Explorations in Settings

The Opera House

Thumbnail Process

The "Dead End Tavern"
Following a tip, the detective wove in and out of the back alley and found himself inside the notorious bar. Will the detective find the suspect or meet his end as the cryptic name suggests?

"The Exchange"

A fun sketch based on the storyboard moment: "The Exchange" 5"x10" mixed media.

Camera POV of driver as car pulls up towards the destined meeting place.

STORYBOARD MOMENT: SHOTLIST, DIAGRAM, & STORYBOARD

Shot List Breakdown Exercise: The Dark Knight

Shot List Exercise: The Dark Knight

General notes: characters are mainly on the 1/3 or center bottom. The composition feels very weighted; often characters are shot in MCU but locations are in XLS (HIGH/LOW). There is always a slight movement of camera (perhaps handheld feel), the main movements used are tracking in/out, pan left/right following character(s).

One Paragraph Story Outline

A washed up detective finally has a case. The police rule the recently found dead professor to be suicide, but the detective knows otherwise. A girl, granddaughter of the professor, is confident that it was murder and asks for his help in finding the killer. The detective goes to the scene of the crime and is thwarted by the police for trespassing. He finds clues that conclude that the dead body is not of the professor, but it was of a high-ranking member of the mob. He infiltrates the mob to find the professor and see what the connection is to the dead man. He chases down a suspicious mobster who was talking about the night of the murder. The suspect gives him false information. Through many trails, he eventually finds the professor, but it is a trap. The mob wanted the detective to find the professor. The professor had been doing research on chemical weapons and the mob got a hold of his device, but it cannot be activated without a code. The professor had memorized the activation code to the doomsday device and the mob tried to kidnap him, but the professor eluded them by killing the sent assassin in self-defense and faking his own "suicide". The detective is deprived of the sought person and finds himself in a dangerous trap. He is framed for the murder of the first victim. He is wanted by the police. He now is in hiding and works to get back the professor, stop the doomsday device, and apprehend the real criminal mastermind. Though seemingly impossible, he gains a piece of new information by being underground and finds a way to trick the criminals. He stops the doomsday device and wins the recognition and public trust.

One Page Story_Edited_In Progress

There is a dead body at the scene of the crime. The clothes identify him as the renowned professor of biochemisty. The police rule suicide, but the private local detective thinks otherwise. No one believes him. He finds a clue that is meaningful only to him. A beautiful girl asks for his help. She is the granddaughter of the dead professor. She is convinced that her grandfather was murdered, while working on a big scientific breakthrough. He had sent her his notebook in code weeks before his death. She asks for the detective to help her 1) protect the notebook and 2)find her grandfather’s killer and bring him to justice. He accepts the challenge.

Detective goes back to the scene of the crime. He looks at the dead body and finds evidence that it is not the professor who died, but a member of the mob. The detective is apprehended by the graveyard night guard, who charges him for trespassing. He is jailed for several days and released with a warning from the chief. When the detective is released, he discovers that his vault/ house had been ransacked and the precious notebook missing. Remembering the clue he got from the crime scene and from the dead body, he heads for the mob’s hangout. He disguises himself and infiltrates the bar. He notes a suspicious man talking about the night of the murder; he chases him through the back alleyway.

The detective catches up with the suspect, he reveals himself to have been at the scene of the crime. Him and his buddy were to kidnap the professor and retrieve his notebook, but the professor fired a shot to his buddy, so he fled. (The professor must have dressed the dead mobster with his own clothes to fake his own suicide). The suspect was afraid of retribution from his boss for failing on his mission, so he has been in hiding. The suspect procures a piece of fabric that he managed to grab from the professor before he fled the crime scene.

By analyzing the fabric, the detective visits the abandoned shack by the pier and eventually finds the professor.

The professor explained that the mob was after him. That he had tried to enlist the protection of the police, but found out that the police were either corrupt or incompetent. The professor killed the mobster in self-defense and dressed the dead man like himself and faked his own “suicide” to throw the scent off. He had been force to build a doomsday device for the mob, and all they needed was the activation code. He had temporarily escaped them. Half of the code was written in the notebook in code, the other half he had memorized.

But this was all a trap. The mob suspect wanted the detective to lead him to the professor. The criminal mastermind wants a bargain: the professor for the girl.

The detective goes to the meeting place. He puts down his gun. He had no intention of trading, but the professor couldn’t help see his granddaughter held hostage and revealed himself. The trade occurs and the hero is deprived of the sought item and person.

The doomsday device is activated, set to launch chemical poison into the main water system in two hours. The criminal mastermind picks up the detective’s gun. Now that the code is activated, the professor is no longer needed. The criminal mastermind shoots him dead. The mob leaves, the police arrive and the detective is wanted for murder of the professor. He flees with the girl.

Now the detective, labeled a criminal in his own city has to go into hiding with the girl. The two must complete the difficult task of ending the doomsday device and capturing the real criminals. The detective learns a new piece of information from the girl. The codes in the notebook is a children’s math game that her grandfather taught her, based on a Russian folktale song. She knows how to crack the code and deactivate the device. The problem is how to get close enough with the police surrounding the area. The final battle takes place: while the detective distracts the mob and police, the girl infiltrates to deactivate the machine. As the timer winds down, the task is completed at the last second. The detective wins recognition with the police force. The girl would like to continue to document her grandfather’s research.

Freemind "Detective"

Practice Storyboard from Script_Blade Runner

Practice_Shotlist_Blade Runner

BLADE RUNNER
Screenplay by
HAMPTON FANCHER and DAVID PEOPLES

FADE IN:

EXT. HADES - DUSK

We are MOVING TOWARD (1. XLS EST. SHOT TRACK IN TO LS)

the Tyrell Corporation across a

vast plain of industrialization, menacing shapes on the
horizon, stacks belching flames five hundred feet into

the sky the color of cigar ash. The CAMERA MOVES INTO (2. LS TRACK IN AND PED DOWN TO MLS BIRD’S EYE)

a window in the large pyramid-shaped building. A man
is sitting at a table. Another man enters the room and
sits down. (3. Lock Bird’s Eye MLS). The following scene is reflected in the eye
until HOLDEN is seated. (4. Cut to XCU of eyes).


INT. TYRELL CORPORATION INTERROGATION ROOM - DUSK

The eye is magnified and deeply revealed. Flecks of
green and yellow in a field of milky blue. Icy fila-
ments surround the undulating center.

The eye is brown in a tiny screen. On the metallic
surface below, the words VOIGHT-KAMPFF are finely
etched. There's a touch-light panel across the top
and on the side of the screen, a dial that registers
fluctuation of the iris. (5. CU PED DOWN)
The instrument is no bigger than a music box and sits
on a table between two men. (6. ZOOM OUT TO MS) The man talking is big,
looks like an overstuffed kid. LEON it says on his
breast pocket. (7. CUT TO XCU OF name tag). He's dressed in a warehouseman's uni-
form and his pudgy hands are folded expectantly in his
lap. Despite the obvious heat, he looks very cool. (8. CUT TO MLS).

The man facing him is lean, hollow-cheeked, and dressed
in grey. (9. CRAB LEFT MLS). Detached and efficient, he looks like a cop
or an accountant. His name is Holden and he's all
business, except for the sweat on his face.

The room is large and humid. (10. ESTABLISHING SHOT) Rows of salvaged junk
are stacked neatly against the walls. Two large FANS
WHIRR above their heads. (11. TILT UP)