Telling Stories

The goal for this brief was to communicate a nursery rhyme through a storyboard using a variety of camera angles and shots to reinforce or make the story clearer. If the story is understandable, I will have achieved my goal.

To begin, I chose the nursery rhyme 'Hickory Dickory Dock':

Hickory, Dickory, Dock,The mouse ran up the clock.The clock struck one,The mouse ran down,Hickory Dickory, Dock.

I very briefly brainstormed a story and setting based on this rhythm: 

A pack of mice has moved into a clock tower but very soon discovered the loud noises ensuing from the very top of the tower. They are extremely frightened by the sounds and do not know what to make of them. During a community gathering, the pack of mice are desperately crying to their leader for help and guidance however the leader can not think of a solution. As the commotion rises, a mysterious figure appears.

Revealing himself to be a deceptive mouse, he proceeds to climb up the pipes to investigate the top of the tower. At this time, the clock strikes one. As the walls of the clock tower rumble and vibrate, the detective mouse scrambles down the drain pipe in panic. meanwhile, the frantic mice rush to the corners of the room. The Detective mouse scurries out of the pipe and quickly composes himself to appear as if he is still in control of his emotions.

Brainstorming:

On the right, you can see my use of the 'paper edit' method of storyboarding. 

_____________________________________________

Character design?

Something I needed to be wary of with this project was not falling immediately and deeply into character design. This is typically where my instincts take me and I tripped into that hole momentarily. As I was creating the final draft of my storyboard, I noticed that my mice were not consistent in every panel but were developing themselves without my permission. I very quickly drew out a definitive design and tried to maintain a character consistency throughout the rest of the storyboard.

I do think character design is essential in developing a story however, that was not the focus of this brief so I made sure to push forward.

Shots and Camera Angles

I had to approach camera angles from a very methodical perspective: how does a camera angle change how the audience views the characters? If you place the shot from above, it makes the character look small and helpless. If you place it from below, it makes them look powerful. I explored a wide range of camera angles to emphasise the situation, hopefully it communicated effectively.

The final storyboard