amplify and stretch the sound to make it more dramatic and emphasis the moment.

Overall, I feel that the test shoot has efficiently used the thriller conventions to create a suspenseful tone to the piece. We have all the elements to create the opening sequence; however we just need to develop some of the ideas and increase the length of the clip, in order to get an impactful, opening sequence.

These are photos of the filming process

 (photos provided by Natasha Hall):

Test Shoot Video

Footage of the Rehearsal Shoot:

We carried out a test shoot, for our thriller idea to give us an understanding of what our idea would look like on camera. We had to prepare all the props (make-up) and as well figure out the layout of the set. We planned, and understood the logistics of filming at extreme close-ups; and the lighting angles to use, because when the make-up was applied the shadow of the other actor covered the girl. It helped us to learn how to film the subject because the make-up being applied is a very awkward movement to capture when you are at very close proximity to the actor.  The test shoot also helped us in pitching our idea and giving people a visual understanding of our thriller. 

Below is the attached test shoot, that we filmed and edited.

 By Olly, Natasha, Naomi and Amr

Outline of Concept Idea and Pre-production plans

Dammia Thriller

It starts with a close-up shot of a girl brushing her teeth. It then cuts to the girls eyelashes being curled with an eye-lash curler. It then cuts to of a shot of a pill bottle which is spilled with pills on the table, this connotes she has been drugged . Then it cuts back to the girl putting on mascara, putting on blush and then lipstick. Then you see a man’s hand reach out and turn on the radio. All the make-up is put on very badly and messy. It cuts to a shot of the girl brushing her hair. Then the hand of a man turns the radio off. The audience then realizes that the girl was being dressed up by the man. There is a dolly out of the room. The man walks out, leaving the girl behind. 

(Dammia is Arabic for Doll)

Pre-production:

List of locations you need:

·       Bedroom (substitute school common room)

·       Later on we plan on constructing a bedroom in the studio.

Characters you need:

·       Girl aged 16-18 (used Naomi 16 years old)

·       Man aged 40+ (used Amr, 16 years old)

Is there a way around a difficult shoot:

·       We needed a bedroom, we used a common room instead. We used an old DVD player, but we wanted to use a record player.

What props do you need:

·       Hair brush

·       Tooth paste

·       Tooth brush

·       Mascara

·       Eyeliner

·       Lipstick

·       Eye Lash Curler

·       Blush

·       Make-up Brush

·       Eye-liner

·       Record Player