STORYBOARD

Jobs:
Renee, Kelly, Zoe, and Chiara: Coming up with the story, and how it will flow
Zoe: Drawing and captions


Our movie opens by following a girl walking into a dimly lit area (dolly shot). She then slides down and sits on the ground, the camera shot revealing that she is bloody and bruised. The shot then zooms in to a close up of her face, where you can clearly see her shaking. As it closes up, flashbacks from earlier are being revealed, showing seconds from previous events that led her to be where she is now. The tension builds as the scenes flash back faster, building as much tension as possible before the scene cuts, and shows a black screen with the words "24 hours earlier.", which is the end of the opening and what would be the beginning of the movie/story.

BRAINSTORMING

“Rise”: 

-I like how the music became louder and more clear when the actor put his headphones on
-There were a lot of close-ups, and they liked to focus on one specific object frequently throughout the movie opening
-It showed the actor playing soccer from several different angles, and although this was a cool effect, I felt that too much of the opening was just him playing soccer
-The end scene where it showed an extreme close-up really left me wondering what history the two characters had, and why they seemed so angry at each other. However, I feel that more dialogue would’ve been more effective in captivating an audience.

“Offline”:

-I honestly found this movie opening very weird, and I didn’t like it that much
-It was extremely predictable
-Too much simultaneity in the editing. 3 or 4 is enough, but it cut back and forth over 10 times.
-The music fit the theme, which tried to build suspense, however it didn’t leave me wanting more or wondering what was going on. It’s pretty clear a girl accidentally (or purposefully) shared her location on an instagram post and a creep saw it and kidnapped her. There was no mystery, and usually horror is just that.

“Dear Lover”:

-This was really really good, and super captivating. There was always something happening, and right from the start I wondered why she ran away, and where she is now.
-The sound editing is really good, from the music, to the girl narrating to the clip of her girlfriend speaking to an off-screen character.
-The ending was really good, how she said “let’s start from the beginning”. This got me interested in her entire story, making me want to watch the rest of the movie.

“Dare to Thrill”:

-This was really good, the editing was incredible. With the upbeat music mixed with the sound of the car drifting and the kids screaming, this gets me excited, and I want to be there with them
-The camera angles also contributed to the exciting vibe of the movie opening. When the car drove on the main road, the camera angle showed different parts of the car, and then followed it at one point making me feel like i was in a car following behind them.
-The ending actually made me really excited, I genuinely wanted to see the rest of the movie. My mind came up with a million possibilities of what could be in the back of the car.

“Always Watching”:

-This one has good editing, but was a little confusing and awkward. I think it was the acting, especially by the antagonist. He just had this weird smirk on his face that made it more funny rather than scary or intimidating
-The music was a little overpowering, and though it fit the theme it was blasting in my ears, but then the dialogue was too quiet when compared to this music.
-I wasn’t really left wondering what the story was by the end, I just felt like he was an obsessive psychopath and I didn’t really need a background story to explain that.
-Because I felt that the editing and transitions were really good, the only thing that would have to change would be the volume of the music and the facial expressions of the actor.

“The Blue Boar”:

-This actually made me really uncomfortable and I hated it.
-The song was very unnecessary and along with her terrible and very weird facial expressions, this made the opening very awkward to watch.
-It made absolutely no sense
-The creature she made with sticks at the end was confusing. I don’t know if this was the goal of the group, but it just made the whole thing even weirder than it was before.

“White Coat”:

-This was really well made. The effects were outstanding, and everything from the music to the visuals made this opening super suspenseful
-I like how the sound of the boiling water was emphasized to bring out some diegetic sound

“Stalker”:

-I hated this it was not good
-The sound effects were so corny and terrible
-The plot was not suspenseful and honestly a little stupid
-The camerawork and angles was also terrible, and did not create any suspense, as a thriller should.

“Nostalgia”:

-The overall idea was very nice, however the shaky camera made it a little hard to understand what the director wanted the audience to focus on
-The music fit nicely with the theme
-I like how the young girl represented her in the past, and this was shown through the fact that they were wearing the same clothes
-This left me wondering what each item represented, and what it meant to her

“Lost & Found”:

-Sound quality wasn’t very great, especially when the dialogue came
-The transition between people was very good though, and smooth
-Everything else was kind of bad, there really wasn’t anything that left me wanting more


Overall, these film openings have showed me what to do and what not to do. It’s clear that a good story makes all the difference. I need to focus on sound, because that also makes the opening more immersive. And I need to stick to a clear genre.

INSPIRATION FOR OUR GENRE

My group decided to do our film opening project on the horror genre. I feel that fear is a good way to captivate an audience, and keep them engaged throughout the movie. Suspense is a key factor in all horror movies. Suspense does a good job of keeping everybody on the edge of their seats, waiting for something to happen. I love the horror genre because I can never get bored watching a good horror movie. Some incredible openings I have seen were in the movies US (Jordan Peele, 2019) and It (Andrés Muschietti, 2017).

I was first introduced to the horror genre at a young age-my friends loved watching horror movies, but I was always too scared. However, oddly enough, I really enjoyed reading books in the horror genre. Once I got to high school, I decided to go see my first horror movie, "Get Out" and since then I've had a love/hate relationship with the horror genre. I hate being jumped at, and scared, but I absolutely LOVE the incredible effects and music that go into a horror movie. So nowadays, whenever a new horror movie comes out, I go see it-but I make sure to bring a couple of friends!

The film openings from the two movies I previously stated are the main source of inspiration for how I want my group to approach our own film opening. I want to focus on captivating the audience from the start, and then leaving them wanting more and asking questions at the end. For example, in the film opening for US, a little girl is shown walking on the Santa Cruz pier with her parents, and then wandering off on her own. She went onto the beach, and walked into a hall of mirrors, where she got lost and encountered a little girl who looks exactly like her. Then, the scene cut off. This movie opening left me asking a number of questions: Who is the other little girl? What did she do with her? Where did she come from? The lack of music and dark setting added to the suspense, keeping me interested.

Another example is in the movie It. The movie opens with a scene that sets the mood for the rest of the movie-Georgie's death. Georgie's death was an iconic scene in both the 1990 original and the 2019 remake. Georgie goes outside on a rainy day, and runs alongside his paper boat that he put in running water when suddenly-the boat fell into a sewer. This is where Pennywise's character is introduced, and he bites off Georgie's arm and pulls him into the sewer after tricking him into thinking he'll get his boat back. This movie opening stands out to me because it is a scene that everybody knows all too well, but was done so well with all of the elements of a horror movie that it left the audience wanting more. The dark setting, suspenseful music, and scary effects and character truly made this opening scene terrifying.

Overall, my inspiration came from a culmination of different movies that left me wanting to come back and rewatch it again. It is important to focus on including the elements of the horror genre, but to also keep it unique and suspenseful, so the audience doesn't get bored, but rather excited to see the rest of the movie. This is what I hope to achieve with my group in our movie opening.