Sequence and Narrative part 4: Storyboarding 4.2

 I picked 3 genres to try out storyboarding for, I picked Matilda, Cast Away and an episode of Peaky Blinders.


Matilda - 36 squares done in pencil and coloured pencil.

How I interpreted the narrative... introduction of the headmistress Miss Trunchbull

1.the school door open and we see a mysterious pair of legs that the kids express fear. 2. The appearance isn’t shown yet just a shadow, riding crop being slapped against her fingerless gloves. 3. Main character Matilda's face is zoomed into to show her fear before she runs to hide into the shadows, bringing a sense of safety 4. suddenly another little girl appears also in the shadows and the exchange greetings and Matilda is told who this scary women is, already in this shadow safety she is not alone. 5. An older character pops her head into the shadows to warn the girls that Miss Trunchbull will find them and punish them which she then she tells a story of the type of headmistress she is. 6. This older character tells them a story about Trunchbull the scene cuts to a visual of this story showing how Trunchbull launches a boy out of the classroom window for simply eating M&M's. 7.It’s also explained she was a shotput and javelin thrower then we are given an eerie glimpse of the chokey appears revealing the nails and sharp points inside and smoke as well as its locks. 8. the camera diagonally zooms in the Matilda’s worried expression once again the impression is the Trunchbull has spotted 'new meat' with a zoom in to her unappealing slightly gross sweaty face. 9. the camera moves towards Matilda giving the audience the impression she’s about to meet the Trunchbull but pushed out of the way the camera and Trunchbull’s focus lands on a little girl with pig tails. 10. The camera blurs the girl in the for front and points up towards Trunchbull to show her power and to make the girl look even smaller why the main focus is on Trunchbull. 11. The little girl defends her pig tails which Trunchbull doesn't like a results she is swung like the shotput by her hair and flung high into the air which the camera shows a front view as the top of the building and sky is shown behind her to show she’s indeed in the air. 12. making her descent all the pupils are evidently concerned and a shot of pointed fence is shown from below as we see the girl narrowly miss giving the audience some suspense and then relief. 13. The final action shot is her sliding amongst the flowers and the speed and camera shaking suggests turbulence as she still hasn’t stopped. 14. the end of this sequence is an overhead shot of the students rushing into the building as we then cut to the classroom where the vibe becomes gentle as the new teacher is introduced.

 Cast Away- 36 squares drawn in fineliner and markers and coloured pencil.

My interpretation of the narrative-

1.

.begins of a close face shot where we don’t see where the character is but his confusion. 2. The camera then zooms out to show the life raft and beach the character has washed onto. 3. There’s a lot of wide environment shots which shows the audience that he is alone and there is no evidence of civilization anywhere. 4. Bottom of the screen is where we are placed as a box that the character is walking towards. 5. The camera again zooms into the characters lost face and then we see the empty ocean through the eyes of the character as the camera switches to a front view. 6. The beginning of this scene is slow, and the shots are calm and placed in a way where we see how pretty the island is and the camera being behind things like trees or far away gives the illusion of us being invisible to the character. 7. there is cuts to speed up the character finding his feet and there is hints time has passed by the progress he’s made and things he’s found on the island. 8. Help is spelt out in the sand and then we see the character looking at a picture of his partner in which us as an audience sympathises with him and the as the night falls a picturesque view is shown as his silhouette sits by a palm tree staring into the ocean. 9. The next scene the character is awoken by thuds and because we don’t see what it the audience becomes nervous as we are left with this dark shot of the scared character. 10. the day arrives and the shot high up shows the help sign has been half washed away by the tide, more time passed as every new shot we see he has found more, and he is remaking his help sign elsewhere. 11. the camera stop then an we see the character aimlessly looking round his small camo he’s set up and a blur an a thud occur and the character spooked picks up a coconut and we learn that that was the scary thuds in the night. 12. a montage begins of him trying to smash the coconut and again a low-down angle points up from the sand at the characters and we see multiple coconuts around him. 13. He discovers away to break into the coconut and after that the camera changes shots of him progressing as he explores parts. 14. There’s an underwater shot where we see his feet and legs are cut up from the rocks and then back at his face, he’s looking up to which the camera also looks up and we see the cliff he wants to hike up. 15. We then see him make fabric shoes from his clothes and a shot of his bloody legs as we understand he has started his trek up this cliff. 16. The final shot is an overview of his surrounding how it’s nothing but ocean for miles and then the camera peers over his shoulder to show the huge drop below.

Peaky Blinders- (season 3 ep 4) done in 0.5 and 0.7 mechanical pencils and coloured pencil.

 Interpretation of narrative...

1. Scene begins sneakily as we see Tommy Shelby the main characters walking slowly down a hall with is gun pointed ready to shoot someone. 2.The camera ever so slightly peers just enough into a room where we see the back of a man wearing a white collar and a rosary bead suggesting it is a priest Tommy is about to shoot. 3. suddenly a man runs up behind Shelby and hits him and they soon get into a scuffle with two men and he is thrown into a radiator hitting his face before turning to try an overpower one of the men. 4. unsuccessful we see Tommy get his head slowly crushed against the wall and a diagonal shot looking through a mirror as the priest unaffected looks on. 5. the camera then is behind this man holding tommy against the wall and we see the priest standing in front, back to tommy now bleeding and visibly in pain and a crunch is heard as he falls out of shot and the three men look down unsympathetic; priest also looking disappointed. 6. barely conscious and bloodied he is carried into an ambulance and this scene goes in an out of focus shaking for effect to show we are not only in the ambulance watching but to experience with what tommy is going through as the priest threatens him on the gurney. 7. Silhouettes of these two bad guys are dragging Tommy’s limp body into this dark abandoned building dropping him on the floor as we see the priest entering the far right of the screen out of the shadows and recognised by his rosary bead and collar. 8. This part he harshly grabs tommy face and threatens him, and we see from Tommy’s view the blurred figure of the priest and two other, the priest having the light behind him ironically symbolizes this being a holy experience like you would expect to happen if god or an angel were to speak to you as your dying but in this case it's the opposite. 9. screen goes black, and we are 1st person tommy as there is a doctor holding a needle close to his face probably to wake him up again to be spoke to by the priest who leaves a note on his chest and gives him a task before leaving him in the road in the night. 10. Next we see a big house far away from us and then switched to tommy bleeding and slumped in his office chair, the maid/nanny appears slightly nervous as she is spoken too seriously and dismissed. 11. Struggling he makes a phone call to his sister and there is an urgent conversation then tommy hangs up the camera moves across the desk focusing on his gun and then the priests notes and we hear tommy collapse in the background and throw up. 12. Sudden change in shot and tommy is sniffing cocaine as a means of trying to contain himself and mask the pain to get through this meeting as all these fancy guest are waiting for him as we see one empty chair for tommy. 13. head down and sweaty only Tommy’s lips can be seen as the table goes silent in shock or concern seeing tommy behave strangely, the priest aware what his situation is teases an apology as a sort of submission tactic in front of his guests. 14. The quietness and mood is nerve wracking and you feel anxious and a sense of desperation for tommy as we hear the pain in his voice as he forces his sentences out and the camera drops below the cap as we see him grimace in pain still bleeding. 15. desperately taking a sip of water whatever the conversation is its almost pushed aside as we watch tommy suffering and the obvious fear/ concern from the guests. 16. he leaves, and we see him knocking on his sister’s door stumbling and grabbing things to keep himself from collapsing before his worried sister helps him sit down for a second meeting with some Russian associates. 17. struggling to keep his head up we catch tommy wincing in pain once again as he tries to get his words out as quickly as possible. 19. The intensity is still high, tommy clearly uncomfortably and in agony turns his head in a way revealing unintentionally to his guest his bleeding head and you see the two-take back a bit and there is a little more urgency to end the conversation. 20. Aida the sister sees tommy starting to slump over and takes him out the room down the stairs before tommy collapses on a step. 21. Aida’s expression is shown as tommy tells her to call an ambulance and that if he is unconscious by the time, they arrive to tell them his injuries. 22. She goes out of view, and we see a close up of tommy trying to stay conscious and he stares right at the camera speaking to his dead father and then keeps staring in silence as we as an audience assume he will die. 23. The last shot of the episode the camera slowly pans out and tommy falls unconscious, and you see his body relax and his head and arms drop.

 

Reflection

How did the task benefit your drawing development?

I was able to draw the characters and necessary objects or scenes quickly by just focus on parts of the image that suggest something important to the audience. Quickness was something I was surprised by when doing each of the squares because it usually takes me ages to finish drawings. Working in a small space was a challenge, I did think I captured what I wanted in the square. I did 3 techniques throughout the storyboards. The Matilda board I used only pencil and kept the lines quite simple and minimal shading. The second ‘Cast Away’ I used more block colours and simple lines, similar to Brandon J Wallace. The third story board for ‘Peaky Blinders’ I did get carried away with the detail and they turned out being mini detailed images. Once I’d done a few squares I couldn’t really simplify the squares as they’d look odd, so this took a lot longer than the others. I think the detail of this storyboard was a means of trying to capture the intensity and darkness of the episode sequence. This one also has the most squares (47) because of so many subtle expressions, need for context and the narrative. Throughout each page I did add little bits of colours depending on the significance they had to the scene. The Matilda scene an important part was the use of red and blue m&ms in a flashback. In castaway the yellow is to show that the life raft keeps you clued up on his situation, it has a life saving purpose. Finally, the Peaky Blinders board I used only red for the blood, it shows you that he is suffering and creates some urgency.

 

What about your observational skills and understanding of the cinematography?

Often times the way the narrative unfolds can be subtle and things can be placed around a scene to foreshadow or give context or direction to the storyline. An example of symbolism and subtleness is in the Peaky Blinders. In the beginning scene we see a glimpse of a head and shoulders but there is a rosary bead around their neck and a bit of a white collar which suggests the character is a priest. This rosary bead/cross we see further on in the sequence too when the scene goes dark which you associate this character with having an important in the episode. An example of religious symbolism is when the camera shows Tommy being barely conscious on the floor looking up to a light which is being blocked by the face of the priest who is threatening him, this light behind him and the hint of rosary bead and collar puts him in this position of power like he is God however, there is irony in this as he is the bad guy in the episode.

 

 How did shifts in angle and viewpoint add to the narrative?

Expressions are a big focus and face shots help give a certain emotion away without the use of words. Face shots are also important for making an onscreen conversation easier to follow, when this happens, we get to see someone's reactions and there’s a sense of being involved when the camera is back an forth from one character to the other character. Angles also help understanding the direction of the scene and what they want you to see or show. The angles are also important for an ongoing conversation, it’s quite common for a character on forefront of the screen to be out of focus like we as an audience are watching and understand who is being spoken to. I also think when the camera pans out it can also show how big an environment is; in the storyboard for castaway there is a lot of empty environment shots to show just how lost and alone he is and how big the island around him as well as the never-ending water surrounding the island. Angles are interesting because if the camera from below is shooting up it can make a person with look more powerful. Whereas looking down at the camera they look smaller more vulnerable. Face shots can make a scene quite dramatic especially when the 4th wall is broken, and a character looks straight at the camera. All these tricks I think most as an audience don't always appreciate the clever cinematography most film scenes have, how movement, angles, actors, focus’ play a huge role in making you feel or react a certain way or give direction for foreshadow something further in a story.