Rough Storyboard

This is the rough outline of my storyboard. I felt doing a rough sketch would help with my understanding of the plot, the characters, but especially the editing of the piece, as the success of the film depends largely on the pacing and the building of the tension.

This rough sketch shows the film opening with the man, who is approaching the house, opening the gate, and walking through it. I will later change the opening shot to an insert of the switch on the kettle being flicked on, to boil the water.

Overall, this demonstrates that the idea of intercutting between the two actions is still firmly in place.

The first frame, shows that I intend to use the shot of the kettle switch as the first shot. The storyboard then continues from where the last page ended.

I intend to build the tension by starting on a medium shot of the man walking, which then cuts to a shot of the boiled kettle, then back to a close up of the walking man. This change from a medium shot, to a close up intensifies the scene and builds the tension.

The final stages of this storyboard shows the man reaching the doorway, intercut with the finishing of the making of the coffee. As the man knocks on the door, a figure appears and ask if the man would like some coffee. The shot then cuts to black for about 3-5 seconds to build the tension.

This black screen is also symbolic of the killing of the man. It also implies on the second viewing that the reason the audience are being given nothing in the way of image and sound is because this builds the tension; as humans in general are fearful of that which they cannot not fully understand or comprehend.

The final shot will be a challenge, also, as it is one long starting from the gun on the worktop all the way into the next room to reveal the dead man. Long takes are a technique I admire from thrillers, such as 'Goodfellas' (1990) and 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992) and are often used to reveal something about the character or the plot. In 'Goodfellas' (1990), the shot of Henry Hill entering the Copa Cobana shows his power and success and the entering into the glitsy, glamourous world of a gangster. The long take in 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992) which shows a bank robber walking from a warehouse, in which he is torchering a kidnapped police officer, outside to his car and back again juxtaposes the unbeliavable, larger-than-life events that are occuring in the warehouse and the mundane peacefullness of suburban life outside of it. 

My film will incorporate the idea of showing that while something everyday and ordinary could be happening in one room, something terrifying and violent could be occuring in the next. Which is why I will juxtapose the shot of a man drinking his coffee, with a dead body in the next room.

The long take from Goodfellas (1990):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8DPiHCtQCw&feature=related

The long take from Reservoir Dogs (1992):
[shot begins at 2:58]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=komvFIGYBYM&feature=related