Group Storyboard - Miss Miller

Group Storyboard

The purpose of a group storyboard it that it shows the development of our individual storyboards and the final decision made. We looked at each of our individual storyboards and decided what we liked from each one and what parts we were to take and insert into the final group storyboard. Storyboards that demonstrated a better idea of what we wanted to portray were very much inspiration for our final group storyboard.

We have created a group storyboard to ensure that we have a final idea and decision for what we are doing. This makes it easier for us when filming as we have a clear structure of what needs to be shot and in chronological order too. We took many of our individual ideas and put them into our group storyboard as well as developing group ideas too.  Different elements have been taken from each of our storyboards. Not only from our own individual storyboards, but we have also taken inspiration from other thriller films too. The use of low-key lighting for example was inspired by 'Strangers' and 'Shutter Island' as we really liked the way it helped create a tense and eerie atmosphere. You can clearly see in our storyboard, we have noted our lighting as low-key throughout most of it and this is because these parts are the ones where we want suspense to be created and elements of shock also.

The use of a dim filter was a also a developed idea from the way we all wanted to have low-key lighting and having a dim filter ensures this. This creates enigma and we all agreed on this idea that the dim filter would very much help determine the atmosphere of the scene to more of what we intended. We found this element restricts view creating more suspense, surprise and shock making it more conventional to the thriller genre. This is why we thought it would be appropriate to use throughout our sequence. As well as this, filming was made easier to complete as it didn't matter as much to depend on natural lighting for our shots as a filter would correct the lighting to exactly how we would want it to be. A dim filter is used in most thrillers for example in 'Saw', and so it just contributes to the conventionality of a sequence to the thriller genre, as well as giving the scene a more eerie look. Knowing that using a dim filter was sticking to the thriller genre made us even more confident in including it into our sequence. The storyboard demonstrates our input of this filter and so when it comes to editing, it is clear which shots need the dim filter as we have noted it down.

Point of view shots, for example in frame 7, were included in our group storyboard. This was an idea from me and Danny as we thought it would create more suspense as the audience get to see the scene from the antagonist's perspective however, not actually know the identity of them. Through the use of a point of view shot, especially in the way in which we are using them, the audience are also able to see other characters from a specific character's point of view. This builds a relationship with this character as they may feel worried for them and want to help them. The way suspense, surprise and shock are created also makes it conventional to the thriller genre. We made sure to note these down in our group storyboard to ensure that we knew what we were filming as point of view shots can sometimes be difficult to draw. Having them written in our group storyboard also allows us to not overuse them as the structure is clear and straightforward which allows us to check for accidental repeated shots. In order for point of view shots to be successful, they shouldn't be overused as they become common and do not have as much of an suspenseful impact. Therefore having them noted in our group storyboard allows us to prevent this from occurring, benefitting our sequence when it comes to editing.

A montage in our group storyboard (frame 23) was an idea of Alfie's, but we have also taken inspiration from a clip from 'Saw 4' which uses a montage to emphasise particular images in the shot. This creates suspense and tension from the images being juxtaposed together in a fast tempo movement. Therefore, this has more of an impact on the audience as they have to pay more attention to what's going on on-screen, keeping them gripped and captivated, as well as intrigued. This is conventional to the thriller genre as suspense is created and also a climax for a shocking, surprising moment to occur. In 'Saw 4', the montage uses flashes to separate the various shots that are used as the content. We really liked this effect as we found it was evident that it was a montage, keeping the rest of the scene and narrative clear and understandable. It also gave the montage a supernatural feel as using flashes and fast paced shots together is unnatural but also gripping. This is what we intend to create and so we will do this with our sequence in our montage. It was difficult however, to display the exact shots that we wanted in our montage onto our group storyboard as it was basically the previous shots we had already used. Though, we decided to still ensure we left a frame to make note of the montage's existence to make sure that we didn't forget to include it.

I think our storyboard is organised and structured in an efficient way. We discussed each other's individual storyboard ideas to incorporate every group member's ideas making compromises to ensure that each individual idea is taken into account. As a group, we are happy with our group storyboard as it is clear, understandable and easy to work with. It not only makes filming easy, but also editing as it is clear what needs filters, particular sound and lighting adjustments, etc. We have also made clear the particular shot that will be filmed for each frame and so from doing it so accurately, it allows us to have a rough estimate of how long our sequence will be, if we are reaching the time limit or if we need to film more. Our group storyboard has inspirations from other successful thrillers that already exist, such as the ones already mentioned and so this makes us confident that ours is conventional to the thriller genre. Having a clear group storyboard saves time as messiness would determine level of understandability which would take up more time working out what goes where and how. Overall I think our storyboard is organised, successful and will make our filming easy and not time efficient. 

This is our group storyboard, consisting of 37 frames: