To plan where I was going to position the actors, and crew so I could get the shots I wanted for my film, I first made some overhead diagrams so I could get a good sense of the space I had to film in:
Scene 1:
Scene 2&3:
Scene 4:
These then helped me to create my storyboards as I could draw the positions of the camera and actors straight into the space on the overhead diagrams so I knew there would be enough room to place the camera and I wasn't crossing the line.
Scene 1:
Because I knew I wanted to rely on natural light, I first plotted this diagram with the 180 degree line I wanted to use and worked out from the compass points I made when I went to the location where the sun was going to go so I could schedule my shots around this. I chose this line of action because of the marquee and the view of the lake as I wanted to have the option to cover the equipment under the marquee in case the weather was bad, and include the view of the lake in the background of the shots.
I then created my storyboards, thinking about the 180 degree line so I would not cross it and plotting the positions of the camera on overhead diagrams of the location.
I also created a master copy of this with all of the camera positions on it so that I could efficiently move the camera from setup to setup to save some time.
However, some of these shots I redrafted such as C which shows the wide master shot with all three characters, as originally I had drawn it so that Cleo sat down and observed the conversation. Looking back at the script made me realise that she would not have time to do this in the scene so I redrew it with her standing.
Scene 2&3:
I did the same for scenes 2 and 3 together as they are both shot at the same location on the same day.
I originally drew shot B in this scene so that Emma was sitting on the bed handcuffed, but it was difficult doing this as it meant I had to establish a new line of action when she went over to the table to Cleo's bag. Her sitting on the bed whilst being handcuffed to the post was also a problem as the beds in the hotel room don't have posts that handcuffs can be attached to like this. However, I saw that they did have posts on the floor, so if Emma was to sit on the floor handcuffed to the post not only would it solve this problem, but also it would work with the high/low angle shots, as would shift the power even more towards Cleo.
The only problem with this was that then Emma would not be able to reach the cabinet to grab the needle to pick the lock and get out of the handcuffs. However, I was able to solve this by changing the needle to a hairpin, which Emma has been known to use to pick locks before, meaning she could get it out of her pocket, rather than reaching the cabinet.
With this third scene, I added the point of view shots as how I originally drew it in the storyboard with the jump from B to C seemed too disconcerting to me as it means the audience move from one end of the wall to the other without seeing any of the space in between. I also thought it would add to the power I wanted to give Cleo during this scene, as the audience are placed in her position so she becomes their point of identification.
Scene 4:
I then did the same for the final scene, and found that now I had gone through the process of visualising the shots a few times, it was easier to see the scene in my head and then put it down on paper.
From these storyboards and overhead diagrams, I was able to create a shot list:
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