Reflective Analysis for Storyboards
The genre and atmosphere I aimed to achieve when creating my storyboards was a mix of both horror and suspense which I though was best don't through the usage of shadow play, a variety of shots and the implication of tense atmosphere brought on by little music and mostly non-diegetic sounds. The basic plot of my film was the well known story of possession which has been explored greatly throughout the film industry in an overall similar fashion which I used as my inspiration for the shots in the film. The pictures focus on the final stage of 'demonic posession' happening to my character Rachel. This implies that there is a longer story with the other two stages, ('Infestation' and 'Opression') but my veiw when creating the story was that it is a stand alone piece rather than an extract.
My first shot of the storyboards is an establishing shot of a fairly normal, suburban house standing alone in an empty space with only trees around it. I purposely chose a modern house as opposed to a run down mansion frequently seen in other horror genres as it explores the idea that demonic possession can happen to everyone whether you are living in a lovely suburban neighbourhood or a wooden shack in the middle of nowhere. I also realised after watching many of the latest horror films that hardly any take place in traditional haunted buildings anymore and instead focus on a fairly normal all American family. The camera would remain still throughout this shot and the only sounds heard would be a non-diegetic sound of an owls hoot and a strong wind, crating the diegetic sound of the trees rustling. This of course is once again, a well known trope throughout this genre used often. I used it to set the scene for the audience so they would have a slight knowledge as to what type of story was being told.
The shot would then abruptly cut to a shot of my character Rachel sitting sprawled out at the very top of her stairs, a dead, lifeless look of her face staring passively down the stairs. The use of a torch was used in an attempt to create a prominent shadow around Rachel's frame to create the illusion of her being surrounded. The shot is high-key lighting in order to achieve these shadows while also drawing attention to a certain darkness around her. For the shots we purposely messed up Rachel's hair and had her wear no make up except around her eyes to create the illusion of dark circles. This was so the audience could see that Rachel is very tired and stressed straight away.
That shot would then cut into a point of view shot of the bottom of the stairs, very well lit and warm as opposed to the upstairs which is lit only by a single light. The point of this was to show Rachel being taken in by the 'darkness' but still craving light. A tracking shot is then used to show Rachel's attention shifting to the door on the left, which was accidentally left well lit on the inside when it was initially meant to be very dark. The track would be very slow as to show Rachel's drowsiness. The sound effects used for the shots 2-8 would be a non-diegetic tap dripping steadily in the background and diegetic heavy breathing from Rachel because they are heavily linked with psychosis.
A close up shot of Rachel's face would be the next shot, in order to actually see her looking towards the door. Rachel would blink a couple of times as if coming back to reality and then slowly close her eyes to prepare.
The next shot would go back to shot 2 which is a wide shot of Rachel on the stairs, only this time she is gripping the wall in an attempt to stand up, but obviously struggling with it showing the lack of strength Rachel has but also the strong determination within her. This would then fade into shot 6 which is a close up of Rachel's hand on the wall in a claw-like shape so that we could see the desperation to reach her destination.at this point the lighting will be significantly darker than the previous shots as to show Rachel getting closer to the darkness. This shot then slowly fades into another close up shot of Rachel's face, this time looking fearful rather than passive, this shot represents Rachel's acknowledgement of what's to follow.
The shot once agin abruptly cuts to a silhouette of Rachel standing in the doorway with the door half ajar and in complete darkness. In the story this is the place where the possession would take place and Rachel is fully aware that there is nothing she can do to stop it, so she gives into it rather than retreating to the light downstairs.
A shot of a clock is then used just to alert the audience of the time which will become significant in shot 14 when the clock is show again, only much later on, highlighting the amount of time Rachel has been crouched down in shot 13. This is also a common scene used in many possession film such as paranormal activity. The shots 10 to 15 would show Rachel being tormented by the demons and this will be shown through a montage of shots in which Rachel is faceless and scrambling both against the wall and on the floor. She will be muttering to herself diegeticaly throughout this sequence all of the non-diegetic sound will have gone.
The final shot of the montage is shot 15 in which Rachel is crouched on the floor with her head covered by her arms in a last attempt to block everything out, 5 seconds into this shot, an ear piercing scream will be heard coming from Rachel before the entire shot cuts to black. The final stage of possession. Then suddenly, once last shot will appear to show the audience that Rachel has infant, become fully taken over by this entity. I
As close up shot of Rachel's face distorted and translucent smiling at the camera menacingly and then slowly fading to black whilst the tap once again begins dripping.
Overall the film was enjoyable and easy to film due to the use of one location being used. I am happy with the outcome as I believe I captured the idea of possession in my head nicely of camera. The final shot used was accidental but I found it very fitting to the whole plot line and decided to use it anyway. I used one image off the internet due to lack of time, this image was the establishing shot of the house. Overall I would class this project as a success, but next time would like to try to venture outside of one location and use more characters as so to develop a more interesting plot.
(1168 words)
My first shot of the storyboards is an establishing shot of a fairly normal, suburban house standing alone in an empty space with only trees around it. I purposely chose a modern house as opposed to a run down mansion frequently seen in other horror genres as it explores the idea that demonic possession can happen to everyone whether you are living in a lovely suburban neighbourhood or a wooden shack in the middle of nowhere. I also realised after watching many of the latest horror films that hardly any take place in traditional haunted buildings anymore and instead focus on a fairly normal all American family. The camera would remain still throughout this shot and the only sounds heard would be a non-diegetic sound of an owls hoot and a strong wind, crating the diegetic sound of the trees rustling. This of course is once again, a well known trope throughout this genre used often. I used it to set the scene for the audience so they would have a slight knowledge as to what type of story was being told.
The shot would then abruptly cut to a shot of my character Rachel sitting sprawled out at the very top of her stairs, a dead, lifeless look of her face staring passively down the stairs. The use of a torch was used in an attempt to create a prominent shadow around Rachel's frame to create the illusion of her being surrounded. The shot is high-key lighting in order to achieve these shadows while also drawing attention to a certain darkness around her. For the shots we purposely messed up Rachel's hair and had her wear no make up except around her eyes to create the illusion of dark circles. This was so the audience could see that Rachel is very tired and stressed straight away.
That shot would then cut into a point of view shot of the bottom of the stairs, very well lit and warm as opposed to the upstairs which is lit only by a single light. The point of this was to show Rachel being taken in by the 'darkness' but still craving light. A tracking shot is then used to show Rachel's attention shifting to the door on the left, which was accidentally left well lit on the inside when it was initially meant to be very dark. The track would be very slow as to show Rachel's drowsiness. The sound effects used for the shots 2-8 would be a non-diegetic tap dripping steadily in the background and diegetic heavy breathing from Rachel because they are heavily linked with psychosis.
A close up shot of Rachel's face would be the next shot, in order to actually see her looking towards the door. Rachel would blink a couple of times as if coming back to reality and then slowly close her eyes to prepare.
The next shot would go back to shot 2 which is a wide shot of Rachel on the stairs, only this time she is gripping the wall in an attempt to stand up, but obviously struggling with it showing the lack of strength Rachel has but also the strong determination within her. This would then fade into shot 6 which is a close up of Rachel's hand on the wall in a claw-like shape so that we could see the desperation to reach her destination.at this point the lighting will be significantly darker than the previous shots as to show Rachel getting closer to the darkness. This shot then slowly fades into another close up shot of Rachel's face, this time looking fearful rather than passive, this shot represents Rachel's acknowledgement of what's to follow.
The shot once agin abruptly cuts to a silhouette of Rachel standing in the doorway with the door half ajar and in complete darkness. In the story this is the place where the possession would take place and Rachel is fully aware that there is nothing she can do to stop it, so she gives into it rather than retreating to the light downstairs.
A shot of a clock is then used just to alert the audience of the time which will become significant in shot 14 when the clock is show again, only much later on, highlighting the amount of time Rachel has been crouched down in shot 13. This is also a common scene used in many possession film such as paranormal activity. The shots 10 to 15 would show Rachel being tormented by the demons and this will be shown through a montage of shots in which Rachel is faceless and scrambling both against the wall and on the floor. She will be muttering to herself diegeticaly throughout this sequence all of the non-diegetic sound will have gone.
The final shot of the montage is shot 15 in which Rachel is crouched on the floor with her head covered by her arms in a last attempt to block everything out, 5 seconds into this shot, an ear piercing scream will be heard coming from Rachel before the entire shot cuts to black. The final stage of possession. Then suddenly, once last shot will appear to show the audience that Rachel has infant, become fully taken over by this entity. I
As close up shot of Rachel's face distorted and translucent smiling at the camera menacingly and then slowly fading to black whilst the tap once again begins dripping.
Overall the film was enjoyable and easy to film due to the use of one location being used. I am happy with the outcome as I believe I captured the idea of possession in my head nicely of camera. The final shot used was accidental but I found it very fitting to the whole plot line and decided to use it anyway. I used one image off the internet due to lack of time, this image was the establishing shot of the house. Overall I would class this project as a success, but next time would like to try to venture outside of one location and use more characters as so to develop a more interesting plot.
(1168 words)
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