Research

For my research I mainly focused on the bikes, as there isn't many close ups of the characters. For the research I mainly looked at 'Akira' and 'Tron'.

Here are some images I came across:

For the church I've decided to use classic design. It might not be very suitable for this story but I will see what other's designs are.

Another Group Meeting

Now our story was working pretty good. Everyone's part just needed a few tweaks here and there. But still we haven't decided on a look of our characters and backgrounds. So we've decided to make some designs for our next meeting and also start the animatics

Storyboard 02

Based on the new screenplay I've drawn a new storyboard:

New Screenplay

We've added some scenes at the beginning to introduce the character. We've removed a lot of scenes where Axl is riding his bike. In the last screenplay the wedding scene was too distracting. It felt almost like the main plot of the story. In order to fix that we've decided to add one more character who is also riding a bike and chasing the Axl. And the wedding scene will only be there to get rid of the rider.

Here is updated screenplay:

Group Screenplay - redRobe

ANT - Enter with a fade from black showing a desolate field with corpses everywhere (have 2 or 3 more shots of the camera panning round the field at different angles). Cut to a shot with bodies close up to the camera and in the distance, a shadowy figure is climing onto a motorbike (slowly zoom in on him). Cut to an aerial 3/4 perspective of the road with Axl on his bike. The camera pans up to his face and then zooms in to show the fine detail (hold this shot for two or three seconds) *Also start playing the song - Gualagara's The White Condor* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1knkis2H2U. Then cut to low perspective shot of the road, Axl enters right again as we watch him drive into the distance.

OZI - Cut back to the field to show a pile of dead bodies. They begin to rumble and then a fist pushes out from them. Then the upper half of the evil driver’s body appears. Now repeat the same shot of a shadowy figure getting on to a bike (slowly zooming in). Aerial view of the road Axl is driving down, showing all of the sharp turns and twists that he just manages to drive round. Cut to a front view shot of Axl as he looks down at his monitor. Show whole monitor with the timer “00.09.59” flashing red with a map underneath it (like a satnav). Cut to a shot of Axl’s face as he looks over his shoulder to see the other rider, he then frowns as he faces the camera(anger, worried, you choose). Cut to Axl’s right hand as he forces down the accelarator. Side view of the bike as it accelerates off screen. Cut to a perspective view from behind Axl as we see him drive off screen very quickly. Cut back to the other rider as he does the same (repeat the panels of Axl speeding up and driving faster).

KAMIL -Quick aerial shot of Axl as he cuts off from the main road onto a faded dirt road. Landscape shot of the village “Vajrayana” as Axl drives towards it. The biker enters shot once Axl drives off screen. Cut to a shot of Axl’s face as he is in deep thought with the other rider lurking behind him, here have the music quiet down to a background echo with the background going into slow motion. Cut to a front view of a church (everything is quiet). Then the doors open and we hear people coming out of the church cheering and being happy. Just as everyone steps down onto the ground Axl enters the shot from the right (cut to a new shot when Axl is in the middle of the screen). Front view of Axl on his bike which is inches away from the bride and groom (just narrowly missing them).

SEAN - Cut to a shot of the bouquet flying through the air. Cut to a flashback of Axl’s wedding day and fade back to reality. Just as Axl narrowly avoids everyone the other biker tries to skid out of the way but drives into the church and then his bike bursts into flames killing him. Then cut to a back shot, showing Axl driving off into the distance, with the wedding guests to the right of the screen looking shocked. Cut to a perspective shot of Axl again, as he’s driving away from the village with a huge smoke cloud in the background. As he is driving along a shadow covers the road and him. Cut to his glasses/helmet visor and show a reflection of the city and cruiser appear. Then cut to another landscape shot, showing the city rising up above the horizon as Axl drives towards it.

Putting Together The First Storyboard

When we've put together our storyboards we've realised that it didn't work exactly as we wanted it. It is based just on a piece of text from the book. So the viewer who is not familiar with the book would have some difficulties in understanding the story.

We've decided to change the story a little bit by removing some scenes or adding new ones.

Storyboard 01

Once I've planned everything I begun storyboarding. This is very  short section of the book and once it's divided between four people it's even shorter. But I think it's good because rather than struggling with finishing it off we can focus on planning each shot using thing we've learned so far.

In this storyboard I've tried to use golden rule and rule of thirds.

Planning

Before storyboarding I've decided to plan how everything will be positioned. I've drawn the top view of the scene putting in the arrows indicating actions and lighting.