Tuesday 13/4/21 - Storyboard and plot

This is the storyboard I created to summarise my idea and give a rough estimation as to what some of the shots will be like, naturally this won't be the exact final outcome for the plot and scenes as aspects will likely change as the project progresses, likely due to technical limitations.

To summarise the narrative I'm aiming for I want to create a short film that leaves the audience with a range of clues as to the outcome that will happen by the end of it. This will be to create a feeling of unease and suspense in the audience's mind, which will in turn amp up the shock factor compared to having zero build up. However, because the audience in mind has had a range of different films that have created suspense I'll have to adapt the techniques used in older films such as Alien. The modern audience is now used to different tropes and cliches that were very new at the time of films in the past, most of which actually were the first to use these tropes. One way I want to attempt to do this is by trying to trick the audience.

The rest of the short film will try to lure the audience into a false sense of security, it will present the area the soldiers rest at as a resting point and a calm. This will be done through the music and by showing how the characters begin to relax amidst the chaos. However, there will be subtle aspects to keep the feeling of unease in the background. This will be done through fake advertisments in the background that foreshadow what will happen, a faint suspensful track in the background and through other means.

Overall I want to try and create a suspenseful scene that still works for a modern audience. An example of where I previously did this was in the project where I first used VFX to create a robotic arm that was in shot for only a few seconds. Because the majority of the short film didn't present itself as one to use CGI, it made for a fairly sudden shock. Though the downside was there wasn't really any buildup which made the shock not as impactful as it could have been. It was more brief suprise.