Here are some good websites I found about how to make storyboards and what they should look like:
How to Storyboard a Movie
This is a very simple video showing the basics on how to create your own storyboard for a movie, great for beginners and a good overview.
How to create a movie storyboard in simple steps
This is another website that explains briefly how to create a storyboard, with explanations of why you do each step and a good example using black & white film noir.
Lesson: Thumbnail Storyboard
This page from WikiUniversity explains how to create a simple thumbnail storyboard, a great activity to get you started with storyboarding. It also has lots of examples from users that have uploaded their own finished storyboards.
Reasons why a storyboard is an essential part of the film-making process
It allows the director to visualise all the shots and scenes they want to appear on the screen in the movie.
It makes it easier to see whether the director's ideas will work on screen when the script is broken down into parts and put on the storyboard.
It helps the director to make important decisions like how the shots are sequenced, the movement of the actors, and the lighting and camera directions.
It illustrates how the story will flow between shots when the audience watches the finished film.
It is a basis for discussion between the film director and the director of photography to decide how each shot will be acted, lit and shot.
Storyboards on the whole make it much easier to show visual and dramatic ideas.
P is for ‘Psycho’
a) What is happening in the opening sequence of the film?
In the opening sequence, firstly we see a toilet door with low key lighting, then the shot mixes into a low angle of a man’s legs indoors somewhere. The camera then tilts upwards to show the man’s top half at a low angle, and he is bent over a sink. It then cuts to a high angle close-up shot of various objects, including a watch, a wallet and a photograph, and the camera very slowly pans from left to right across these objects. We then see a close-up of a plug hole with blood flowing round and down into the sink, then it cuts to show another close-up, making the scene seem very tense and claustrophobic, this time of the man’s hand wrapping a bandage around his other hand. We assume that it is his blood running down the sink. It then cuts to a close-up mirror image of his clenched fist, wrapped in bandage, then the camera tilts up to finally reveal the man’s face, adding to the tension and mystery of the scene. The man’s head turns quickly and the shot blurs, then we hear the sound of a door opening, suggesting that there is someone entering the bathroom who will soon come face to face with this wounded man. We then see a mid-shot of a boy entering the room, then cut to the man tucking a gun into his belt, making us even more suspicious and frightened of this man. There is then a shadowy ECU of the man’s eyes, making him seem very creepy and menacing, and then he says, “Bad move, kid.” The scene then fades to black before a pause, then we hear two loud ‘BANG!’ noises, leaving the audience to guess that the man has shot this poor, innocent boy.
b) How is the narrative flow established?
The scene uses a large variety of close-ups and mid-shots to make it seem diverse and to keep it snappy and interesting. There are a lot of close-ups, and one extreme close-up, to create intensity and to make the viewer seem right in the middle of the action, and to add mystery as we often can’t see the whole picture of what’s going on. There are quite a lot of simple cuts to keep the sequence fast-paced and exciting, plus some slower tilts that create suspense as we wait for the camera to reveal whatever it is revealing. The shots are all in chronological order and happening in real time, so there is no jumping between different times or places. We are deliberately not shown what has happened to the man before he enters the bathroom, so the audience is left guessing.
c) If you were directing this sequence, what aspects of the storyboard would you like to change?
I think that I would change the ‘very slow’ pan across the objects into a quick flash of each object, as that would keep up with the fast pace of the sequence and waste less screen time. I don’t really see any reason to show all of his belongings so slowly, and I think it would create more confusion to the viewers if each object were just to be shown separately and very quickly, which is what I would what them to feel. At the end, I think it would be more effective if, instead of just fading to black, the camera showed the outside toilet door again, similar to the very first shot, and then we heard the ‘BANG’ noises from out there, as it would nicely link to the beginning of the sequence and would be more effective from the viewer’s point of view than just a black screen. I think maybe the main man should look a little more shifty and suspicious in his actions, as he seems a bit too calm in the sequence, so personally I would make his actions more urgent and purposeful. This would also speed up the pace and make it seem more action-packed and tense.
I have chosen to analyse the opening sequence of Secret Window, a psychologicalthriller starring Johnny Depp and directed by David Koepp. The film is rated 12 and is based on the book Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King. The clip I have chosen to analyse stops 4.30 minutes into the YouTube video.
The sequence takes place first around and inside a motel, then in a house in a forest. The beginning of the clip takes place within a few minutes, then after the titles it jumps to six months later.
The beginning of the story takes place in a car park outside a motel at night during a snowstorm. We see our main character sitting in a car, looking angry. We hear his thoughts, and he is telling himself to turn the car around and leave. After starting to drive away, he then reverses back to the motel, exits his car and steals some keys from inside the reception before driving across the car lot and breaking into one of the motel rooms to find a man and a woman in bed inside. We see they are screaming at each other, but the music and sound effects drown it out so we can’t hear anything that is being said. We can see that all the characters are distressed, especially our main character that can’t seem to believe what is happening. The camera then moves out of the motel to show the storm outside again, then cross-fades to a beautiful blue lake surrounded by trees. The titles then come up as the camera moves across the lake then shows a lone house amongst the trees. The camera moves slowly up to the house and through an open window, then moves around to show various things inside like a laptop with a word document open. The camera then goes into a mirror and seemingly through it, to focus on a scruffy-looking man lying on a sofa, facing away from us. We hear a knock on the door and then a title comes up saying, ‘Six months later’.
The order of events is very significant in this particular opening sequence, as it allows us to see that something has happened at the beginning of the story to distress our character, making us wonder what exactly happened and how it affected him. The shift to six months later is important because we don’t know what has gone on since the event at the beginning of the film and what situation the character is in right now. We can tell from the first scene that he probably isn’t in a very good place, as the first scene shows that he has been betrayed by someone he loves. We can also see that he probably isn’t very mentally stable because of the way he stormed into the motel, stealing from the owner to do so, and started screaming in a crazed way at the couple in this bed. This sets up the rest of the story nicely because we wonder how his mental state will relate to the events in the story and what exactly will happen to him. The event at the beginning of the film and the ‘six months later’ scene are clearly linked as they involve the same main character, and the situation at the start of the film clearly affected his life greatly and is probably still affecting him six months later, so they are definitely connected.
The first character we are introduced to is a man in his 30s or early 40s, fairly scruffy with long hair and stubble. He is wearing a hat, scarf and coat, in relation to the blizzard outside, and puts on a pair of glasses. He is sitting behind the wheel of a car, alone. We don’t hear him speak out loud throughout the opening sequence, but we hear his thoughts. He is telling himself to “Turn around. Turn around. Turn the car around,” whilst looking very serious, showing that he is quite conflicted and his brain is telling him to do something but he can’t seem to bring himself to do it. When he drives back to the motel and steals the keys before breaking into the room, we can see that he is reckless and quite impulsive, and doesn’t always listen to what his brain is telling him. When he goes inside we briefly meet two more characters, a man and a woman in bed together, and we can assume that the woman is our main character’s wife or girlfriend. Their actions are possibly what trigger a lot of the events to follow, as this incident is obviously very relevant to the plot, otherwise we wouldn’t be shown it as the first scene in the whole film. We are also meant to feel sorry for our main character, as he has been betrayed and he is obviously in a lot of torment over this, letting us know that he is the good guy in all of this. Within the first scene, we already have a bond with the main character and will probably root for him throughout the entire film. In the next scene, we are shown a lot of his house and his possessions, and from this we can gather that he is some kind of writer by the document open on his laptop, and also that he is pretty unorganised by the mess around his home. The big hole in his dressing gown and his unkempt hair also add to the idea that he is not too bothered about the upkeep of himself or his home. The fact that he is asleep on his sofa during the day suggests that he doesn’t have any kind of routine to his life, and that he doesn’t have a regular job or much to do with himself. Because he is still living like this six months after the revelation of his wife’s affair implies that he has not moved on and is probably stuck in some kid of rut.
Not a lot of story information is revealed to the audience apart from the fact that the main character has caught his wife cheating on him. From the opening sequence we certainly don’t have any indication of what the main plot will be, but we can guess that it has something to do with his trauma and perhaps his not-so-stable mental state. The reasons why his wife cheated on him are withheld, along with who the other man was. I think the way the camera seems to move through the mirror and out the other side (4.00 mins in) is very significant, and something I don’t think I’d noticed before now, despite watching this film twice before. It is quite a strange thing to do, and it creates a sense of mystery and distortion, whilst suggesting to the audience that everything is not quite as it seems, and maybe even that the events in this movie aren’t actually happening in the way we think they are. After watching the rest of the movie, it becomes apparent how true that is. The setting of the film is also very relevant, as the main character is living in a completely isolated house in the middle of a forest, creating the perfect set up for all sorts of mysterious happenings, as there is no-one else nearby, especially as we assume that the character is living alone. The beautiful setting, with the bright blue lake, is almost too perfect to be true and the audience can tell that something is going to go wrong. The ominous music throughout the opening sequence also adds to the idea that something sinister is going to happen, and that there won’t necessarily be a happy ending for our main character.
The audience is left wondering what went wrong with his marriage, why the camera moved through the mirror, what has happened since the scene at the start of the film and who is knocking at the door. Really, we know very little about the main character, so hopefully the audience will be intrigued to continue watching and find out the answers to these questions.
I took part in an activity where we had to compose and
photograph film stills that connote a certain genre. Here is my favourite shot from within my group:
1. Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be described as representing your chosen genre
MCU of feet with a hand dangling next to the feet. Frame within a frame - the bottom of the toilet cubicle door can be seen as well as the floor and some dark background on both sides. The feet are wearing dirty pink converse trainers with the laces untied, looking awkward, making the character look more vulnerable and in a mess. The dangling hand has black nail varnish and a bleeding cut on one hand, adding to the darkness of the shot (along with the shadows)and the blood adds gore and horror, signifying the slasher/thriller genre. It also suggests it is for teens as the shoes and nail varnish look like those of a teenage girl.
2. What did you actually do to achieve the effect?
I (the model) sat on the toilet (with the seat down!) and hung my hand by my feet. My hand was already bleeding from an unrelated incident earlier in the day so no fake blood was needed. Charley (the photographer of this shot) crouched down and pointed the camera under the cubicle. We turned all the lights off and just used a pag light to create a lit-up effect on the feet and feet, with shadows all around.
3. Identify what is successful about your shot
I think it actually looks pretty scary because of the blood and the creepy shadows in the background. The styling of the model clearly connotate that it is a film for teenagers, and I like the way the pink of the trainers and the red of the blood stand out from the darkness of the rest of the photo. I also like the way it is shot from under the cubicle, as it suggests that the killer/enemy is creeping up to the victim and peering under the cubicle to get her.
4. What would you do differently in hindsight?
We didn't actually have time to edit the shot, so if we did I would have rotated it, as the horizon is slightly off, and it is not wonky enough to look deliberate. I would also have gotten rid of the toilet roll in the background, as it is quite distracting and ruins the darkness of the background. I would also have brightened and turned up the contrast to make the blood stand out even more and the surroundings even darker to really make it look sinister.
Hi, my name is Jessand I am 17 years old. I am currently in year 12 at Latymer, studying Media, Economics, English Literature and Philosophy/Ethics. I have always loved watching films from a very young age and hope to study Film & Literature at University. Afterwards I want to pursue a career in Media, though doing what exactly I am not sure yet.
