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The director Lars Klevberg<\/strong> contacted me out of the blue with a request: Would I help him with his pitch for a directing job \u2013 a remake of the classic horror movie Child\u2019s Play?<\/strong> The client was no less than Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer<\/strong>. The project was hush-hush and had to be kept a close secret.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He had been given my name by a mutual acquaintance, the scriptwriter and lecturer at Westerdals<\/strong> (Kristiania University College), Peter Eisenstein<\/strong>. Lars could tell me that \u201cThe script is superb and I\u2019m looking forward to pitching it. Particularly now that I can also give them a storyboard.\u201d Wow!<\/strong> Perfect for a storyboard artist like me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n 1.<\/b> Quick idea sketch 2.<\/b> Reference photo of myself (At the risk of looking like an idiot :). 3.<\/b> Finished cleaned up storyboard sketch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We had about a week to develop the storyboard for an important scene<\/b> in the film script. A big difference from the original version was that Chucky<\/strong>, the doll, would be more AI than possessed. The story starts by giving Chucky<\/strong> a more sympathetic angle. His character then gradually turns darker. Chucky<\/strong> and Andy, the boy who is given the doll as a gift, are friends at first. But as Chucky<\/strong> starts to commit more and more bad deeds, they grow apart. Andy realizes that Chucky<\/strong> might be dangerous \u2013 perhaps even evil!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n An important factor for Lars was that this was not<\/strong> going to be a pure horror film. \u201cThe script has a lot of black humour in it; I chuckled and had a good laugh at a lot of the episodes when I read the script,\u201d Lars told me. \u201cIt\u2019s important to create atmosphere with cool images and transitions that pull us into the action.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Working the pitch scene… <\/b><\/p>\n \u201cWe could start up on the eaves when the unlikeable father Shane goes up the ladder,\u201d Lars suggested. \u201cAnd I have an idea that we cut to the interior where his daughter and her girlfriend are sitting with smartphones and earphones.<\/p>\n So when Shane falls off the ladder, we see it from inside the house. With a close-up of bones breaking. And then back to the girls, who turn round after their father has fallen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat was that? Did you hear something?\u201d But no, they were mistaken, and turn around disinterestedly. This is black humour. \u201cI\u2019m also thinking of a few cool shots when he\u2019s dangling from the gutter or looking to see what\u2019s shaking the ladder.\u00a0You can always make a few shots in between, but we\u2019ll start with these.\u201d\u2028<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We met at Stockfleths in Prinsens Gate in Oslo. We had a couple of excellent coffees at the crack of dawn that morning in April 2018.<\/p>\n We agreed on some general storyboard #emotion rules: The next day, Lars would decide which scene he wanted to present with the storyboard: \u201cI\u2019ll come up with a description and send you some notes as soon as I can.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Chucky<\/strong> could look more or less the same as in the old films. No major changes, except that he was now going to be able to control electric gadgets. And that his eyes would glow in some situations. We were going to play on that. Lars would also attach some reference images of what Chucky<\/strong> should look like for me. Obviously, the exact design of the new character would come much later, if Lars ended up being chosen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The process of storyboarding is most often; 1.<\/b>\u00a0Small and rough sketches so that I and the director gets to be aligned on the composition. 2.<\/b> Clean them up after the meeting and create some simple shadows for mood and lighting. 3.<\/b> Sometimes details or larger parts of an image need to be corrected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lars also asked if I could make a poster: \u201cSince this film is going to be more in the style of Gremlins<\/strong>, I\u2019d like to give them a pastiche of the classic Gremlins poster <\/strong>in the pitch. But instead of Mogwai, it\u2019s going to be Chucky<\/strong> in the box. Make it really simple, in the same style as the storyboards.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Well,\u00a0it was a task too fun to not do a little extra. I worked a whole night making it the way I wanted.<\/p>\n We discussed style and the schedule for the coming week. We both went home with homework. The next evening, Lars sent me the scene he\u2019d chosen, with his modifications. The scriptwriter had approved it \u2013 we were good to go<\/strong>.<\/p>\n We worked online and over the phone. From office to office. We started off by going over the draft of the scene. Lars sent me rough boards \u2013 his own Lars doodles<\/strong>. We went through these together. Then I made my own drafts for him. After that, he came back with improvements and new ideas for the images, to push<\/strong> the ideas even further. New images kept being added. The storyboard for a scene, the way we did it, is both direction and story development on \u2018paper\u2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The death scene of the unsympathetic Shane …<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lars also had some images at the end of the scene with a snowblower and blood and stuff: \u201cBut we\u2019ll prioritize this part first. And then we can always come back to this. AND, feel free to come up with your own stuff.\u00a0Remember that it\u2019s horror with comedy<\/strong>, so it\u2019s important to convey the Christmas lights around the body and other humorous features. Pain, screams, faces, etc.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He also sent me the first version of his lookbook*<\/strong> for inspiration for scene design, blocking, and composition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We kept passing the scene back and forth between us. Lars kept coming up with new improvements<\/strong>, and pushed us to take things as far as we could. He asked me to keep humour and horror in my mind, and was open to my ideas. It was an exciting process. The scene\u2019s basic concept became more and more refined, and the deadline drew closer. In the final phase, we worked on the unlikable dad Shane\u2019s death scene. According to the script, his head was supposed to end up in the snow blower. Lars referenced 80s slasher films<\/strong> that could be funny even when someone died. He never stopped repeating: \u201cDon\u2019t forget to mix humour and horror!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n We didn\u2019t need to see details to understand that something horrible had happened. But could we have some peculiar facial expressions, or put blood spatters<\/strong> on the snowman? I suggested that Shane\u2019s scalp could be cut off by the snowblower when he flew through the air, and then land on the snowman\u2019s head. Lars laughed<\/strong> and said it was an idea that he liked. We would keep it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The final shot would be Chucky<\/strong> holding up a knife, ready to start hewing, with the moon in the background. But, Lars didn\u2019t want Chucky<\/strong> to start hewing in this iconic image that we had just composed. So, we added an image. It would be a close-up of a hand with a knife<\/strong> \u2013 with an arrow to indicate movement. We were now pretty much finished.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n All that remained now was some final touches by me. Lars had a bit more to do on his director\u2019s comments for the pitch, and to tweak the lookbook<\/strong>. Then he sent in the whole pitch with the Gremlins pastiche as a cover<\/strong>.\u00a0I was so excited that I could hardly sleep that night.\u00a0<\/p>\n The very next day, Lars heard from the client. Very good feedback on both the lookbook and storyboards! And a few hours later, the production company confirmed<\/strong> that he had the job.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Although Lars Klevberg was my client on the pitch, I had to be approved and had to sign a contract in order to continue working on the project. What Lars did next was amazing \u2013 he did a sales pitch for me<\/strong> as a supplier! I was hired and continued working on storyboards and a few concept designs. The scene we had delivered was to be changed from winter to summer. The snowman became a small garden gnome. But that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The gnome in the garden was originally intended to be a snowman…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I have to add that my big childhood hero Luke Skywalker<\/strong>, or Mark Hamill, took on the task of being the voice of Chucky<\/strong>. It’s incredibly fun to have worked on the same movie as the greatest Jedi Knight<\/em> of them all \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<\/div>\n *A lookbook<\/strong> is a collection of stills from film and TV, photographs or other kinds of visuals that are compiled to help illustrate a filmmaker\u2019s vision for a film. It acts as a reference for the sense of how a film should look and feel. The book includes ideas for cuts, cinematography, production design and casting. Most lookbooks aim to visually communicate ideas and concepts for things like colours, lighting styles, moods and other references.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n By<\/strong> Raymond Johansen<\/a> Norwegian storyboard artist helped Norwegian director to pitch on horror film for American film production. The project was a remake of Childs Play with the legend Chucky for MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) in Hollywood! >><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2898,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,13,20],"tags":[39],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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\nNetwork = undreamed-of opportunities<\/h2>\n
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\n\nDramatisation in images<\/h2>\n
\nBlack humour<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nChildsPlay-Pitch-SHanesDeath-Storyboards-11-2cac378e<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n
<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\nThe first meeting<\/h2>\n
<\/strong>\u2022\u00a0Cinematic storytelling\u00a0
\u2022 Cool interesting shots\u00a0
\u2022 Tell the story with pictures
\u2022 Make audience FEEL something
\u2022 Do I understand the story by looking at it?
\u2022 Would you love to see that shot in cinemas?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nThe character of Chucky<\/h2>\n
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\nThe practical stage<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nChildsPlay-Revisited-SHanesDeath-Storyboards-30-61f31c37<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n\nPushing the gory concept<\/h2>\n
\nMoving towards the deadline<\/h2>\n
\nFinal shot<\/h2>\n
\nThe last lap<\/h2>\n
Fast response<\/h2>\n
\nApproved supplier?<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\nFun Fact<\/h2>\n
\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Accuro_10087-square@2x.png\")
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@story_raymond<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n
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