From this episode on, I have been drawing storyboards, essentially planning the camerawork in advance through (very rough) sketches. Before you see this, I agree - my drawing is pretty hurting...
Let's work with the final scene, as it translated into final version the best.
In the establishing shot, we see Myronn and Dex enter to view the assault they perpetrated. Removed from the incident, they are distant and together in the frame. They look over the barriers like castle battlements.
Dominant, they are comfortably framed with plenty of space, looking down. They exchange comments about the fight, in one of the prolonged group shots natural to the series.
As they go on, they are now very large in frame, visually trapping the destruction between them. They aren't back-lit, and very shady from this perspective.
As Dex remarks the rebels were abducted, not killed, A Stylus soldier looms over one, ready to process him. He is high in the frame and low angled, looking down at the helpless rebel whose pistol is beyond reach.
A well tuned squad leader, Myronn knows medic Shultz has arrived and asks for the casualty report. Larger and on a different vertical plane, he is dominant.
They both serve to frame Shultz, showing that he is one of them, and drawing attention, as he reports no casualties. The close clustering of them establishes them as a tight knit unit.
Myronn commands the two from this three shot. The white environment provides a clean, focused background devoid of distractions - like the squad's.
Myronn exits right to the rest of his team, leaving the two with some tasks. He breaks up their tight group to move on and deal with more business. The door acts as a framing device. As before, he is closer and larger than the others, drawing our attention as the main focus of the scene.
That concludes this behind the scenes glimpse of Unexpected. Mostly, this was to show the storyboards themselves, though I might write another article, going more in depth.
