I’m taking a New Media studio right now in E Media at the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. One of our projects is kind of wild – we are all given 15 minutes with an actor in the green screen room. We have to walk in and present storyboards to the actor, film them (we have 3 cameras set up), then take the footage and create a motion piece! It’s interesting because it’s a bit of a hybrid of projects. I was able to contact my talent before hand and found out she liked playing ‘the bad girl’ in her roles, so I started to pull from Sin City, Max Payne, Chicago etc. to give a framework for her to tell a story. These were the boards I presented her with.
1. The City Scape: This is an introduction to the world in which this story lives. It is a mix both stylistically and poetically of the worlds of Sin City and Chicago crossed with Max Payne and Film Noir.
2. Birds & Blood: Establishing some visual themes of blood and mystery to come, the story to unfold is obviously a dark one. As the viewer travels through the sky into the city, the mood is quickly established.
3. Through the Window: The camera zooms into the window of a building. A flash of light occurs along with a ‘click’ (camera rolls). The viewer immedi- ately knows this is an ‘interview’. Some kind of interrogation being filmed.
4. Intro: The woman takes a puff of a cigarette. She looks calm. She looks like she belongs in this world. A little run over from day to day, you know she’s a tough cookie. She smokes her cigarette unsympathetically.
5. Story On Fire: The woman’s story unfolds. It is dark. She knows she has done something society deems as ‘wrong’, but she is unforgiving in her delivery. She has justified herself in her actions, and she doesn’t care what you think. The story accelerates…
6. Shot 3 Times: At the height of this woman’s story, the antagonist is shot 3 times. She did it. She admits to it. She’s jaded by the gloomy and despa- rate city she lives in. She tells the camera she shot him 3 times, but does so with a sick satisfaction. She knows what she did was right.
7. Rain Closing: The story ends in the midst of rain. This rain is realized onto the front of the camera as the ‘film’ burns out / static from the T.V. overtakes the scene. The camera pulls out.
8. City Falls: As the camera pulls out, a shower of blood tinted rain and ash covers the city. A satisfied, but sombre trail of music flows with the camera and the ash.
9. City Finale: The music comes to a close, as the city fades to black. A low rustle of wind leaves the viewer with a chill down their neck as they watch the birds disappear into the distance.