Wednesday 15 June 2011

Voodoo boards

One of my projects came from Morecambe, aiding in the creation of a short media film tentatively titled 'Voodoo'. Essentially in need of tailoring the idea into a workable script, I offered to come on board as a storyboard artist to help visualize the story. Whilst at first I thought my presence would be overkill, it eventually turned out to be instrumental in the collaboration process.

It became pretty clear from the early stages that the idea was just that; an idea. And no script had been drafted due to the nature of the story. This being, the crux of the short revolved around a plot device, in this case a small voodoo doll accessory hanging from the rear-view mirror of one of the character's car. There were two characters in this, and the theme became an exercise in narrative misdirection through the use of the Voodoo doll and deliberate editing. I did relish the task of trying to make this work as best as possible, and to collaborate heavily.

Unlike other works, this collaboration became one of unlimited liberties with posing ideas and creating my own take on this plot. For several days we sat down and discussed how this story would make sense via the edit, and I set about creating the storyboard with a lot of room to add my own suggestions. Below are the scans on the storyboard sequence as finalized.


Scene 1. Our introduction to the first character, a teenager and youth driving in a casual manner.
Scene 2. Establishing the character's tastes, he turns up the music. (Choice of song will help solidify his personality)
Scene 3. Filler shot, car drives towards camera.
Continued- car pulls away from camera.
Scene 4. Interior shot of a car. (Edit deliberately makes it unclear as to whether this is the same car or not. Noticeably different song on the radio suggests otherwise.)

Scene 5. Better view of the passenger seat from front. Reveals a tool back with rather obscure and perhaps sinister items. Slow pan.

Scene 6. Filler, unnamed driver pulls gear stick.

Scene 7. Location establishing shot. A quiet garage along an unnamed road. (Initially opted for a close up of the car driving in, though I later altered it so as to make more sense of the scene geography to a wide angle, which also then serves as an establishing moment!)

Scene 8. Unnamed driver gets out of car. (I chose strong perspective shot, for an otherwise rather mundane scene, just to shake things up- plus it also served to keep the unnamed driver's identity obscured for the time being.)

Scene 9. (Re-use scene 7, establishing the approach of another car- cut then to this scene.) Kid gets out of car.
Scene 10. Filler, kid is seen walking past his car. (Originally we discussed the potential for this moment to be ambiguous as to whether it was the other car he was walking past. If it was so, a suggestion was made for this to be shot hand-held entirely, perhaps suggesting somebody is watching from within the car.)

Scene 11. Following shot, kid walks away. Someone is seen peering around the distant corner.

Reverse shot. The kid in the distance walks off frame, our first reveal of the unnamed driver, showing a grizzled older man.
Continued. (Initially designed to be a panning shot around to the right, revealing the Man's POV). Man observes the garage space, both cars are in view. Deliberately unclear which car he is viewing.
Scene 12. Cut to garage shop interior. Kid browses goods. Idle radio music playing.

Scene 13. Slow pan downwards, revealing the underside of the car.


A body is seen to be dragged. (For the editing, I proposed multiple cuts to the shop interior as the kid browses to heighten the tension.)

Scene 14. Kid finishes his browsing and approaches the kiosk, finding it unmanned.

Confused, the kid moves to exit, thinking nothing of it.

Scene 15. Interior shot of a car. For the first time the plot device is revealed- the voodoo doll hanging from the rear-view mirror, as beyond the window the unnamed driver appears to be continuing dragging the body towards the boot. (I chose this angle as the composition allowed for ample room to distinguish between the nearby doll, and the background man dragging the body. It also added a nice, background, middleground, and foreground layout.)

Scene 16. Quick cut to body rolled into the boot. (Deliberately do not show the identity of the body itself, for fear of detracting from the focus of the story.)

Scene 17. Kid returns, still somewhat perplexed.

Scene 18. Man quickly shuts the boot and looks up to see him approaching.

Scene 19. Prolonged gaze, adding to the tension.

Scene 20. (A suggested insert) Upon shutting the boot, a quick cut to the voodoo doll is seen swaying a little, perhaps in response to the boot door.

Scene 21. Man quickly moves to his car, reaching for the door.

Scene 22. Kid approaches his car, repeats the same gesture.

CU of hand opening door. (I suggested these scenes to add a little flare to the moment, using quick editing to show them opening the door.)

Quick cut to other CU.

Scene 23. Kid enters car.
Man follows suit.
Scene 26. The man quickly pulls away infront of the kid.

Cut to interior over the shoulder angle. Kid observes, eating.

Kid looks confused at the sudden behaviour.

Scene 27. Filler, The car bolts past the screen, having taken to the long road.
Cut back to Kid eating leisurely.

Return to Man, interior shot. Radio plays 'his' chosen song as he drives.

Scene 29. Voodoo doll is seen to be swaying again, perhaps in motion with the car.

Cut to kid now driving, his radio playing a different song.

Scene 30. The man pulls into a nearby lane. Overhead view. (Suggested finding a bridge to film this above.)
Scene 31. The Man gets out of his car and moves around, opening his boot. In the distance another car can be seen slowly progressing along the road towards us. (Initially we chose two different angles to portray this, but for economy of pace and sequencing we offered this composition.)

Cut to interior of the approaching car. Radio song acts as the tell-tale that it's the kid's car. Passing shot showing the Man delving into his boot suspiciously.
Cont. Camera swings towards the windscreen, revealing the plot device. The swinging voodoo doll. Kid simply plays with it, none the wiser. (At this point, the viewer finally understands the switch.)
Close up to reaffirm the viewer realisation.

Scene 32. Man, with the plot crux revealed, simply reveals nothing more than the tool bag.

Scene 33. Closes boot.
Continued- camera swings around to the left to a new perspective as the Man throws the tool bag and evidence of the murder away.

Closing scene. Malevolent expression from the Man, end scene.








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