Short Film Storyboard

In order create more physical form of my short film idea I have storyboarded my film. Storyboards are generally a useful document to have on set to refer to when planning scenes.

This can serve as a visual reminder to me on all the scenes I want to be shot, with the correct angles and sets, without me having to improvise on the film set, which can lead to a disjointed film.

Storyboarding can also serve as a visual idea of what is needed from them, and helps the camera man know what to do in terms of camera angles and movements through the instructions below the pictures and the arrows on the drawings themselves.

This can also allow me to delegate tasks to other people because I now know they will carryout what I want them to do for my film without me having to micromanage everything. Furthermore it means I can leave the task to people more skilled at the task in hand, for example, the camera knows what I want from the scene but will carry out better than what I would have necessarily produced.

Synopsis of Short film

The film will start with an establishing, low angle shot looking up at a house in a dark, overcast day, thunder in the background. An interior shot will show that the man is alone in his kitchen, a silhouette can be seen in the background outside, a point of view shot looking into the kitchen will represent some sort of trespasser. Cut back to the man in his house, he feels someone watching him outside but can't see anything and thinks his mind is playing tricks on him.

The man is sleeping in his bed at night, in his house. He is woken up by a noise in the house so he gets up to go and check what the noise is. Tension is built while he slowly goes to check around the house with a torch to find out what the noise was. He is attracted to more noise behind a door at the end of a corridor and slowly goes to investigate, creating more tension. He suddenly opens to door to find that it's his dog "Snugsy" who was just messing around. He is giving his dog a loving hug, thinking all is safe, when a loud crash is heard upstairs. There is another long build up to the man cautiously returning to his room, there is no lighting in the house apart from the torchlight which furthers the horror aspect because there is limited vision. He slowly enters his bed room and walks into the middle of the room. He is looking around when the intruder in the house ominously steps in from of the camera when the film cuts out.

The pictures from the video game Alan Wake are good representations of the type of shots I will use; the torch will be the only form of light in the shots which will leave the rest of the shot in darkness. The picture of The Strangers is also relevant because it shows how the main character is being watched from behind at the beginning.