Storyboard Evaluation/ Reflective Anlysis - The Harlequin

For my storyboard I have shot an opening scene to a dramatic horror film involving three key characters which are introduced: the lead protagonist (the heroin) Chase Johanson, her unnamed son, and the lead antagonist The Harlequin (i.e. the killer); as an opening scene it ends on a cliff-hanger as the audience are left with unanswered questions. What happened to the boy? Whose grave did Chase visit? Why did The Harlequin kill her and why does he loath the resident of the grave? Who was The Harlequin and why was his appearance so specific? And lastly, how can she be the heroin if she eventually dies? The main part of the film would then effectively be a flashback explaining the events leading up to the conclusion of its opening in technicolour, the opening scene leaves the film wide open for an eventful intriguing narrative.

I have used a wide range of camera angles, shots and edits including close-up (of the murderers face to finally reveal his identity), medium, long shots and medium long shots, low angle (of The Harlequin to show he is a dominant threat), high angle (normally of the victim to show weakness and vulnerability) and over the shoulder shots (as The Harlequin watches Chase walk away she is completely unaware of his presence and how close he is), a jump cut (from the murderers scream of rage to the car horn), a dissolve edit and a fade edit. I have also used a hand held camera (to create the idea of a point of view shot that Chase is being watched), a crane (for the establishing shot) and a tracking shot to show the slow reveal of the boys presence in the house and to build suspense as the audience previously had no inclination there was anybody else there.

The scene is shot in black and white as the chronology of the film is in reverse i.e. it has a non linear structure, taking influence from the stylistic features of Joel Schumacher’s ‘The Phantom Of The Opera’ as it opens with the present day in black and white, which fades to technicolour as the film becomes a flashback to explain the events in present tense. I loved this feature and its dramatic, theatrical style and thought it gave my scene more meaning as apposed to simply another slasher style horror film.

However it does have ‘slasher’ elements in terms of the style of the killing (paying homage to Wes Cravens ‘Scream’ franchise) as I adore the way he builds suspense as the victim is followed by the killer. I also like the idea that the entire plot revolves around the lead female protagonist (in Screams case – Sydney Prescott) and so have based Chase Johansson’s character on Neve Campbell’s character in terms of her being a strong female figure (although in the sequence I have constructed she is portrayed as the opposite, the rest of the narrative would begin with her being a strong character and illustrate her disintegration into a nervous wreck.)

I have also used an element from Nicholas Roeg’s ‘Don’t Look Now’ in terms of ways to shock an audience – the use and manipulation of a child's innocence in order to evoke and emotional response from an audience I think makes the scene more powerful and immediately draws the audience in and makes them sympathise with the boy.

Finally, in terms of non diegetic sound (the soundtrack/musical score) pays homage to Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ and takes influence from its ‘psychotic’ inference and contemporary style by using the infamous pitchy, off key violins. However in the opening credits of my scene the music is typically sinister theatrical orchestral music, that builds steadily therefore referencing the opening titles to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’. I particularly admire the development of Jacks character as he becomes more psychotic, a theme of which would be developed in ‘The Harlequin’.  

Codes and conventions of the horror genre play a subtle role in my storyboard through mise en scene; low key lighting, the knife as a murder weapon and using a traditional gothic setting such as a graveyard are all typical conventions of horror and verging on a modern take of gothic horror while maintaining its modern slasher element for example, by shooting the graveyard scene in daytime instead of at night. Although blood is the most important convention of horror, it is not shown in my storyboard because the equipment required to show it were not available so I compromised and instead shot the killer ‘about to’ cut her throat as apposed to showing him in the process of doing so, or showing her dead body with her throat already cut. Given more time and availability of make-up/special effects etc I could have made that shot more impactive by shooting the killer as he is cutting her throat. Another problem with shooting the storyboard was that the lighting for the house scene wasn’t quite right – because of the time of day I was shooting it the lighting is brighter than desired however I have attempted to overcome this with editing the shots, although it is not quite low key lighting.

The comic book style (such as Batman i.e. the joker, V for Vendetta or Repo: Genetic Opera etc) character of The Harlequin would possibly attract a teenage audience, while at the same time the stylistic features may attract an older audience, overall targeting quite a wide demographic without compromising the quality and depth of the plot. However due to the brutal reveal of Chase’s body, the child is extremely victimised making the subject possibly quite controversial as it holds no sympathy for his innocent character. There is also a ‘comic book’ style element to the main characters name; ‘Chase’ is the name of a character from Claudio Sanchez’s comic book series ‘Kill Audio: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3’, who is also a very strong, dominant female character. However it could possibly appeal to an educated audience as her surname ‘Johansson’ pays reference to an American psychologist, which is relevant to the psychological elements in my storyboard due to the weakening of her character. The name ‘Chase’ also reflects her fragile lifestyle and the nomadic nature of her character, giving the audience the impression that she is always either being chased or chasing after someone or something metaphorical, her life has no meaning therefore she cannot settle. This further develops the complex nature of her character and stirs ideas about her relationship with her son.

To conclude, I have used a range of camera/editing styles such as hand held cameras to create suspense, high angle and low angle shots to create a specific impression of a character, and a jump cut to trick the audience. I have paid attention to the codes and conventions of the genre by using low key lighting, conventional camera angles and a traditional style of murder, however I have also challenged the genre by making the plot more in depth and the characters have more meaning as apposed to creating a murder simply on face value. As an opening scene to a horror it immediately draws the audience in by asking of questions; however improvements and further developments could have been made such as lighting and special effects. I have also inadvertently attempted to aim this at quite a wide demographic by having an intricate plot/narrative combined with modern pop culture references such as the comic book style killer.

Alexandra Jayne Hackett