Group Storyboard - Miss Miller

A storyboard is a sequence of drawings, typically with directions and dialogue, which represents the shots planned for a film or a television programme. Storyboards are important because they're the best way to show your vision of the the production you are creating. The purpose of a Group storyboard is that it allows all members to evaluate and include all the ideas they've come up with within their individual to add onto the group storyboard. We got into our lesson and looked at the different types of storyboards each one of us made, and discussed the advantages and disadvantages within them and which best ideas we would collect to add onto our final storyboard. Group storyboards allows to show the final outcome of the narrative and what were going to include in each frame to make our sequence successful. If we were not to have a storyboard it would be time consuming when actually filming it as we wouldn't know what to do and include when filming nor editing which will be chaotic. Storyboards guide us on what to do and include within our own sequence for example lighting, sound and iconography i.e.

Frames 1 - 4 

The reason why as a group we created a storyboard is so we can discuss all of our individual ideas and evaluate what to include from each others work which we thought will be conventional to our thriller sequence. In Ella's storyboard we found that she started her narrative with the flashback of the boy who was at the park swinging on the swing. We all decided to follow this as we thought it was a brilliant way to begin our sequence as it shows a little of the antagonists past before actually seeing him making the audience feel curious and tensed. The use of starting with a flashback was also inspired from the thriller Halloween  (1978), because the opening scene was of a flashback of the antagonist Michael who is seen as a young little boy and he kills his own sister with a knife. We thought that starting with a flashback is very intriguing and conventional to a thriller as it shows an insight of a characters past which makes the audience start to understand the character more and create whether a closer or distant relationship with the boy. Even though we took the actual start of the narrative from Ella's storyboard, we decided that the camera shot for the frames would be all in mid shot which was an idea from my very own individual storyboard. The reason we decided to use the mid shot instead of a close up that Ella suggested in her storyboard of the swing is so that the audience can be introduced to the scenery of where the action is placed, which is a park. Also the mid shot shows the important background that needs to be seen in the shot and the character who is the little boy, which makes the audience focus on him even more as he will be positioned in the middle of the frame. 

Frames 5 - 8 

Within these specific frames, the majority of the ideas made were all gathered together from each of our individual storyboards as they were similar. An example of the similarities that we all had within our storyboards is in frame 5, we all had a two shot and diegetic sound. This was because the shot shown introduced the two protagonists within our thriller who are girls and only focused on them because there is dialogue which gives the audience more information about them and what they're doing. We believed this was conventional to a thriller as the two shot focused on our important characters in the frame which grabs the audiences attention and imply that they're the most important people right now in the scene. Furthermore as these frames are about the two girls in our thriller, the camera shot we used whilst they're walking was panning to make the audience automatically follow their movements of where they're going. In frame 8, we see the two girls nearly approach where the antagonist is located which creates suspense within the audience as they know that he is a dangerous to be around with. To accompany with this shot of the girls near the antagonist, we added a non-diegetic, eerie sound which was taken from Rishika's storyboard to help emphasise that the girls a close to the mysterious boy who is suggested to be dangerous as this is a thriller. The use of this sound will inform to the audience that something bad is going to happen that will effect the two girls as the mysterious music comes on when they're near the antagonist. This is conventional to a thriller, as eerie sounds are often used when the protagonist or victims are near the antagonist or vice versa because it helps imply that someone is going to be in danger and also it makes the audience feel on edge as they do not know what to expect.   

Frames 9 - 12 

The frames 9 - 12 are about all the characters in the thriller acknowledging each others presence. Firstly in frame 9, the shot will be from the perspective of the protagonist which will be a point of view shot of her walking towards the antagonist body which is laying on the road. The editing style included was slow editing which was taken from my individual storyboard. The use of the slow editing was decided to be used is because the slowness of her walking creates enigma and tension within the audience as they do not know what is going to happen next as they're forced to follow the guidance of where the protagonist is going as its a POV shot. This is conventional to a thriller as it puts the audience in the characters shoes which makes them relate and build a close relationship and also feel paranoid due to the lack of power of controlling what they're seeing on the screen. Moreover, in frame 11 it is shot in an extreme close up which was chosen by all members of the group to have in our individual storyboard and it was of the antagonist opening his eyes rapidly. The sound that is included in this shot was taken from my storyboard and it was of an alerting, non-diegetic sound that we thought would shock and make the viewers jump as it happens unexpectedly. The use of this sound is conventional to a thriller as is suggests to the audience and characters that something is going to happen as it has a huge impact when heard which makes the audience feel tensed and suspicious on whats going to happen next. 

Frames 13 - 16

In the frames 13 - 16, the action taking place is of when the girl discovers that her friend is dead and the antagonist has disappeared. Also in these frames there is a change of location from the street to the forest. The inspiration of including a forest was from the film ' The cabin in the woods', this was because forests are conventional to the thriller genre as they are isolated places where people are un likely to get help from easily if anything bad was to happen. When the protagonist runs into the forest it'll be shot from a hand-held shot, this will give the frame a jerky, unsteady feel within the screen and the audience. The use of this handheld shot will give the audience the victims perspective and portray her fear and urgency of escaping from the antagonist. This will build a closer relationship between the victim and audience as they are put in her position as she is running away, meaning that they will share the same goal of escaping and being safe. The sound that will occupy this forest scene will be parallel as the audience would expect to hear her breathing heavily as she is running. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it gives a sense of normality meaning that the audience can relate to the protagonist. Also another sound will be of an eerie soundtrack that would represent the chase scene happening between the antagonist and the girl, the use of this sound will exaggerate that this is a chase scene as the tempo will be up beat suggesting this is chaotic. 

Frame 17 & 18 

These two frames were very vital as they show the two characters clashing with each other, meaning that the chase is now over. In frame 17 the camera shot would be of a low angle when the girl trips over and slowly looks up to see that its the antagonist who's in her way. This was taken from my own storyboard, we all decided to use this as it showed the difference between the two characters and who was more dominant in the situation. Even though the antagonist is not that close to the girl, the fact that she's on the floor and his standing establishes that she is vulnerable and he is the one with power as he is stable. This is conventional to a thriller as it shows the different character representations within the film, so that the audience know who is who and helps build different kinds of relationships with them. Lastly in the frame 18, the shot would be a point of view shot from the antagonist perspective through his mask when he is looking down at the girl. What inspired us to use this is that in the film Halloween (1978), the whole scene was shot from the antagonists perspective Michael through his mask also, this was very interesting to watch as when we were audiences watching this it made us think that we were the antagonist and also made us feel tensed as we had no control of the movements happening on the screen. In our thriller, we will use this shot to convey the antagonist point of view as he looks down on the girl, this shows that he is more dominant in the scene because not only is he more powerful than the girl on the floor, he is in power of the audiences sight as they're forced to follow his actions. The sound that happens in this frame will be a very alerting sound when the audience first sees the point of view from the antagonist, the use of this sound will help convey that the power is in the wrong hands. Also behind this shot there will be eerie music to create enigma within the scene as the audience do not know what to expect after, furthermore this sound will help make the shot more alive and interesting to watch. Finally the editing that we decided to include which was from my individual storyboard was a fade, this often happens at the end of a scene or film. We decided to include a fade at the end of our sequence so that it helps establish to the audience that it is the end of our opening. Also the fade is conventional to the thriller genre as this will make the audience feel tensed and curious as they just finished watching the scene so they'll want to find out what happens next as our thriller opening does end on a cliffhanger. 



I believe that our group storyboard is very clear and manageable as we all understand all the elements that we have included to each frame that we think will help make our thriller more conventional. It also portrays a good understanding of our thriller narrative and supports our goal of creating suspense, enigma, shock and tension within the film and audience. The way we incorporated each others ideas was very well done as the majority our individual storyboards had the same ideas anyway, so it was easy to agree on things when we discussed to each other why we thought our idea was the best to place in the final storyboard. There were a few compromises within our planning, for example in Rishika's storyboard she wanted to include her idea which was at the end of the scene where the antagonist hides behind a tree and looks at the girl who is in the forest. However we all thought that even though the shot showed that the antagonist was near his victim who is alone, it didn't really show their different character representations. So we decided to follow my ending which was of a low angle of the girl who's tripped over and of her slowly looking up to see the antagonist in her way. We all believed this was more effective as it showed the different statuses between the two characters and that the antagonist was more powerful. Overall I believe that we as a group have created a successful storyboard that helps convey our thriller narrative clearly and also guides us when we film so it won't be chaotic and rushed.