The first page (shown to the left) establishes the setting of the first scene.In this scene shown on the first shot, there is a man driving in his car on his way back from work. Showing a strong male character is already reassuring the audience that there is a sense of safety, however the car is alone and so is the man. This represents isolation whilst introducing the main character, therefore making the audience clearly aware of what's going on. I felt this would be a wise idea as it sets the scene well and introduces the main character of the opening sequence well. I felt by doing panning, therefore showing every action of the car gave a thriller-like feel to it as it looks like the car is being watched, this in forces a sense of suspense which is crucial because it follows the conventions of a thriller. Despite the element of using a male as the main character, representing safety and strength, the loneliness of this character driving in a quiet road also contradicts the character as when someone is alone they're thought of as vulnerable.
Continuing onto the next shot which is POV, it shows what the main character is able to see and once again reinforcing the surroundings of where the opening sequence is set, yet misleads the audience as they aren't aware at that point, that the 'crime scene' is in a different location. To help introduce another character, 'Stacey' whom is the wife, it shows an introduction to another important character, this shows the audience that the opening is imaginative and creative as it introduces not only new characters, but the possibility for new locations, therefore engaging the audience.
I feel the first four shots shows clear understanding on my behalf on where to position each character and how to establish clear pieces of important and relevant information to the audience. Including things like a long shot allows me to show the audience all the property within the room and the layout helps the audience to become familiar and actually helps to create a relationship with the audience.
Looking at the second page of the shots I believe would be successful if used in our group story board, I believed the duration time for frame number 5 to be 8 seconds as it is a long enough time to show the audience about layout and allow them enough time to pay attention to detail subconsciously, therefore when something bad happens, they will already know the layout of the house and save confusion. Having iconography such as a knife within this shot contributes to the many conventions of a thriller that I have included, as well as low key lighting and the loneliness of this female victim showing vulnerability. This shot also allows us to see the important of the unlocked back door behind her, giving the audience a sense of foreboding.
By then including POV which was previously used in the shots before hand when 'Dave' is looking at the road whilst driving, makes the audience believe the character entering the house is him. This is misleading to the audience and would create a large element of shock, surprise and suspense because as the scene continues, the camera angle changes to birds eye view of Dave getting out of his car that's pulled onto the drive, and walking up towards the front door. By this point, I would have deeply engaged the audience to pay close attention to what's going on and this would heighten the tension amongst the audience.
Looking at the third and last sheet of paper which contains all of the elements I believe would be successful, I have included in the final shots conventions of a thriller film such as small dialogue, this is shown when my character 'Dave' comes home and says 'Honey, I'm home!'. Dave is greeted back with a silent response from his empty house and begins wondering around. I believed this would be powerful within my opening sequence as it shows the stereotypical idea of a husband arriving home to his wife but confuses Dave as well as the audience into a false sense of security, which I felt was a strong feature to include.
The last shot is a close up of the killer, the dark background with the killers mask highlighted makes the audience feel insecure and tense. Throughout the thriller there is no sign of what the killer looks like and once Dave arrives home, it is unclear as to whether or not the killer is still in the house. By having this close up of him, with a scary and scared mask with blood stains on them, it indicates the danger that goes with this character, and when the screen goes blank after seeing this killer, it engages the audience further to want to carry on watching this thriller. Another feature that adds to this is the fact that this killer is still masked, and in most thrillers there is a sense of enigma- it is an important convention to a thriller, therefore by including this into my own idea I felt it would be powerful to help sustain the attention from the audience that's needed.
By having done and created my own story board, I was able to realize the importance of each element that go hand-in-hand with a successful thriller. I was able to get a clearer understanding of how to pursue my ideas and hope that they come out as good as I imagined. I feel I have included some strong elements and conventions that I believe to be helpful when creating my group story board, when we all converse with one another and gain ideas from each other that we would deem fit to put in our own opening sequence. It is important within a thriller to have shock, suspense and surprise and I feel that my story board contains all of these things that are shown above in my 12 frames. However, if I were to redo this I would most definitely explore more techniques by adding more frames into it which would allow me to use a wider variety of conventions that include editing, camera shot, iconography, lighting, sound and editing. I do feel that when it comes to creating the group story board though, my ideas are creative enough to help contribute to a successful production.
Excellent evaluation of your storyboard explaining content, micro-elements used, conventions and ideas behind it as well as a detailed summary.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could mention how these elements might help the audience build a relationship with characters?