SPIKE LEE / CHAPTER TEN

STORYBOARDS:
MALCOLM X

MASTERCLASS
10.
STORYBOARDS:
MALCOLM X

S
SUBCHAPTERS toryboards can be supremely useful when
directing big action sequences. Drawing out
Assassination Scene Breakdown your shot list can be an organizing principle
in the cacophony of producing complicated [A storyboard] is like
shoots. Storyboards become a precise map of
what’s almost certain to be a hectic shoot day. You a roadmap...it makes
want to get this right.
something that’s very
Spike first created a storyboard for the riot scene complicated simpler.
in Do the Right Thing. He also created one for the
assassination scene in Malcolm X. Spike’s original
storyboard for this scene shows the level of detail
and organization that is required to create the illu- DID YOU KNOW...
sion of chaos.
If there are landmarks pertinent to your film, find
out how to make best use of them. Malcolm X
production designer Wynn Thomas obtained the
original floor plans for the Audubon Ballroom. This
document helped the crew design the set so they
could get as close as possible to the real thing.
The exterior shots were taken outside the actual
Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York City.

LEARN MORE

Watch Malcolm X and pay particular attention to

the Audubon scene where the civil rights leader—
then El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz—was assassinated.
Compare the storyboard and the action shot for
shot, noting how Spike chose to depict this cu-
mulative moment. How did the action build to a
climax? How did he evoke emotion?

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