12. Storyboard

After completing all of our research and choosing our main actress we decided to begin creating our storyboard for our trailer. A Storyboard is essentially a comic of the film or trailer. Helping to visualize the scenes, spotting any problems before they occur.

It also allows us to experiment with changes in the structure of the trailer in order, evoke stronger reaction or interest. Flashbacks, for instance, are often the result of sorting storyboards out of chronological order to help build suspense and interest.

Here is an example of a simple storyboard:

Here are some screen shots of our storyboard.

The trailer will open with a black screen and with the production name, not only does this follow the codes and conventions of a trailer, the black and white is simplistic reflecting the ideology of the company. It will then fade into a black screen. The fade is used to build suspense and keep it soft to begin with in order for the montage following to appear more dramatic, thus having a larger effect on the audience.

The black screen builds suspense. It then fades into the opening shot.

The opening shot is a long shot of our main character walking in a grave yard, it is used as an establishing shot instantly implying to the audience she is grieving and has suffered a loss. The mis en scene will reflect the voice over of mourning and loss. The shot is in slow motion is used to show emotion and to create drama. Other film makers have used the effect to show romance etc. this is because it works effectively to build suspense. In terms of costume she will be wearing clothes that are youthful and represent well a 'typical' teenage girl i.e a leather jacket.

As she gradually walks closer to the camera, there is a voice over explaining the situation to the audience in order to build up suspense and to help the audience establish what the film is about. Gradually she walks up to a medium shot in order for the audience to see her more as a character and view her emotion. she then goes on to answer her phone which is a blackberry, therefore portraying surface realism as it is one of the most popular phones amongst young people today.

The shot then fades into a montage where the we will compose the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated shots or scenes which, when combined, achieve meaning (as in, shot 4 and shot 5 together give rise to an idea about the film being related to youth crime, which is then supported by shot 6, and so on), the series of related shots which lead the viewer to a desired conclusion.

The fist shot being of a black man, holding a gun up to the camera. This holds surface realism as it is something commonly associated with genre, the use of a black man also plays on stereotypes related to youth crime and violence etc. He also should have a bruise to portray to the audience that he has already been involved in some sort of violence. In terms of costume he will be wearing a hoody as this will appeal to our target audience and is instantly seen as an icon of youth culture and we believe it represents it well.

This shot then cuts into a shot of three teenage girls leaning against a car. This is to not only establish them as characters but due to their costume it also represents them as youthful and reinforces the genre for the audience. The actors will all be aged between 16-18 so they can be identified with by the target audience. Because the shot is outside it may have to have a brightness decrease in order to reflect the solemness within their lifestyle.

This then will cut into another character closing the door and appear to be saying goodbye to someone, helping the audience assume that she still lives at home, not only will this help them identify with the character, it also shows that although they may act independent they are not fully self reliant. The door should be red to represent death and passion two key themes within the trailer.

The shot then fades into a long shot of our main male character stood on the stairs, it then fades into several slow motion shots of him walking down the stairs in order to show the intensity of his thinking.

the final fade is in of the character smoking a cigarette. This holds surface realism as it is a stereotype youth culture.

This then cuts into a shot of one of our characters

This then cuts into a shot of one of our characters leaning against a brick wall drinking vodka, a spirit that  is seen to be a stereotypical drink of youth and drinking it straight alone makes the audience assume she is going through a hard time and may therefore sympathise.