Storyboard Project

1. Storyboard Project Mike Schneider December 3, 1999

2. About This Storyboard • This storyboard is actually a scene from a film idea that a friend had, which I helped to develop a little. This is a parody of a 1950s style monster/science-fiction movie. This storyboard is meant to be a scene from this film. • If you ever watch any old, campy, 50s monster movie, something is always hit with radiation, becomes large, and starts eating every person in sight. Well, we took this genre to a whole new level by irradiating some simple, harmless, cardboard boxes. We are told from an introduction title frame that these boxes were around when a nuclear experiment at a local university goes awry, killing the experimenters. The boxes were unfortunately in the room at the time of the experiment and become irradiated. The scene then begins… • This film is in black and white … and the drawings aren’t that great.

3. Shot 1 - Medium Shot, POV from “box” (10 sec.) • Two teenagers walking hand-in-hand in a forest, the two are talking to each other, but the audience can’t quite make out what is being said. The shot is partially obstructed by a tree in the right hand part of the frame.

4. Shot 2 - Medium Shot, (4 sec.) • Now we see what is watching the two teenagers. A box slowly peeks out from behind a tree. The speech of the teenagers can be heard, but again it is unintelligible. We are merely reminded of their presence. All of a sudden, we hear the snapping of a twig coming from the box.

5. Shot 3 – Close Up, (3 sec.) • We get a close up of the two teenagers’ heads. The girl’s head shoots around at the sound of the twig. The boy seems not to notice. • Young Girl: “What was that?! Who’s there?!”

6. Shot 4 - Medium Shot (3 sec.) • Same as Shot 2, except no box. • Young Boy: “What’re you talking about. Look, there’s nothing there.”

7. Shot 5 – Medium Shot (8 sec.) • Similar to Shot 1, except we are closer to the couple. The boy slowly puts his arm around the girl in an effort to comfort her. Her head is still turned around, looking at the tree. • Young Boy: “You probably heard a squirrel or something. Calm down.” • Young Girl: “ I don’t know … I get the feeling that we’re being watched.”

8. Shot 6 – Medium Shot, (2 sec.) • Same as Shot 2. The box, this time makes a more rapid and pronounced lean from behind the tree. The speech of the teenagers is again unintelligible, but we are reminded that they are still there.

9. Shot 7 – Medium Shot (20 sec.) • The side of a Sheriff's Car. We see the sheriff in the driver’s seat, leaning against the open window. We get the impression that someone else is in the car, but can’t quite make it out. After some time, an buzz is heard, and the sheriff reaches for a handset to his police radio. • Sheriff: “Dang it. Not again. I was just about to turn in for the night. This always happens to us, eh?” Pressing the button on the handset “What do you want now?” • Dispatcher: “Sheriff Brown, you’re not gonna believe this, but we’ve got complaints about some … cardboard box … scaring people near your area. Could you go check it out?” • Sheriff: “A what?” • Dispatcher: “Cardboard monster, over.” Puts the handset back down slowly

10. Shot 8 – Semi Close Up (15 sec.) • We see the front of the squad car now, and see both its occupants, the sheriff and his deputy. • Sheriff: “ Now what in the heck was that all about?” • Deputy: “Probably just Ol’ Man Johnson hittin’ the moonshine a little too hard again, don’t pay it no mind.” Leans toward the sheriff and turns his head “Here, have another doughnut. Relax, man.” • Sheriff: “You’re probably right.”

11. Shot 9 – Close up (1 sec.) • All of a sudden, a scream is heard, which began at the end of the last shot. We get a close up of the sheriff, and his head shooting around to the direction of the young lady’s scream. • Sheriff: “What the …?”

12. Shot 10 - Medium Shot (5 sec.) • Now we see what the scream was about. We get a medium shot, similar to Shot 1. The box, now covered in blood, stands over some of the remnants of the attack. A sweater, the sweater that was around the neck of the young lady, is visible on the ground in the foreground. Blood covers some of the bushes and tree trunks. Perhaps some dramatic music enhances the mood of sheer terror that the cardboard box instills in the audience.

13. Shot 11 – Semi Close Up (5 sec.) • A shot of the sheriff exiting the car, and eventually moving out of the frame. The shot tracks a little as he exits the frame. • Sheriff: “Well, we’d better go check it out.” Jokingly “Maybe it’s that dang cardboard monster thing.” The deputy can be heard laughing from behind the car.

14. Shot 12 - Medium Shot (10 sec.) • A wipe dissolve to a few moments later. The sheriff and deputy have come across the carnage from Shot 10, but no box. The sheriff grabs the bloodstained sweater and holds it up for the deputy to see. The deputy holds a shoe in the foreground, and is inspecting it. • Deputy: “Golly, I wonder what did that? It looks like a couple of kids were mauled by an animal or something.” • Sheriff: “I’ve been sheriff of this town for going on 15 years now.” Pauses “I ain’t never seen an animal attack that looked like this.” Rustling leaves can be heard in the distance.

15. Shot 13 – Close Up (1 sec.) • Similar to Shot 7. The box pops out rapidly from behind a tree.

16. Shot 14 - Medium Shot, POV from “box” (6 sec.) • The deputy in the foreground, and the sheriff behind stare at the box in utter amazement. They appear to be scared, but can’t look away from the box, still covered in blood. • Deputy: “What in the heck is that thing!? That must’ve been what ate those kids!” • Sheriff: “It … it’s … it must be that … that … cardboard monster! Take it down!” They start to reach for their pistols.

17. Shot 15 - Medium Shot (6 sec.) • We get a shot from the side of the deputy and sheriff. They continue raising their guns and fire at the monster.

18. Shot 16 – Close Up, POV from cops (5 sec.) • The box bobs back and forth, still moving closer to the screen, looming large in the frame. The box is covered in blood, and groaning can be heard from inside the box. • Sheriff: “It’s not going down! For the love of God! We’re not stopping it!” • Deputy: “Run! … Run for your life!”

19. Shot 17 – Medium Tracking Shot (15 sec.) • Similar to Shot 15. A side view of the cops, as they put down their firearms, turn and run for dear life. We follow the cops in the woods for a few seconds, the camera moves to follow their movement.

20. Shot 18 – Semi-Close Up (4 sec.) • The camera now focuses in on the deputy from the side. The camera is close to the ground level. The deputy trips on a tree root and falls to the ground.

21. Shot 19 – Extreme Close Up (5 sec.) • The box looms even larger in the screen now. The camera is on the ground looking up at the monster. We get the feeling that the box is coming even closer to the fallen policeman, that it is right over the top of him. Groans are still heard from the box. • Deputy: “Oh my God!”

22. Shot 20 – Close Up (5 sec.) • The deputy, with his hand raised toward the sheriff. The camera is close to the ground. The sheriff can be heard stopping in the distance. • Sheriff: “Get up! Get up! We can still make it!” • Deputy: “No. Run! Save yourself! I’ll hold it off!”

23. Shot 21 – Close Up, POV from “monster” (5 sec.) • We now get a shot from over the deputy. He turns over on his back now, and raises his gun at the box. He fires a few shots at it, and is yelling at the box. • Deputy: “Damn you! Damn you!”

24. Shot 22 – Extreme Close Up (1 sec.) • An extreme close up of a tree. The bark is clean, and then is splattered in blood (after all, this is a parody of a Production Code film and we can’t show the deputy actually being ripped to shreds by the box, can we?). The yelling of the deputy becomes louder, and turns to screams of pain.

25. Shot 23 - Medium Shot, POV from sheriff (7 sec.) • The box is seen, swallowing the last of the deputy, his legs flailing around. The legs eventually sink into the box. The sheriff can be heard yelling in the distance. • Sheriff: “No! NOOOOOOO!”

26. Shot 24 – Close Up (2 sec.) • A final shot of the box, which quivers a little as a loud belch is sounded from the swallowing of the deputy.