SHOT BY SHOT | Heal Through Time Journal

Storyboard, storyline, storytelling, story.

A purpose conveying world, scenes, line by lines. Within the search for inspiration through imagery and dance, the imagery also conveys meaning to a shot by shot film. 

I have to admit, when I first got into this project, I didn’t know what I needed to do to convey the right things to produce such a film. I had goals, aspirations, ambition to make this beautiful inside and out, but through this, I needed help understanding how to exactly convey it to a cinematographer. 

A storyboard could be written out in writing or drawn out through images. I did both, writing my storyline with a timecode that corresponded to a demo sound track created for my dancer to be able to start choreographing. Finally, when the rough storyline was created, was when I was able to put the words into the images that were gathered in my head. I created the world of how I wanted the imagery to be displayed. 

My first series of sketches could not be comprehended without thorough verbal explanation—I later discovered when trying to do some initial conversation with my cinematographer. 

Then I tried to make it more detailed, all while also finalizing my clothing pieces and garment details. I did It simultaneously, not to rush the different things happening, not to leave one thing out or another. They had to be in sync, to make synergy between the different components. 

Finally, I made the two storyboards,

one for editing and one for filming. The filming one is a more streamlined shot list, scene by scene, but the editing had to include the different scenes intertwining with each other, I called it strobing. In a sense, that’s how the process of grief worked, it’s different for every person, but the intensity, the choppiness, each scene had to have a glimpse of one another. 

Throughout the storyboarding aspect, I soon realized that my storyline was more of a poetic essay, writing in short phrases, minimal words, and in context that does not look whole unless you read the whole thing. My scripting process was actually within the context of the storyline, that I made into stanzas and depicted each scene with a different poem. Sometimes, the poems overlapped each other, creating different linkage between each scene. 

With the strobing effect in place for the storyboard, the overlapping poetry made more sense, causing chaos and discourse in some areas, and harmony in others. 

It was the way that things were intertwined, just as the process of grief is, that completed these aspects in the film.

Using these elements as imagery and soundtrack helped weave it all together, to a somewhat yet complete but complete piece.

Throughout this process, I couldn’t have done it without the few that aided me, my professors, a friend who’s a film major, my cinematographer, and many more. They were the ones that helped me streamline this process that enabled a successful finish to the pre-filming process. 

NEXT UP: FILMING & POST