Evaluation

 For my storyboard I wanted to create the concept of a psychological thriller. I was inspired by a mix of alien abduction films and although I based my film around psychological thrillers rather than supernatural thrillers I used them to influence the narrative of my film. My film told the tale of Catherine and how after her mother went missing she was tipped of by an anonymous source to go to an old ruin that she and her mother had spent time at. Whilst walking there the audience can see that she is being stalked by a figure in a white coat. When she arrives there she finds her mother and her aunt there waiting for her, her mother being clearly controlled by the aunt. It is not until the aunt attempts to kill Catherine that her mother steps in and overpowers her. I intended for my storyboard to either be used as an experimental short film or as a trailer sequence before the beginning of a movie of a similar genre; similar to what Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino did with 'Grindhouse'. I intended for my film to be aimed at older audiences as it is a slow paced film with only one action scene at the climax of the film. I mainly based my film around 'Don't Look Now' and 'The Shining'. Both films have elements of the supernatural and have a slow build up until there is a climactic chase/fight scene at the end. 'The Shining' starts with characters moving to a knew location and there being a change in their lives which I relate to Catherine's loss of her mother and the loss of the daughter in 'Don't Look Now'. In 'The Shining' it is the father, Jack, going insane/being influenced by supernatural sources, which is the cause of the problem. This inspired me to use a family member (the aunt) as the person abducting the mother. Also Catherine's anonymous caller is very similar to the mother. This could either be interpreted by the audience as a coincidence or it could be seen that Catherine is being tipped off through a supernatural manifestation of her mother, similar to the ghosts in 'The Shining' that tell Jack to kill Wendy and Danny. In 'Don't Look Now' there are a series of flashbacks and premonitions which inspired me to create a flashback sequence in my short story. When Catherine is walking through the arch for the second time on her own, I had a flashback to the opening scene, except that I shot it in black and white. I did this to show the audience that time had passed and give the opening shot an older feeling. We see that the aunt is dressed in a white coat. I did this partly because it was highly visible in the location that I shot in and also because it was easily recognisable for the audience. I was inspired to do this by 'Don't Look Now' where the daughter's red coat is used throughout the film. I planned for my film to be an independent low budget production. I chose to do this so that I could experiment with the psychological thriller and also because I don't think that my film would appeal to a mainstream audience due to it's slow build up, short scenes of action and because it would definitely be a short film probably under an hour long. My film would be made on a small budget, as it is shot mainly on location which would require small hand held cameras to get my preferred shots, similar to modern films such as 'Paranormal Activity'. Also I haven't used any expensive props or effects because I wanted to maintain a psychological fear rather than a supernatural fear. As I chose to portray a short film my sequence depicts the events of the entire film, but, as I said, my sequence could be used in a series of advertisements, similar to those at the start of 'Grindhouse'. I decided against using film/neo-noir

In our opening shot we see a medium long shot of a mother and daughter standing together, posing for a holiday photograph, taken by an unknown third party.

The second shot is an establishing shot of a house at night time. We can see that looking out of the window is the daughter, Catherine,  from the previous shot. We can see that she appears to be alone in the house, and we will find out soon that her mother has vanished without a trace.

This is a medium close up of our protaganist looking at a the photograph that we saw in the opening shot of the film.

We now see a medium long shot of Catherine taking a phone call.

This extreme close up of Catherine taking the phone call is to increase intensity due to the content of the phone call. If  we could hear the dialogue of the conversation we would find out that Catherine's mother is alive and well and we would find out where Catherine could find her.

We see another extreme close up of somebody whispering things about her mother in her ear. This increases Catherine's curiosity about her mother and forces her to investigate into her mothers unusual disappearance.

This shot shows Catherine listening to the advice of the unknown caller and going out looking for her mother in, what we assume to be, the location, that the opening shot/photograph was taken in. It's a long shot to give the audience a view of the surroundings and it's also an establishing shot of the area. 

We have a second long shot showing an unknown person in the bushes near where Catherine is walking. We can see this person is not Catherine as they are not following the path and they are wearing a different item of clothing. we can only see them from a distance, blurred by trees which adds a sense of mistery for the audience.

We see another long shot of Catherine still walking to a specific location. The area appears to be less wooded and we have a clearer view of Catherine as she walks.

We can see Catherine walking to a familiar location of the ruin that we saw earlier on in the film. It's an extreme long shot and the shot is slightly darker and more sinister.

In this shot we can see that the location is where Catherine and her mother were pictured in the first location of the film. This also establishes to an audience exactly where Catherine is.



This shot is almost exactly the same as the previous shot and is exactly the same as the first shot, except that it is in black and white. It's in black and white to represent a flashback of the opening shot of the film.



We can now see a medium long shot of Catherine sitting at the location waiting.

This is a high angle shot of Catherine and it's also a point of view shot, of somebody else spying on Catherine.

We now see a long shot of Catherine, chasing the figure in white that we saw earlier in the film, round the ruin.

This shot is an over the shouldour shot, which shows the audience the moment when Catherine discovers her mother and who has been hiding her (it's her sister, Catherine's aunt, this is revealed through dialogue).

This is a close up, reaction shot, and this shot reverse shot would be used throughout the dialogue between Catherine, her aunt and her mother.

We have a close up shot of when Catherine's aunt attacks Catherine.

This is a close up over the sholdour shot of the mother pulling the aunt off of Catherine.

This is a high angle medium long shot of the mother throwing the aunt to the floor. This shot shows a shift in power from the aunt to the mother and it shows how the mother has taken control of the situation.

This final long shot of Catherine and her mother walking off hapily into the distance rounds the film up. It is a similar shot to the one we see at the beginning of the film except that it is taken from behind. It also shows the arc in the background which has been a prominant feature of the film.