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Storyboard to Final Product - Similarities and Differences

Our original story changed drastically due to changing circumstances and the group were not happy with the original story idea. After making a new storyboard we began filming our thriller opening, again due to circumstances and time and materials available to us we had to make some changes to our storyboard while filming.

Similarities

The red theme remained throughout the opening sequence, this meant the main actress always had something red about her e.g. red lipstick, red gloves and hat etc. it also meant that any red in the scenes would also stand out from the background.

The general concept didn't change either, this was that the woman looked to be a murderer with the red theme suggesting danger or murder.

We needed to change some props due to the availability and scene changes, but most of the props stayed the same such as the use of a newspaper and red accessories.

Most of the shot types stayed the same as we planned them to be.

This is the bridge scene the concept stayed the same as you can see the main character is wearing red shoes, gloves and hat. But the shot type has changed because of the practical spots availbe for the tripod.

The lipstick scene has stayed exactly how we planned it to be in the storyboard because the close up shot keeps the enigma of who she is.

Differences

The order of the scenes had changed completely as when editing I decided that it would work better in a different order.

Some of the scenes were removed, they were removed because we didn't have the time, props or actors we needed to do them.

Some scenes were altered (shot types and props) this is because when filming a different shot type would work better or we couldn't do the shot type we wanted to do. Some of the props were also changed due to availability and we didn't get round to organising everything we needed.
In the image from our storyboard above the teacher was meant to wear a red tie, however we didn't have a red tie that we could use and we had to find a teacher to star in our film very last minute so didn't have time to organise getting a red tie for him.

Some scenes were added, these were to replace the scenes that we couldn't film so had to cut.

When editing the thriller opening I also changed how scenes were broken up with font, I put in font where I felt it was more appropriate to making transitions to another scene.

We added a new scene which took place in a shop, this replaced the scene with the mother and child (see the image from our storyboard below)

Deleted scenes
We got rid of the scene where a boy was doing homework and the scene were the main character is rolling a ten pound note we also got rid of the scene where the main character is painting her nails red and we got rid of the final scene of our storyboard where there was a bin in a dark alleyway. We got rid of these scenes because either we did not have the time, people or locations available when we were filming.

(pictures to go here)

recce photos

These are recce photos for our new storyboard. We went round Wem and took pictures of where might be good to film we wanted to include red signs or doors in our photos as these would be in keeping with the red theme. We took a picture of a funeral parlour with a red sign because it was symbolic of death. We also took pictures of alleyways because its concealed and has negative connotations also we decided we needed to film in an alleyway for our storyboard. i took pictures of other things that weren't in the storyboard but were possible backup locations like the train platform.

New Storyboard

As a group we discussed what we'd like our thriller opening to be like, this meant we discussed locations, props, characters, shot types, mise en scene and setting. We decided to not reveal the killers identity but to have her in the opening wearing red because of the connotations that go with it, passion, lust, blood, anger and love. We decided to emphasize the red by having black and white as the only other colours. The back and white background also gave the film a gloomy dark feel which is in keeping in line with the idea of a thriller. The main way we decided to set the scene and story was to show a newspaper with "killer strikes" on the front cover. This was a good way because it is an obvious enigma that gets the people watching interested

We decided to set a few enigmas, not only did we decide to have the killer in our opening but we decided to have other characters as as well, by having extreme close up shots on parts of the face or on the back of their head we kept an enigma. We introduced the characters with multiple narratives most featured a newspaper with killer strikes on the front, we decided most of the characters should act shocked or drop something to give a sense of an uneasy town with a murderer about.

We are going to set the mise en scene through a variety of methods for the kitchen shot we will have a sink and jars of jam etc in the background, for the office in the school the character will be dressed as a teacher. We used generic conventions for a thriller such as using enigmas, using black and white, showing emotions using red to connote blood, passion, death, anger, a knife dipped in jam in the kitchen scene connoting a knife dripping in blood or a knife being dropped after a murder.

Continuity Exercise

We planned a continuity exercise to to understand how shots can give significant information 

We made a simple storyboard to film.

This is my finished video I missed out the shot of the man waiting in the lift.

Jib shot practice

For our thriller opening we decided to use a jib shot of a person sleeping so we would see them from above and it would slowly zoom in and round to their face. This is my test shot, the real shot will be of a man on a bed, we are hoping to use the Boarding House for some indoor scenes.

Thriller opening ideas from group discussion

We had a meeting to discuss what our final thriller opening would be, here are the notes I took during the meeting.