Spoiler
Bit of a spoiler warning, but since you're here, I'm guessing you want to see all the gorey, uninteresting details that may take away from experiencing the final product. Or it may add to it.
First ideas
When I read the story originally, I was thinking it could work in the way I wanted it to: have the audience misinterpret it as sex (ambiguously, perhaps plant a seed of doubt), however it all turned out to be a grisly murder.
Even though I really liked how it was written and the concept, I felt like the original story was way too bland and straightforward and it would take a genius (or more time) to be able to portray the story on paper in the way I wanted.
I wanted the story to mainly focus on the aftermath rather than the act itself. I want the main confusion to come from here, what really happened? You'd expect for a murder to have a more intense, gruesome aftermath so the audience may quickly suspect that nothing is wrong.
With my initial illustration ideas, I wanted the story to be told without any characters. Although I also figured that this would take too long, so I instead defaulted to a couple silhouettes and hands/feet, but strictly nothing else.
Character information
Character 1: the victim and the host
Character 2: the perpetrator and the guest
Relationship: Dating, for a while now. They know each other.
Sketches
Written out plot
C1 is hosting a date at their house and cooking a meal for both of them. They invite c2 over. The date is going fine until it cuts away to them struggling. C2 gains the upper hand and kills C1 by suffocating them. C2 wakes up the next day and gets ready as normal. C2 cooks a meal for themselves and as they're cooking, the reality of the situation dawns on them.
First unfinished draft
Knife, chop, sparks, splash, music, clothes, mirror, doorbell, suitcase, table, flame, fingers
Wrist, gasp, quiet, loud, soft, rough, hair, nails, grab, stain
sheets, bedroom, bathroom, shower, towel, mirror, pants, shirt, socks, tie
walking, knife, chopping, preparing, boiling, watching, pacing, smell, lingering, noisy, silent, touch, empty, taste, bland
flame, window
Ideas:
I was thinking for the cooking to be mirrored as in character 2 is the one doing it. I thought that cooking could be interpreted as gruesome or casual depending on how you interpreted the murder (whether you saw it as sex or not). However I think it may just take away from the atmosphere I'm trying to build and could confuse the audience so I'm not sure.
I wanted for the aftermath to be like an exploration of the senses to really try to put the audience in character 2s shoes.
Secondary ideas
After finishing the sketches and first draft of the story, I don't think that I've succeeded in capurtuing the sense of dread and emptyness that I was hoping for. I hope that I will be able to capture it better or play with the narrative as I work on the actual storyboard.
As I'm working on the storyboard
I have a bad habit of perfectionism. Even when I don't have the time or resources, I'd always prefer something to be half done and good than finished and not that good. But it always leads me to never finishing anything, because I can never get down what I envisioned before time runs out, from either disinterest or deadlines.
What I've learnt this year after working on my two biggest projects, is that it doesn't matter if it's as good as it potentially could be. It matters that it's done. You can always make something better next time, but if you never finish anything, there won't be anything to learn from.
More ideas I'm having about it
I guess that it doesn't matter what REALLY happened, just how the audience saw it. If you didn't see a murder then maybe you see someone who's unsatisfied with their relationship, or maybe life. It could speak to the audience about how there may be no apparent distinction between murder and sex, because of how glamorised the two are in popular culture.