32. Storyboard!

I was in charge of storyboarding our ideas for our music video so we had a clear idea of what we going to film and how as well as a few notes on suggestions of how we would edit as well. I began by asking our group for general ideas to be included and if they had any ideas for specific lines/verses/words. 

Since our storyboard covers a variety of themes under the umbrella of 'Alice in Wonderland' it is quite a complex storyboard in terms of shots and so I wanted our storyboard to be as detailed and easy to understand as possible. 

To achieve this I did two things. The first was to draw my own images on the storyboard but since I am not an incredible artist I also took some pictures if I felt I couldn't get my thoughts across via drawings. The second thing I did was look for inspiration; especially at Alfred Hitchcock who is well known for having intricate storyboards. I guess looking at his work paid off as 18 pages and 108 shots later our storyboard is complete!

Below is an analysis of our storyboard!

Our music video will begin with high angle shots of the pianist playing the melody with fades of Alice stood alone in a field in which there would be a slight panning movement. (Shot, 1,2,3,4,7) As Alice's speaking section starts we are going to have the band walking to their instruments in slow motion, for effect, along with close ups of Alice's face lip syncing the words. (Shot 5,6,8,9,10.) 



Shot 9 will be an interesting reverse shot so it looks like the microphone is jumping into the singers hand. Shot 11 is when the song fully starts and we have shots of the lead singer and the band as well as a pocket watch and clock in shots 13 and 14 to establish the band since this is their debut video and to begin visually showing the lyrics. Alice will then be introduced into the song in Shot 15, a tilted high angle shot of her surrounded by rose petals. Shot 17, will be close ups of sections of her body to introduce her more and also to show her vulnerability. Also in Shot 18, one form of narrative is introduced; a chess board upon a table with empty chairs is the beginning of our Alice playing chess against Alice theme - which represents her trying to win against herself (her own wonderland) and also represents themes from the book 'Through the Looking Glass.'


Shot 20 and 21 both link to their respective lyrics as in shot 20 Alice will walk past bottles with the tag 'Drink Me' and there will be a syringe full of glitter with the syringe representing pills/pain and also drugs which could relate to the glitter as people addicted to drugs would see them as a beautiful thing - like glitter. Shot 22 introduces us to the second and main narrative of our music video - the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and Shot 23 expands on that with Alice searching the wood for a key to give the Mad Hatter.


The chess theme is now delved into more deeply since both main themes have now been introduced. The audience are greeted to both Alice's (one who will look slightly different,) and Shot 28 follows this theme as one Alice moves her chess piece (left hand Alice.) Shot 27 goes back to the theme of Alice searching and the tea party and we get our first glimpse of the Mad Hatter at the table. Shots 29 and 30, in preparation for the chorus bring the band back again to show their personality and to establish that this is their song. 

As we enter the first chorus of the song, we also enter the first shots where we smash some of our props. Shot 32 and 35 will include the band smashing tea cups which we will then edit in slow motion to match the song. Shot 34 again follows the theme of Alice searching and Shot 36 returns to the chess theme. Shots 39 and 40 begin the second chorus which includes playing cards and drink me bottles which are references from the first book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

We are also including a reference to the caterpillar in Shot 43 as we are going to have Alice smoking a hookah pipe (expect of course it won't be opium) and this will cross fade with Shot 44 to match the line "left inside her brain." Shot 45 and 46 will feature an ornate looking mirror in which we will see Alice walking through the mirror - this is there to represent the second book "Through the Looking Glass." 

For the second bridge we have chosen to have a book and to blow the pages back to the beginning as that matches the song and luckily, Alex has a beautiful version of both Alice in Wonderland books that we can use. For the second chorus we will again go into slow motion


but this time we will have Alice spinning in circles and on the echo-y Alice she will let go of powder paint (preferably red) for a good effect. Whilst we will still have band shots in this chorus we will also reveal to the audience the object that Alice is looking for. The key will start of out of focus and quickly flick to focus in Shots 56 ad 57. The chest the key unlocks is also shown in Shot 60 and again the theme of playing cards returns in Shot 58 as we throw them onto Alice as she spins.



On Shot 63 we enter the middle eight of the song in which we will have certain band members holing up the words in the lyrics "kingdom," "riddance," "freedom" and "innocence." These shots will be fairly synchronous and will keep in the audience's mind that this is the band's music video as well which is also emphasised in shots 60-71 in which we see various band members and their instruments.



 In Shots 72-74 we end the 'chess saga' with the 'real' Alice (the right side one) tipping the chess board over. We then reach the third chorus on Shot 76 for the final chorus slow motion section in which we will have Alice smashing a clock with a hammer and the band performing whilst having red and yellow powder paint thrown at them, Shots 77 and 78. 

Shots 80-83 present the audience with Alice finding and taking the mysterious key (which represents her way out of Wonderland.) Alice will be running towards the key but during the editing process we will make it look more disjointed. Shot 84 introduces an interesting concept of an extreme close up of a red water-y, ink-y substance dripped in water for "red knights" which,whilst linking to the lyrics also gives of a mysterious feeling. Shots 85-90 all include more introduction to the tea party and shot of Alice walking towards the table.

During this next page we get a lot of dramatic reaction shots to Alice entering he tea party and presenting the key to the Mad Hatter including close ups and over the shoulder shots, (Shots 93.) Page 17 includes Shot 97,98 and 99 in which Alice throws the key to the Mad Hatter who catches it. Shot 100(!!) shows the Mad Hatter going to open the chest but before he opens it the camera pans away to Alice and we zoom back into her eye as she leaves Wonderland in Shot 101.

The final shots are similar to the shots at the beginning of the storyboard/music video in that Alice is stood alone in a field saying the lyrics. However, in the final chord there are 5 notes that follow each other in quick succession in which we will have Alice on her own, then Alice and the band, Alice on her own, Alice and the Mad Hatter and Alice on her own as seen in Shot 105 and 106. The music video will end of the empty field filmed from three different angles and then as the song finishes and echoes into silence we will show the band all put down their instruments or something similar to mark the end of the song.

Our storyboard includes a lot of detail and although we will try and film it all when it comes to the editing process we may find that certain clips might not work - however, since we may be filming more than we need, that is better than having missing footage.