Our storyboard
Updated synopsis
In our opening 2 minutes we decided to add a few more shots, Our character goes through flashbacks and hallucinations, Showing us the previous killing and how his illness has affected him. The synopsis is a schizophrenic man that kills a boy because the voices in his head tell him to however once the boy is dead, The voices in his head tell him that he is a terrible person for killing the boy, So he tries to kill himself however this is a failure as he gets taken into a mental hospital. He escapes from here and finds himself in the woods nearby where he has flashbacks and hallucinations of dog walkers saying horrible things and talking trees. The last shots are of the dog walker looking after the man.
Edit:
Our story has to communicate that our protagonist has been suffering from mental illnesses for some time, without explicitly saying it through dialogue or otherwise. We have studied various mental disorders and have decided that schizophrenia would be the most accurate one to portray in the film, given his hallucinations, murderous rage and suicidal tendencies.
Hallucinations in particular are fairly easy to show through visuals alone. Close to the end, we depict a man seeming to tell the protagonist that he's a terrible person, but later on we find out that it is just subjective filming, and the objective scene is just the man walking his dog. Point of View shots tend to be the most popular when showing something subjective, as it becomes obvious to the viewers that this is only what one person sees.
We also show a talking tree, which may not be PoV, but is right after one, and what with talking trees not existing, it is clear that viewers are still being shown subjective footage.
The murderous rage is shown in flashbacks. This is shown as something that the protagonist truly regrets, and is what triggers his suicidal tendencies. The story goes that the protagonist stabs another man multiple times, for reasons unbeknownst to the viewer during the flashbacks. We do not show any piercing of skin or flesh, but during the quick flashbacks that the protagonist remembers, it is very clear what happens. The first flashback shows him creeping up on his victim, with emphasis on the knife in his hand. The second flashback shows him above his victim, about to thrust the knife downwards, likely into the victim's chest or back. The third and final flashback shows the dropping of the knife, signifying the realization of what he's done and the regret and guilt he feels.
The suicidal tendencies were the most difficult to show. At the start, we show him escaping and running away from a mental hospital, which could make viewers ask a few questions, such as "Why and what is he running away (from)?" The viewer is not meant to know if he does not want to be cured, or whether he has unfinished business, or other reasons. A possible issue with our storyboard is that none of our shots answer these questions truly, but it does help to show that he has a mental disorder, and that is what we wanted to get across.
However, we continue to enforce the idea of him being scared of suicide, and heavily imply that he has attempted it before. When he sees the noose in the wood, he has the flashbacks and runs. Viewers gather here that he is definitely not cured, and should still be in the mental hospital. This does not confirm nor deny that the noose in the wood was one used by him, which again leaves the viewers with questions, but in this case it is not necessarily a bad thing, as it does create enigma.
In our opening 2 minutes we decided to add a few more shots, Our character goes through flashbacks and hallucinations, Showing us the previous killing and how his illness has affected him. The synopsis is a schizophrenic man that kills a boy because the voices in his head tell him to however once the boy is dead, The voices in his head tell him that he is a terrible person for killing the boy, So he tries to kill himself however this is a failure as he gets taken into a mental hospital. He escapes from here and finds himself in the woods nearby where he has flashbacks and hallucinations of dog walkers saying horrible things and talking trees. The last shots are of the dog walker looking after the man.
Edit:
Our story has to communicate that our protagonist has been suffering from mental illnesses for some time, without explicitly saying it through dialogue or otherwise. We have studied various mental disorders and have decided that schizophrenia would be the most accurate one to portray in the film, given his hallucinations, murderous rage and suicidal tendencies.
Hallucinations in particular are fairly easy to show through visuals alone. Close to the end, we depict a man seeming to tell the protagonist that he's a terrible person, but later on we find out that it is just subjective filming, and the objective scene is just the man walking his dog. Point of View shots tend to be the most popular when showing something subjective, as it becomes obvious to the viewers that this is only what one person sees.
We also show a talking tree, which may not be PoV, but is right after one, and what with talking trees not existing, it is clear that viewers are still being shown subjective footage.
The murderous rage is shown in flashbacks. This is shown as something that the protagonist truly regrets, and is what triggers his suicidal tendencies. The story goes that the protagonist stabs another man multiple times, for reasons unbeknownst to the viewer during the flashbacks. We do not show any piercing of skin or flesh, but during the quick flashbacks that the protagonist remembers, it is very clear what happens. The first flashback shows him creeping up on his victim, with emphasis on the knife in his hand. The second flashback shows him above his victim, about to thrust the knife downwards, likely into the victim's chest or back. The third and final flashback shows the dropping of the knife, signifying the realization of what he's done and the regret and guilt he feels.
The suicidal tendencies were the most difficult to show. At the start, we show him escaping and running away from a mental hospital, which could make viewers ask a few questions, such as "Why and what is he running away (from)?" The viewer is not meant to know if he does not want to be cured, or whether he has unfinished business, or other reasons. A possible issue with our storyboard is that none of our shots answer these questions truly, but it does help to show that he has a mental disorder, and that is what we wanted to get across.
However, we continue to enforce the idea of him being scared of suicide, and heavily imply that he has attempted it before. When he sees the noose in the wood, he has the flashbacks and runs. Viewers gather here that he is definitely not cured, and should still be in the mental hospital. This does not confirm nor deny that the noose in the wood was one used by him, which again leaves the viewers with questions, but in this case it is not necessarily a bad thing, as it does create enigma.
I need to see a lot more detail of your actual opening. You can't film until I know exactly what you are doing - its still somewhat unclear.
ReplyDeleteThis still needs to be addressed - I can't actually see anything.
ReplyDeleteThis post has been updated.
Delete- Dan