R+P Post 11: Our timeline and storyboard

Our Timeline

The beginning of our timeline

When we began to devise our opening sequence, we decided that we first of all had to think of what sequence of events we wanted to show, before we began storyboarding. To do this we created a timeline by selotaping 3 pieces of A3 paper length wise and split it into 3 tracks for video, sound and voiceover. We used the video track to allow us to think of what visuals and which settings we wanted to use, without having to pin down exact shots and timings. Again for the VO track it helped us work out for how long we wanted to have the voiceover play for and also where we wanted to match the visuals to the content of the voiceover. Finally, for the sound track it allowed us to work out what music we wanted and when, as well as which sound effects we wanted to use for both diagetic and non-diagetic sound. This process gave us alot of freedom to adapt our ideas as we had them and manipulate the project as we saw fit, 
be it due to creative, continuity or practical 
reasons.

Our Storyboard
To produce our storyboard we used a large piece of sugar paper, which we then stuck post-it notes on using the colours as a key as below:

Key:

• Yellow - Mid Shots
• Blue - Close-up 
• Orange - Long shots

We used post-it notes as it allowed us to shuffle shots around and adapt the sequence as we saw fit. It also allowed us to add and remove shots easily, which happened in our group very often, especially towards the beginning of the storyboarding process as we were more interested in just getting as many ideas down on paper, than actually assessing the quality of the ideas. For our ideas we often sought inspiration from other media, such as the opening sequence for Elephant (2003) which included its titles superimposed on the sky. Another key inspiration was a video on the GoPro youtube channel showing 2 sisters make an apple pie, as this inspired us to use interesting shots for filming Craig make and eat cereal, as we felt otherwise this could quite easily become a simplistic and boring sequence within the opening. Overall, I was very happy with how we approached the storyboard as a group, as we were not afraid to make changes and even added half a dozen shots after completing the animatic in the name of continuity.