Planning: Storyboard

Part of the essential planning stage consisted of creating a storyboard to detail the shots and narrative of our film opening. Initially, we began brainstorming ideas for the genre that we ideally wanted and hence, the common conventions associated with that genre; we chose to go with the Slasher Horror genre. From deciding on conventions, we were then able to begin planning a rough plot and possible location and camera angle ideas, from which the storyboard was created.

The Idea:

The concept that we decided on for a movie plot was about a female burns victim who was caught in a fire when she was younger and lost her hair; as a result, she now targets other girls with long beautiful hair to kill with fire. In terms of an opening, we decided on the idea of a news reporter exploring a possible previous lair of this killer for a news article, only to find a recent burnt victim in the back and the killer to come out and kill her too. 

Common conventions of the film opening form for the horror genre, particularly slasher horror, are that someone is usually killed in the very first scene; this is why we decided on the particular concept explained above. 

To make it seem as the the victim really targets such girls, we also decided to include some CCTV shots to emphasise that the reporter is being watched. Corresponding to this, we also decided to do some hand held camera work, possibly applying a camera effect in post-production, to suggest that the protagonist is recording her findings, as many news reporters would. 

The Name:

Once we had decided on the plot of our opening, we were able to investigate different name choices. Many slasher horror films typically tend to use a one word title and thus, to conform to common conventions, we decided on this tactic too. In order to coincide with the narrative, we decided on the name "Incinerate" as it is direct and to the point. 

Storyboard:

Evaluation:

In general, the storyboard and planning stage is the most important aspect of any movie or media production and for this reason, it is essential that it is completed successfully. I feel that as a group, we planned our concept explicitly, creating a detailed story board to show our ideas and narrative. Due to the detail included, it will make it much easier for us to film the opening during the production stage, thus emphasising that we completed a successful and clear story board.