Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

Individual Storyboard

A storyboard is made in order to keep track of the chain of events in the film and get the events down in chronological order on paper. This helps because it means the filmmakers can get a sense of what they will do in order to tell the narrative and if what they are planning is coherent to the audience. This also helps because they can get a rough picture of what they want the scene to look like and what they want in it and how they would like to organize the different micro-elements to their liking.

Before we start our group storyboard for when we come to filming, we have made individual storyboards between the three of us in order to all show each other what we think the opening sequence should look like. This helps when we come to our group storyboard as it will allow us to lift different pieces of our storyboards into our final one so we can get the best of what we have planned and make sure everyone has contributed to the final piece. I have made sure to include specific elements within my storyboard in order to make it more conventional and to help the audience to engage in my narrative.

My Storyboard:

An example of what I have included is a tracking shot on the victim. I would like to see a tracking shot follow the victim as she walks into the school and end just before she enters the building, shown in frame 7. This tells the audience that there is someone watching her and that she has something sinister lurking close to her, while the school is used to 'protect' her from the evil as the shot ends as she walks in. This will create suspense in the audience as they don't know whether this is something following her or not and if she will be attacked before she can get to safety or not. This leads the audience to worry for the victim as she has been presented as an innocent character that does not deserve to die, while also creating suspense as the audience are concerned that the killer might hurt innocent children in the school as well. I took inspiration from the opening sequence of 'Scream' when Drew Barrymore's character is moving around the house and being tormented by the killer, while the audience are unsure of when he will attack as the shot isn't point of view but the attention is still centered on the victim.

Another example of what I have included is for the killer's identity to be hidden. This is shown in frame number 5, wherein the killer has his back to the audience with a mask on as he looks at the planning board. This tells the audience that the killer is attempting to stay hidden from his victim, connoting that he doesn't want to get caught and plans on killing again afterwards, also suggesting that the girl on the board isn't that important to him. This will create suspense in the audience as they will be unable to spot the killer and know who he is truly is, making it harder for him to come to justice as no one will know who they are looking for. This intrigues the audience as they want to know who the killer is and why he is targeting women in order to find a way to stop him that the victim will also be able to find and use in order to save herself. I took inspiration from 'Halloween' and it's opening sequence as the audience are not shown who the killer is as they see the events from his point of view, something that creates suspense as they do not know what they are going to see next as they don't truly know the character, something I think I will also be able to do.

Another example of what I have included is the use of a knife. This is shown in frame number 16, where the Creep is lying on the floor with a knife sticking out of him in a pool of blood. This connotes to the audience the danger that the victim and characters around her as in as the killer is able to wield a deadly weapon with no one able to overpower and himself being able to get away cleanly while using it. This creates shock in the audience as it is a sudden reveal of the use of a knife that the audience may not have been expecting, and so now they have to start thinking of how a knife will be used in the rest of the sequence and if the killer will use on the victim. This makes the audience worry for the victim as she is unprepared, as women are stereotyped as being weak, and may not be able to defend herself should the killer attack her with a knife, so her chances of surviving are slim. I took inspiration from 'The Shining' in which the killer wields an axe to kill people and, while this is very different from a knife, I like the physical dominance that is attributed to the killer when a weapon is involved as it shows the audience that the killer has more than just his strength at his disposal.

I think my storyboard would be conventional on it's own and engage the audience due to having an interesting narrative and the use of conventional features, like the use of a knife and a female victim. This will help my group as when we are making the group storyboard we can use what I have done and the conventional parts and put them into the storyboard while adding my other group member's ideas in order to create an idea that contains all of the best parts and ideas form all of our pieces. Something I would like to change is the lack of iconography in the sequence by adding more items that can also add to the narrative, with another thing I'd like to change being the editing as I have used many straight cuts in a row that I need to change in order to create a varied and refreshing sequence that the audience will not get bored with.