... ANNNDDD The Storyboard is Done!

So it took me about a week to complete the storyboard but it is finally done!  At first I wasn't very sure how it was going to turn out since we had a lot of issues with the plot, discussed in my last posting, but after everything was resolved I was able to go ahead and base the storyboard off of the script.

Now please, don't bash my drawing ability, I was able to get the job done. One issue that I addressed in the storyboard that wasn't addressed in the script was implying how Alex was being watch, since we decided to not show the government control room until the very end. As you can see in page 4 and 6, the shot of the drone itself and the government agent are how we are going to imply he is being watched. The only thing I have left to do is to number the storyboard according to the script so it matches, this will make it easier for us to follow along both during the shoot.

There is still a few more things we have to take care of in order to be ready for Saturday. Tomorrow I am going to be working on the shirt and make it dirty. In short, I bought a new shirt and have to make it look old, used, and post apocalyptic. Taylor and I are also going to take advantage of tomorrow by finalizing our shooting schedule and all of the locations. Since we live on the west side of the South Florida metropolitan area we are going to take advantage of the uncivilized nature of the Everglades in order to film the post apocalyptic scenes.

Here is the final storyboard:

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We finished the script!

Taylor and I have been using this week very efficiently and have been working diligently to do any last minute preparations. Our shoot is only a few days away! During our last class we worked together to patch any plot holes, of which there were many. We had to come up with feasible solutions and work around certain issues. For example, we had an issue with implying that Alex was being watched (by the government) throughout the film. Since we didn't want to show the government control room until the end of the film, we decided that we would insert a government agent that appears periodically in the corner of the frame. Throughout the last few days we solved issues like these in order to progress further with the script and complete the storyboard.

Here's the completed script:

1

Alex has a serious face, walking around, continually watching for anything that could be following him.

2

Alex’s eyes continue to travel to his walkie talkie, making sure it doesn’t say anything as it flickers on/off.

3

As Alex continues to walk, he sits down at a table, going through his backpack to know his provisions.  

4

Alex

1, 2, 3.  1, 2, 3, 4.  I’ll need to stop at the next town over for more food.

5

Alex writes down this information, keeping track of what he had just counted.

6

Alex also takes out his constellation map, tracking the date, and how far he has travelled since the last time he had checked, also writing that down in his journal.

7

Alex

Only a few more miles and hopefully only a few more miles until another person.  Haha.

8

Alex laughs to himself, a small smile on his face, trying to make light of the situation.

9

*Flashback*

10

Alex is on the road, driving his car with the windows downs as he drives during sunset.

11

Alex

*singing a song that will be need to pick* (maybe a country station or something)

12

*Flashback*

13

Alex wakes up, packing up his stuff to continue to walk to his destination,

14

As Alex walks, he looks around while humming, trying to get his mind off of the heat.

15

Alex takes his backpack off his shoulder, looking for his water bottle, drinking the last of the water that is in there.

16

Alex

Well, that’s depressing.

17

Alex veers off his path, heading for a stream to fill up his water bottle.

18

Alex stays there for a little, admiring the scenery before he gets back on his path, making sure to get a certain distance before setting up camp for the night.

19

Alex falls asleep, dreaming about his past.

20

*Flashback*

21

Alex is smiling, playing fetch with his dog.

22

Alex wakes up, still smiling from his dream.  Alex packs up his stuff to keep moving to his unknown destination.

23

Alex is walking and it is already midday, when he hears his radio turn on by itself.

24

Radio

Don’t spe...ak to...m...e like that...I..d...on’t….und...er….stan...d you.

25

Alex freezes, shocked to hear voices and grabs his radio, hoping to get a response

26

Alex

HELLO?!? IS ANYONE THERE?!

AGAIN:

HELLO?!? IS ANYONE THERE?!

27

The radio switches off right after Alex gets off, leaving him in silence.

28

This continues to happen throughout the day, different pieces of a fight being broadcasted from the radio.  Each time Alex hears no signal radio sound, his shoulders slump a little more and he walks slower and slower.

29

Alex

I was that close, that close to having another person to talk to.  After months of being alone, I go and ruin my chances. *exhale of breath*

27

Radio

W...e...al...ways get…..in...to...these….fights….a...nd...I….m….sick…..a...nd….ti...red...of….it

28

Alex begins to run, seeing a car on his way.  Knowing he’d get there faster. In the car there is a gps with an address with the destination already set.  Alex drives, listening to every direction that the gps gives him.

29

Radio

Do….n’t...ev...en…..come…..nea...r…..m…..e….right….n...ow

30

Alex is driving faster and faster until he gets to his destination.  The gps brought him to a house and in the living room window he sees the couple that he has been hearing.  They are fighting, and their voices are muffled but Alex can tell they are yelling. Alex sees the couple and he runs out of the car, leaving the driver door open.

31

Alex runs out, waving his arms towards the couple and yelling, hoping that they hear him.  His heart is beating fast as he continues to run to the front door, slamming it open and running towards where the couple is.

32

When Alex gets to the room where the couple was, he sees that no one is there.  He runs throughout the house, hoping to see them.

33

He leaves the house to go back to the car, falling to his knees and covering his face with his hands, crying because he was so close to having human contact.

34

As the camera pans out, it fades into a tv showing the same shot, with two people sitting in front of the screen.  As they see Alex dropping to his knees, they look up, staring at what he is doing. The guy on the right looks at the screen and then looks down, reaching for the phone.  He picks up the phone.

35

Guy

He’s passed the test.

36

The phone is put down to end the call.

Now of course, we are going to look over it one last time, with the actors of course, and revise anything if necessary. We decided to number each line, or important sections, of the script so we could match it with the storyboard. So the thinking behind this is that we are going to number each frame on the storyboard that corresponds with the script so it becomes easier for us to follow the script and storyboard simultaneously.

Since the script is now pretty much finished, I have tried to work ahead and finish the storyboard. As of now it is looking pretty good in length, currently at eleven pages. When I finish the storyboard, I will scan it on my printer at home and upload it here. Once I upload it on my next blog post, you will notice that there are stage directions on some of the frames, indicating what the actor should do. Personally, I think that the storyboard is more important that the script, for post production purposes, because it is what I am going to rely on for editing.

A Preliminary Script

Over the weekend we have been working on getting things ready for the shoot next Saturday. As I promised earlier, I said that we would be working on a script to finish next week. This is only, of course, a preliminary script since things like this can not be rushed overnight. As they say, like fine wine, it betters with age. For the most part, Taylor came up with this script, using the storyboard as a reference to begin the script. Once we begin finalizing the script, we will be able to complete storyboard, basing it off of the script.

Script:

Setting:  Alex has been alone for a few months, not having any human contact in months.  Alex is currently living in a Post Apocalyptic world where he is continuing to travel throughout South Florida to find any form of human contact.

Alex has a serious face, walking around, continually watching for anything that could be following him.

Alex’s eyes continue to travel to his walkie talkie, making sure it doesn’t say anything as it flickers on/off.

As Alex continues to walk, he sits down at a table, going through his backpack to know his provisions.  

Alex

1, 2, 3.  1, 2, 3, 4.  I’ll need to stop at the next town over for more food.

Alex writes down this information, keeping track of what he had just counted.

Alex also takes out his constellation map, tracking the date, and how far he has travelled since the last time he had checked, also writing that down in his journal.

Alex

Only a few more miles and hopefully only a few more miles until another person.  Haha.

Alex laughs to himself, a small smile on his face, trying to make light of the situation.

*Flashback*

Alex is on the road, driving his car with the windows downs as he drives during sunset.

Alex

*singing a song that will be need to pick* (maybe a country station or something)

*Flashback*

Alex wakes up, packing up his stuff to continue to walk to his destination,

As Alex walks, he looks around while humming, trying to get his mind off of the heat.

Alex takes his backpack off his shoulder, looking for his water bottle, drinking the last of the water that is in there.

Alex

Well, that’s depressing.

Alex veers off his path, heading for a stream to fill up his water bottle.

Alex stays there for a little, admiring the scenery before he gets back on his path, making sure to get a certain distance before setting up camp for the night.

Storyboarding has begun!

We finally began the storyboarding process. With our principal shoot rapidly approaching next Saturday, we are going to use the week to gather any necessary materials so we are ready to film on schedule. Due to this, we have to complete the storyboard by Friday at the latest so we have time to revise it and compare it with the script. What you see below is the storyboard right up until the climax. I will be using the weekend to work ahead and storyboard up until right before the resolution.

Page 1:

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Page 3 (so far):

Taylor and I have never written a full length short film with dialogue from beginning to end so we were kind of lost on how to start the script, after all, writing is one of the most difficult part of the process. What we figured to do was start storyboarding so we would have a general idea of what In the Back of Beyond would look like and go from there. We knew that once we had a visualization that we would be able to start writing the dialogue.

Of course, we will be adding A LOT more to this storyboard, since it is only the foundation, and be inserting different shots here and there. Now that we have a visualization we are going to begin the script, write the dialogue, and finish the storyboard next week.

We came to a compromise

I came back from Mexico on Monday and had a great time, the food was great. So after spending the weekend trying to figure out a solution to our summary dilemma, Taylor and I finally came to a compromise on a summary for In the Back of Beyond. We both had issues and different ideas with each others summaries but after I contemplated a bit, I figured it would be much easier to film and execute with Taylor's summary. She had written about half of the summary but she needed help finding a climax and a resolution, so in our last class I helped her out and came up with the GPS ending. Here is the summary for the short film:

The main character's name is Alex and he is living in a Post Apocalyptic world.  Alex has been on his own for months, living off the land and constantly moving around, only carrying a backpack with him that holds everything he needs to live. He hasn't had any human contact in months, and is always listening to his radio to see if he can hear anyone out there.  In Alex's solitude, he is always flashing back to the past, to his family and what his life was like before the "apocalypse".  Alex begins to notice weird things, his radio turning on by itself, cars showing up on the deserted roads, etc. Alex suddenly hears a voice and tells him to get into a car. As he approaches the car, the radio turns on once again, with a couple yelling and fighting. At the same time, he notices that the car is on with music playing and the windows down. As he gets in the car, GPS navigation is set and he drives off (at night, drone shots). He gets to the location of the programmed onto the gps, finding somebody who was killed.  Alex has no idea what to do (need something for him to do with the body or something, maybe like he cries or something because it’s the first person he’s seen in months), but the film ends with a shot of the people watching him and saying “he’s passed the test”.

Now that we have a foundation for the short film, we can prepare the necessary materials for the shoot. Since we set our filming date for March 2nd, which is quickly approaching, we need to work diligently so we are prepared by then. This week, I will begin the storyboard and should have it done by midway next week so we still have time to go over it before the shoot. Taylor will be working on the script for the short film this week as well. Next week we plan on getting all of the preplanning completed and get all of our props, costumes, camera gear, and final shooting locations so we are ready to film by next Saturday. The camera gear is also very important since we are going to need to capture different sound elements while having steady shots, hence the grave importance of using a tripod.