SSC Film Studies

Reflective analysis – Film Storyboard When I began this project I decided to take the same route of planning as a film. I decided to apply a genre to all of my photos in which made up my story, for example I took all of my shots later on in the day; this allowed me to add a dark and misty feel which portrayed the message I wanted to put across in the story. The location I chose was a key part in creating a realistic theme, the location offered a lot of the scene related content, such as the writing on the back wall represented the gangs and crimes that go on within the setting of the scene. The location of the scene seen first in the establishing shot allowed me to set the tone to the upcoming scene, this was the frame to build on in terms of mise-en scene and setting the correct tone I wanted the audience to perceive. Another key element in the scene is the sounds that take place. The choice of sound allowed me to manipulate the tone of the scene. A key example of good use of sound would be in shot number two; I opted for a crow bird non diegetic sound effect. I felt this was again a chance to set the tone, it added it a feeling of darkness and death but also allowed me to manipulate the characters that were stood in the shot; the crow bird is generally associated with death therefore linking the two creates a relationship in which the audience can see. Throughout the scene I wanted to add as many microelements into it as I could, however I always made sure that each one had a purpose to represent something within the shot. An example of this was the reverse shot I used; this was a simple use of the camera; it is used in many films to allow the audience to see the reverse of what a character is looking at; this is a good example of how I made sure that my film followed a constant flow of understanding towards the audience. Another good use of shot types I used was the over shoulder; this again allowed me to flow the film in a more understandable way; showing how the conversation flows from character to character. The over shoulder shot represented character threes view, this was a key part to keeping the audience more involved in the scene; which overall gives it a better feel and flow to the scene. Another good use of setting which you will notice is how I always placed the alone character within open surroundings, the vast surroundings of emptiness allowed me to make his character seem more alone and vulnerable to the situation he was placed in. Another point of mise-en scene was how the characters were dressed; I tried to portray one as the typical street gang character and the other being dressed in a red coat; which is symbolic to many things but mainly relating to danger and blood giving the character an edgy feel. Overall I felt that the use of mise-en scene was a good way to hint to the audience of what to expect, such that the opening two shots give the impression that it may be a crime related upcoming scene. Too conclude I feel that my project was fun and enjoyable and gave me the chance to showcase my creative side to making a storyboard. There are a few improvements that I feel could have put me in better stead for creating my story board. Overall I felt that I managed my time pretty poorly; I felt that I could have begun my task a lot sooner giving me a better chance at a more successful set of story boards. One of the main reasons for me getting off to a slow start was because I was unsure of a story line to base my film around. Therefore to improve on this I would spend more time planning properly; for example using spider diagrams or mind maps to generate more ideas in which I could build my film around.