Story Boarding - Shots 76-91

My story board is finished! The final section of my story board is set back in the coffee shop, it ends my narrative and rather unconventionally introduces a new character. Usually characters that disrupt the story are built up and, as antagonists have more of a background. However I feel the background of this character isn't important. If there is any message in my film it is don't waste time, the point is that this random fellow has beaten the protagonist to the post because he was day dreaming. There is no struggle, no battle, just a realistic occurrence.

The remaining shots show what happens when he returns from the day dream.

The first shot mirrors the shot that transitioned into the day dream sequence, but now in reverse. The camera pans downwards as his eyes do the same. This symbolises the action returning from his imagination back into reality. He then proceeds to walk over to her, all the time the non diegetic voice over (his thoughts) is talking about their perfect relationship and how it amazing it will be.

Just as he approaches where she is sitting the second male character comes in and perches on her table, presumably flirting with her. The protagonist can't believe his eyes. A medium long shot from between the two shows the protagonists reaction, he exits to the left of the shot. He exits the coffee shop kicking a cup on the ground saying that he never really liked her anyway.

The last piece of dialogue could be taken in one of two ways. It's kind of a comment on the frivolity of his daydream and how it was just that: a daydream. It could also be interpreted as him kidding himself and trying to convince himself that he wasn't and isn't in love with her. I like the first interpretation more but it is down to the audiences personal interpretations.

What's next?
I need to now write the script. This will be given to my actors to prepare themselves for the roles and as a rough instruction to what they have to do. This will also be how I decide on the dialogue as I have not yet finalised my ideas.

Story Boarding - Shots 21-77

This is the bulk of my film, these shots are the daydream sequence. It consists of 6 separate scenes all fabricated in the main characters imagination. I chose these scenarios based on rom-com research and audience feed back. They are:

                                                                                                              Scenario 1

• The two characters run towards each other in a field in slow motion. Arms outstretched ready to embrace each other. As they draw closer the male character trips and falls flat on his face in front of her. 
• Why? This is a classic convention of the romantic comedy genre; two characters running towards each other, usually is a corn field, and when they meet in the middle they hug and the man spins the woman around. Instead I have changed the ending to parody the situation.  

                                Scenario 2

• The camera tracks from left to right. They are sitting together on a sofa watching a horror film. He is hiding behind a cushion scared whilst she sits beside him unfazed by the film. 
• Why? This was rated quite well in my audience research as how highly it would likely to be seen. It's playing on the convention that women are scared of horror films; men often comfort the female when watching films. So this is a simple case of role reversal. 

                           Scenario 3

• The two characters are in a park, hand in hand they spin around. Point of view shots will be used to show each characters face as seen from the others perspective. I will film them by getting the actors to hold the camera as they spin, this way the head will stay steady in the shot but the background will spin. The woman look concerned and proceed to vomit in the others face.

• Why? The whole spinning scene has been associated with the genre for ages. The first time I thought of this film premise this is something I wanted to include. I hadn't however thought about how to end this scene. It was suggested to me the someone could vomit on the other. I think this is a perfect twist on the scenario, I asked my actors if they would mind performing this before I was set on the idea but they are happy to do it (or so they say). 

                          Scenario 4

• The next scene is of a dinner date. She is waiting at home, the table set with candles and napkins: a posh, romantic set up. The main character comes into the house with a bucket of chicken and places it on the table. He tucks his napkin into his collar and takes a carefully selected piece of chicken from the bucket and onto his plate using the cutlery. Meanwhile she eats the chicken in a medieval fashion, ripping the meat from the bone with her teeth. The bones pile up on her plate and she drinks the gravy. The guy sheepishly looks up from his plate at her. 
• Why? I wanted to do a dinner date scene and it rated well in my audience feedback. I thought about the classic Lady and the Tramp scene and though about how to change it.This is the scenario I ended up with. I like the role reversal again: you would expect this behaviour from him (if at all) rather than her). 

                                   Scenario 5

• Set at a train station, each character is on an opposite platform. The male has lots of signs, he reveals them one at a time. They say (separated by commas showing sign changes): "Hello, I have a question, Would you, make me, the happiest man alive, (at this point she expects a proposal) Will you..., lend me £6?, I need it for a taxi, and maybe a twix."
• Why? This is a parody of a scene from Love Actually (2003, Richard Curtis). Instead of a cute confession of love as it is in the film he misleads her into thinking he is going to propose then asks her for this scene, it may be my favourite. 

Here is the scene form Love Actually (2003, Curtis) that I am parodying in the above scenario. 

                         Scenario 6

• This is a split screen shot, each of the two characters walks into their shot. They each look at their phone as it goes off. An extra walks past and picks up the partition between them revealing they are in the same location. 
• Why? This scene is like breaking the fourth wall, it directly addresses an editing convention of romantic comedies. Split screens are often used and initially I was going to feature one as part of another scene. However this is just using a convention rather than exploiting to create a parody situation. Hence, this scene was created. 

An example of the split screen technique in the romantic comedy film Pillow Talk (1959, Gordon)

I have very clear images of each of these scenes in my mind, I just hope I can convert these to images on the screen. Storyboarding them has definitely made me more confident, before I hadn't worked out exactly what each scene would comprise of but now it's down on paper I feel better about it all. I haven't yet decided on shot timings too much, I have a rough idea for each but this will become clearer when producing my animatic. 

What's next?

I need to finish my storyboard. All I have left to do is the scene when the main character returns from his daydream. Following this I need to produce a script. Although there is no diegetic dialogue within the scene I do need to think about what I wan't the voice over to consist of. Then I need to produce the animatic. 

Story boarding - Shots 10-20

My story board is well under way now. It's a very time consuming process but it's a vital part of creating a quality film. These shots are still, like the previous 9, set in the coffee shop location. They depict the male character looking round the cafe, at the woman and beginning to make assumptions about her leading on to the daydream.

They start with him bringing his book in front of his face and sneakily scanning the room from behind it. As this happens his inner monologue will appear as a non diegetic voice over, he will say something along the lines of "Just a quick scan of the room to see who's abo-hello. Who's that? I haven't seen her before." (although the script isn't written yet this is roughly what he will say).

Hiding behind his book he notices her hair (in a point of view shot) and comments that she is pretty, followed by her clothes and he comments she is stylish. He then see's her book, it's the same one he is reading, he takes this as a sign that they are meant to be together. The film cuts to a long shot of the female character, the guy comments how she is perfect for him. This prompts the daydream segment of the film.

He is behind his book...

... and hides when he thinks she is looking at him. 

The next part of my short film to storyboard is the daydream segment.

Story boarding - Shots 1-9

It's this time of year again. Let the story boarding begin. We started yesterday and so far I have done the opening segment where the main character walks in up until the start of the day dream. I just wanted to talk about shots 1 to 9 today due to the editing technique I plan to use with these shots.

Shot 1 is an establishing shot, the main character comes in and looks around before moving off to approach the counter. Now, between shots 2 to 9 I want to use a rapid cutting technique similar to that used in Hot Fuzz in one of the later scenes. I found a good example of this technique to better explain what I would like to create.

These fast paced shots in my sequence consist of:

• Shot 2: The main character stepping up to the counter
• Shot 3: A close up of his face as he is looking at the menu board. 
• Shot 4: A medium shot of the menu board. This is following the shot/reverse shot continuity technique.  
• Shot 5: Back to shot 3 but with him pointing at the board (signalling what he wants)
• Shot 6: An aerial shot of the counter. The drink and money are exchanged. 
• Shot 7: A medium long shot, the guy turns round and looks side to side for a seat.
• Shot 8: A point of view shot from his perspective looking for a seat.
• Shot 9: He sits at a eat and pulls out his book. 

Each of these shots will be short and quickly cut together, like the example video above. This enables me to show necessary action without it taking up the time. Over this shots there is no dialogue or soundtrack, only diegetic ambience sound from within the coffee shop .