Storyboard Version Two

I made a second draft of my storyboard as I changed the idea slightly so it fit the idea of a stalker stalking his victim and it focuses more on that than him killing his victim. By adding some more clips I made the opening longer and make more sense.

Most clips stay the same but I took out clip of removing the box from under the bed because it did not have any relevance to the opening. I also took out any scene with the knife because it focused too much on killing the victim than the stalking.

I added more clips that focused on the pictures of the victim as it filled in more space between clips as well as showing the stalker's obsession of the victim by going back to the same image. It is to represent how she has taken over his thoughts.

I kept the same template and style as I found it to work effectively as well as making it easier to convey what I want each clip to look like. This time I numbered the frames as it was easy to mix up the sheets.


The colour tone and representation are the same in this version as it still suited the opening.

Titles have not been drawn onto the storyboard but this is where they will be:

• Frame 1 - Company by...
• Frame 2 - Film by...
• Frame 3 - Victim's name
• Frame 4 - Stalkers name
• Frame 5 - Extra's names
• Frame 6 - Extra's names
• Frame 7 - Title
• Frame 8 - Casting by...
• Frame 9 - Music by...
• Frame 14 - Written by...
• Frame 19 - Directed by...

The colour, font and action of the titles are the same as version one. 

In this version I have set some timings as I would like to have the opening synchronized to music which I have composed myself.

 The timings  are also not written on the storyboard as they might be changed after the music is composed. These are the current timings:

• Frame 1 - 8s
• Frame 2 - 8s
• Frame 3 - 8s
• Frame 4 - 8s
• Frame 5 - 4s
• Frame 6 - 4s
• Frame 7 - 8s
• Frame 8 - 8s
• Frame 9 - 8s
• Frame 10 - 4s
• Frame 11 - 4s
• Frame 12 - 4s
• Frame 13 - 8 s
• Frame 14 - 8s
• Frame 15 - 4s
• Frame 16 - 4s
• Frame 17 -  4s
• Frame 18-19 - 12s

The four second clips are to create a fast pace and build up the suspense. Whereas the longer clips are to establish more story.

Storyboard Version One

 For the story-boarding process I made my own template in Microsoft Word based on templates used by Dreamworks storyboard artist. Before making my own storyboard I researched how storyboards are designed and what kind of information are put onto them. I looked at this web page which gives tips and diagrams of story-boarding techniques. 

My template has for boxes for each clip with space on the right to add information about how I would like the scene to be shot for example I added what shot type, camera angles, some mise en scene and general directions for the actors.

All directions such as actors movement are shown in red to make it stand out as the major movement of each clip.The pictures are drawn roughly with little detail as all detail has gone into the writing yet it still shows exactly what happens in each clip.

My thriller opening is about a stalker (shown on the storyboard as 'A') who is researching, stalking and then approaching his prey. The opening is full of short clips of close ups of actions 'A' is doing for example crossing out names on a list of previous victims. At the beginning you see him walking in the dark. His identity is hidden in this darkness to show his anonymity but also to represent hidden dangers. His victim is not know immediately but there are hints to her identity in the series of close ups where his is locating and finding out information on her. The scene is somewhat puzzling at the beginning as the clips are just parts of an unseen bigger picture but when the knife is shown there is an atmosphere of danger which gives the audience a hint as to what might happen. The opening ends on a long shot of a research board showing the whole picture of what is happening and shows that 'A' is a stalker and 'B' is his victim.

I have not put where the titles will be put but they will be in this order:

• Company
• Film by...
• 'A's actor's name
• 'B's actor's name
• Title of thriller
• Casting by
• Music by...
• Written by...
• Directed by...

This order is based of the information I got from previous research of movie opening sequences which can be found here.

The titles will be white to contrast with the dark surroundings. The font will be sketchy and look handwritten. It will flicker like its is from an old projector and preferably look grainy to add to the old feel. 

The colour tone of the opening will be quite dark but with the warm yellows of street lamps when it comes to scenes with 'B'. The yellow adds a sense of warmth and normality to an otherwise dangerous scenario. This lures the audience is a false sense of hope but adds tension and a shock when they realise the danger  and that the opening will not end pleasantly. The blackness of the rest of the opening adds as sense of hidden danger. However it also signifies death, forewarning the audience what happens to the victim.

When it comes to representation you can tell that it is middle class England due to the clothes of both the victim (casual clothes) and the stalker (plain clothing). As there is no dialogue to show dialect or accents it is important to show class and location in other ways. The scene is based on a typical road in England with semi-detached houses. The location is to represent normality but this shows that this scenario can happen anywhere and to anyone.  The stalker is male as in media most stalkers are. 83% of stalkers according to www.novabucks.org/otherinformation/stalking/  are male, so I made the stalker male to represent this. The victim is also female because most victims are female but it also represents women are the weaker sex which brings about the battle of the sexes.