The Dreams of a Flightless Bird
The Dreams of a Flightless Bird is a short film that was fully crewed by students at University of Georgia during the Fall semester of 2019. I am credited as the cinematographer, lighting designer, and location scout. This film won 1st Place for Narrative Films in the 2020 Georgia Communication Association Student Film Festival. It also won Best Picture and was nominated for Best Cinematographer at Unifest 2020, a film festival open to all college students in Georgia.
The Process of Creating the Visuals through Storyboards
After lining the script and planning out each individual shot with the director, who creates the overall vision of the entire film, I began storyboarding. Below, you will find the storyboards that I drew to facilitate bringing this creative vision to life! With the constraints of the film length of ten minutes, many of the shots had to be cut, but the vision was still possible as a result of the planning that took place through storyboarding.
SCENE 1
These are the storyboards for Scene 1. While in production, there are inevitable last-minute changes and cuts of shots as a result of limited call times. But, with these storyboards, we were still able to get many good shots of Dani, that were vital in defining her as the main character.
SCENE 2
These are the storyboards for Scene 2. This scene was important in revealing the current job position of Dani, versus the dream world she lived inside of her head in the forest. This scene also served as a means to show the art around her office. These storyboards allowed us to focus on the details while in production.
SCENE 4
This is the storyboard for Scene 4. This is the first scene where it is revealed that Dani is a painter. This scene was important in showing the beauty of her home, the connection she has with an old photo of her and her father, and her first attempt to paint, ending in her unable to find inspiration.
SCENE 8
These are the storyboards for Scene 8. This scene happens directly after she meets Diana, an art gallery owner. She is inspired by the prospect of having a piece in her gallery. She begins to paint again, and is once again uninspired. She goes to her desk to find inspiration, and it is revealed that she has framed the photo of her and her father, showing how important it is to her. She glances at it, but then client folders catch her eye. She puts them across her floor, and decides to paint a beautiful photo of The Matterhorn from a client folder. This is a pivotal scene in the movie, as it shows the disconnect she has with her own experiences and the art she creates. This was our longest scene, and my favorite scene to storyboard & to film!
SCENE 9
These are the storyboards for Scene 9. We were unsure of the location when I drew them, so they are less detailed than the other ones. But, the storyboards still allowed us to get the coverage we needed during production! This scene was vital because it is the turning point of Dani realizing that her experiences are worthy of showing, not the experiences of others that do not have an emotional connection to her. She was left with the decision of abandoning her passions, or putting her passions into work that truly meant something to her.
SCENE 13
These are the storyboards for Scene 13. This scene had a simple goal — showing Dani’s decision to finally paint her own experiences.
SCENE 14
These are the storyboards for Scene 14. Dani is in a park and she clips the photo of her and her father on the corner of her easel to begin painting.
SCENE 15
Our final scene! These are the storyboards for Scene 15. When I was first drawing storyboards, even though this is the last scene of the film, it was the first one that I drew. This scene means a lot to me, and although we did have to cut some shots in production, the storyboards allowed flexibility in paying attention to all the little details that wrapped up our story.
PRE-PRODUCTION LOOKBOOK
created by me
