Storyboarding a scene

Storyboarding is a key part of making and shooting a film. The Storyboarder will draw a 'cartoon style' version of the shots in rectangular they want to capture for each scene. It helps them to visualise what they want the scenes to look like when they come to the filming. It is likely that the filming won’t be exactly as the shots are drawn on the storyboard, for example they may have been drawn too far to one side or too tight to the frame, however, it will be the ‘building blocks’ of the filming and the shots, in most cases, will be very similar to the shots that have been mapped out. Without the Storyboard the film makers will be filming the scene from scratch and may not get such an effective film as they won't have spent time thinking about what they want it to look like and the effect they are trying to get.

I have chosen to storyboard the opening scene of James Bond ‘Casino Royale’. I have drawn each frame from the first 40 seconds. Below is a copy of my storyboard.

Second Attempt with a Camera

We had a second attempt using a camera. In this attempt we took on board the constructive criticism we received from Mr. Buckmaster:

• Check the head space and position of character before you start filming
• Do a count down from 5 after we have pressed record before we start filming the shot
Keep the camera still unless we are doing movement  In movement keep the camera a the right angle and make sure the movement is smooth
Think about the lighting of your shot before recording and ensure you can see the characters face when supposed to.
Set the camera up in the exact position before filming the shot

Above is a video of my groups second attempt.

In our first shot we panned a High Angle Medium Shot. In this shot you can see that we counted down after we pressed record as there are a few seconds with no movement, this was to ensure that when it comes to editing we have not missed the beginning of the shot. The head space in this shot was good; there wasn't too much space above the character in comparison to how much of the character we could see. Also the lighting meant we could see the character perfectly and our panning was much smoother than our first attempt.

Our Second shot was a Birds-eye View. In this shot I think we needed to reduce the head space slightly because it wasn't in proportion with the feet space. Also the lighting was slightly bright on the characters face which meant that you couldn't see her face very well. Also, we did move the camera slightly when it was supposed to be a still shot.

Our Final shot was a Reverse Shot. In this shot we positioned the character well in the first half of the reverse shot. She had good lighting on her and we used the rule of thirds to position her. In the second half of our reverse shot we had a good proportion of the back of the characters head compared with how much of the 'mystery' character we could see. Also the lighting of the character she was looking at was effective because it made him look mysterious and dangerous which was the desired effect. Finally there was a lot of time at the end and beginning of the shot to allow for editing. I think our reverse shot was the best shot we did and was a massive improvement on our previous reverse shot.

Although there were still negative points about our second shots and there wasn't such a variety of shots, they were of a much higher quality than our first attempt. 

First Attempt with a Camera

In class we got into groups and had our first attempt with a camera. We took it in turns film different camera angles and shots.

Above is my groups first attempt.

First of all we panned an establishing shot. When filming our clip we used a tripod, this meant our pan was reasonably smooth however, our shot was still slightly wobbly and there was a couple of jolts. Also, there was slightly too much grass in the shot and not enough of the trees.

Our second shot was a long shot. I think our head space in this shot should have been slightly smaller; however, being a long shot, there is going to be a lot of space around the character.

Thirdly we did a two character medium shot. Again, the head space in this shot was slightly too big however I think we got a good proportion of the characters in this shot.

Our next shot was a Medium Shot. This shot was slightly a Dutch Angle Shot however, this was unintentional. Therefore, our group should have checked the trip was level before filming this shot. I think the head space in this shot was slightly better than the previous shots and we didn't place the character in the centre of the shot.

Then, we did a Medium Close-up. This shot, like our others, had too much head space. The character was in a good position in the shot.

After, we did a Close-up Shot. The head space in this shot was better than all our other shots; it was reasonably good proportion, however, our character was quite central in this shot.

Our next shot was a Big Close-up. This shot was also slightly wonky and central. Our group should have checked the position on the tripod before filming this shot.

We did a Reverse angle Shot next. In this shot the character in the shot should have had something to look at one the reverse to make it more effective and the back of the head should have been closer and to the side more in the shot. Also head space was a bit big the first part of this shot. 

Then, we did a Low Angle shot. The angle of this shot was good, however, the light behind the character made it slightly harder to see the characters face.

Finally, we did a High Angle Shot. This shot had too much head space but the angle was good.

After doing the task we played it to the class and Mr. Buckmaster gave us constructive criticism.