Contract Killer
When I was reading the brief, I wanted to do a crazy comedic scene. However, I did a second (final) iteration of the assignment as the storyline I submitted for the critique was too chaotic. The final iteration can be found after the Critique Session.
First Iteration - Storyboard
I decided to do the storyboarding on paper because I have
better freedom of expression with a physical pen than a digital one. Below are scalations
of the drawn storyboards. Read from left to right, row by row. Pikachu have
white ears while Pichu have black ears.
1 - Ditto Baby (Used)
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| Storyboard 1 - Ditto Baby Two
Pikachus are just chilling and one of them has a baby in its PokeBall pouch
(kind of like a kangaroo). The Pichu comes to join the chill party and wants to
see the baby. However, the baby is a Ditto Pichu resulting in a bunch of
surprise Pikachu faces. It ends with the Ditto fleeing the scene. Background Context:
2 - The Affair (Rejected) |
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| Storyboard 2 - The Affair |
The idea was to have the two Pikachus be a couple (as denoted by the photo frame of them being married). While one of them was sleeping, the other Pikachu invited Pichu over and they sneak past the sleeping and unaware Pikachu. They then did some of the fun baby-making stuff and the Pikachu (with the PokeBall) turns over to the Pichu to reveal that it has had a baby Pichu because of the affair, resulting in the Pichu running away. Yes, this story uses dark humour...
Reflections on Storyboarding
Besides the problematic storyline, I chose to do the ditto baby one as the affair story required too many props like a watch, the family photo frame, a fake newspaper etc.
As I already knew what the characters look like beforehand, I had to design my story around the fact that the characters would have the same expression throughout. One Pikachu even has a PokeBall attached to it and that PokeBall had to make sense in the story if I were to use it as a character. It was thus a great idea to start with storyboarding to explore how I can make use of what I have.
First Iteration - Photos and Layout
I did this on Adobe Illustrator. I first drew the boxes then
dragged and dropped the pictures onto the workspace. As I could not immediately
decide on which angle was best for the shot, I dragged multiple shots of the
scene and started to play around with which picture would best fit the story
flow and deliver the dramatic effect I wanted.
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| Drag and Dropping the Photos |
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| Choosing which angle is best |
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| Final Pre-Critique Story |
Given that the story itself is goofy and comedic, I decided not
to stick to strict boundaries of rectangles. Hence, the final layout contains
both portrait and landscape and even a square for a cropped photo.
The first 2 shots help to frame the setting of the story. In
Shot 1, we introduce 4 characters: the sleeping parent in the background, the
mama Pikachu with the PokeBall, the Pichu that is approaching the Pikachu and a
teaser of the little baby. To show the interactions of the characters, a side
angle was used. In Shot 2, the camera shifts slightly behind the Pichu so that
we can better show the curiosity and engages the audience as the PokeBall is in
the bottom left (rule of third).
Shot 3 is an over-the-shoulder shot so that we can see it from Pichu's point of view (POV). I considered completely removing the Pichu from the shot to show an "in the eyes of Pichu" photo. But I wanted to keep at least a part of the Pichu in the frame since the rest of the story follows a 3rd person perspective.
The next 3 shots are all medium close-up shots of the main
characters to show their expressions. Shot 4 shows the ditto face, allowing the
readers to immediately realise that it is a ditto and not a Pikachu nor a
Pichu. This imaged was cropped to better zoom into the face and it is the only
square shot in the entire layout since it is the revelation point of the prank.
Shot 5 and 6 shows the surprise Pikachu meme face. I had to cut out papers to
stick onto the soft toys. These 3 shots show the comedic and chaotic nature of
the prank as the story cuts to each of their face.
The last 3 shots are the grand escape of the. Shot 7 is
taken from a lower angle to align with Ditto's perspective where he takes one
last look at the surprised faces - relishing in the success of his prank. Shot
8 is a front shot of the Ditto running away. This reintroduces his face and the
sleeping Pikachu behind, another funny point in the story as he is just
sleeping throughout the entire prank. Shot 9 helps to end the story by showing
how far the ditto has run already. This shot was portrait instead of landscape
as the portrait shot decreased the space and makes it look like Ditto had quickly
escaped. For the same effect, Shot 9 was taken in 0.5x for a slightly distorted
effect that makes the ground look stretched out. Ditto is also on a higher
ground than the Pikachu and Pichu as a symbol of his successful prank.tto is also on a higher ground than the Pikachus and Pichu as a symbol of how his prank is sucessful.
Critique Session
Classmates and Kai relayed that there was a need to streamline the story plot as it was hard to understand. They suggested reducing the characters and only include those that are necessary. Kai also suggested using another character different from Pikachu or Pichu because they look alike which can be confusing. Taking all of these into account, I went back to the storyboard. Reflecting on the previous process, my characters involved humans as there is more freedom in controlling their actions and poses. I also went for a straightforward story plot.
Final Iteration - Storyboard
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| Storyboard - Contract Killer |
This is a contract killer who kills the wanted dinosaur and then collects the money.
Final Iteration - Photos and Layout
Photos were selected based on the angle and number of
details it captured. Say for the first photo, I chose the left instead of the
right because it captured the iPhone more clearly, a prop that will be used in
the next scene.
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| Left (Used), Right (Not Used) |
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| Top (Used), Bottom (Not Used) |
I then played around with the layouts of the frames. I
decided against the landscape layout it was not spacious enough to explore
different designs. My final decision was to standardise the left and right
sides of each row so that the audience is better able to focus on the story
instead of being distracted by the chaotic spread of frames.
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| Left (Landscape), Middle (Rejected chaotic), Right (Final layout) |
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| Layers |
Final Layout
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| Final - Contract Killer |
The first row sets the context and motive of the story. Shot 1 shows the character wearing all black, carrying a duffle
bag. This lower body shot adds suspense into finding out who the character is
and brings the audience's attention to the duffle bag (lower right third) which
is a key prop in the next row of shots. Shot 2 provides the motive of the story
through the killer’s POV as she confirms the target and the
money she would get from the kill.
In the second row, the killer begins to unpack what is in the duffle bag. The series of photos allowed me to play around with different angles while still progressing the story. Shot 3 alerts the audience that the killer is now about to reveal what is in the duffle bag which had so much attention in Shot 1. Shot 4 is the grand revelation of the contents of the bag through the POV of the killer. Shot 5 was taken from the side to fully capture the action of assembling the gun. The main action of loading in the magazine is a focal point as it rests in the right middle third. These shots show the professionalism of the killer from the amount of equipment in the bag to how she handles the weapon.
In the third row, the killer takes aim and kills the target. Shot 6 helps audience understand that an assassination is about to happen as the killer is proning and looking through the telescope. This is also suggested by the green laser on the target. Shot 7 shows the target dying. It was taken from this angle to show the bullet hitting the target. These two shots are in one row to show a simple before and after.
In the last row, there was a need to conclude the story with the killer getting the money as shown in Shot 2. Shot 8 shows the killer on a phone call. The duffle bag is placed strategically to show that the call happens right after the kill as she is still holding onto the bag. It was taken from a slightly lower angle to show the strength of the killer as she has just succeeded in the assassination. Shot 9 shows the killer's POV receiving a message that the client has transferred the money. It also shows the Wanted Dead photo to relate it back in with Shot 2 and provides context on how the killer got the job. Shot 9 also clues the audience into who the killer was calling in Shot 8 as the money comes right after the call has ended. The background was dimmed as it creates a somber mood given that the target has died. This also helps the audience better focus on the content of the phone.
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