Group story boards - Miss Miller

At first we all done individual story boards of our own ideas for the sequence, however after this we combined all  of our ideas so that we could create a group story board. We have created a group story board so that we can have a clear idea when filming of what different thriller conventions and shots are going to be in each shot. Also it will make it quicker to film as we will be able to see what different shots are needed to be filmed in the different locations, therefore we will be able to plan what we are going to do. From doing our group story board we have been able to discuss and evaluate all of our individual story boards and look at what features of each we like in the all. Therefore we have combined them all to create a story board we all agree on and all think will help to create the most suspense and tension.

We have created the story board to plan  out exactly what is going to happen in each shot. Altogether we have 21 different shots that we are going to included in our sequence, however i think this could expand slightly when we begin to film as we will realise that the sequence doesn't flow as well as we thought. We have elements in a group story board from each of our individual boards and elements that we came up with when doing the story boards as a group.

Our first shot is a long/establishing shot of the house, this will allow the audience to see the location and see that there is nothing around, so is quite isolated. This will set the scene for the sequence. This first frame was taken from my individual story board, i was inspired to use this shot when i watched the thriller film Halloween. The film used a establishing shot to introduce the scene and show that it was based in an ordinary neighbourhood, which adds to the enigma of the sequence. For this first frame we said that we was going to play a non-diegetic sound of eerie whistling of the wind, which will add to the suspense of the frame. A summary of the next 3 frames on the story board page is the camera showing around the killers house, we will use three different camera shots to show this. These are zooming in, point of view and steadicam. The location will remain the same through out three other frames, which is the killers house. The iconography that will be seen is a cross on the door, a knife hanging up clothing on the wall and there will also be a picture of the killer and his mother smashed up on the floor. These three frames were inspired by Meghan's story board, she had seen the conventional iconography in most of the thriller films that we watched while doing our research therefore thought it would be vital to include.

Frame five includes a long shot of the antagonist looking at polaroid photos of his current and previous victims. We decided this frame is going to last for 3 seconds. The location of this frame is a room in the killers house. The iconography we have decided to use are the polaroid photos of the wall, this was an idea that we all come up with together as we thought it would show the killer psychotic nature. We opted for low key lighting over this frame as it will emphasise the dangerous personality of the killer and will show him as an unstable person. The unstable personality will be increased as the sound we have chosen to use is an off screen sound of mumbled talking. This will let the audience relate as this is a common sound for people to hear but the mumbling will make the speech sound unstable. For the next three shots there will still be a focus of the polaroid photos and the victims. We will have an over the should mid shot of the killer looking at the photos, which will the being to zoom in at the current victims photos. We will then with to the actual victims face, using a close up and zooming out. For  frames 6 and 7 we will have low key lighting but for frame 8 we will have bright lighting to highlight the innocence and vulnerability of the girl. Additionally we will use non-diegetic sounds for frames 6 and 7 but for frame 8 we will use silence to show the realness of the scene. The editing techniques that we are going to use are a linking shot, a jump cut and dissolve.

Frame 11 is a long shot of the victim escaping from the killers house. We decided to use a long shot for this frame as it allows the audience to be aware of everything that is happening, which will add to the tension as they will be able to see that the killer hasn't noticed she is trying to escape yet and as a result of this there heart beat would increase as there hopeful for her escape. We also have decided that we are going to have low key lighting as it will show that the victim is trying to hide and the low key lighting will help her to do this.

The next set of frames is the build up and chase scene through the forest of the victim getting caught. We use shots such as panning and handheld to create suspense and tension as the audience will be able to see the antagonist catching up with the victim. These frames will be filmed in the forest therefore we will uses noises such a leaves crunching. We will layer heavy breathing on top of the frame as we think it will increase intensity and this will make it relatable for the audience as their heart rate will be increasing like the victims.

The last fours frames are the most intense of the sequence as this is the climax of the sequence. We can see the antagonist has nearly caught up with the victim so it is like a waiting game for her to get caught. As before these four frames will be filmed in the forest. We decided to use a long shot of the girl falling over to show the audience the whole situation which will make the frame appear real. Then we are going to use a close up of the victims faces to show her emotion, this will increase the intensity. Following this we will use a jump cut to show the victim being dragged backwards, this will maximise the tension within the scene as the frames will change dramatically quickly.