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