McQueen's films rely on visualization over narration to tell stories of human suffering and struggle. Through close-ups of emaciated bodies during hunger strikes, naked scenes depicting sex addiction, and images of whip marks and lynchings, McQueen shows the physical toll of his protagonists' circumstances without explaining their inner thoughts. His unflinching visual style aims to make audiences feel the pain and truth of the stories rather than just understand them intellectually. A through-line in his work is using the body as a way to depict narratives and communicate what cannot be said through words alone.

1. Storyboard Steve
McQueen
By: Arista Meneve

2. The three movies I
will be discussing
are:

3. Hunger: McQueen takes one of the lead roles , a prison guard (Raymond) is getting
ready to go work at the Northern Irish prison where the hunger strike is taking place.
You see his pain, suffering, and struggle just to get up and get ready in the morning,
but you never get inside his mind to find out why or what he’s truly feeling
(Voiceover and soft music)

4. In this scene the guards are taking prisoners from their cells, beaten, and forced to cut their hair
and bathe, but it’s never said why, left for the audience to interpret - authority- choice between
collaboration and resistance. He never lets you hear about the inner personal struggles of the
prisoner, he only shows you. leave in audio

5. Here we see excrement smeared over prison cell walls
and crawling with maggots. Voiceover and music

6. Here you see the images of emaciated bodies, the prisoners are on a hunger strike led by
Bobby Sands- incarceration, both physical and psychological suffering but still never lets you
inside the minds of protagonist pain is always privately contained, never shared with another
inmate. He shows you these gruesome and disturbing images to draw a reaction and evoke
emotion - voiceover discussing starvation and how he uses the body as a visual image

7. Shame: This is the opening scene for Shame. He uses this image of his naked body in bed
as symbolism for his sex addiction. His addiction is his prison. Usually in a movie about a
personal story of a someone, especially an addict, you would have a narrator narrating the
sexual compulsions and tendencies, especially when the protagonist is alone and thinking.
Usually you have a view inside the mind of the protagonist talking to you about their internal
struggle and suffering. Giving you some insight but McQueen again doesn’t do this.
voiceover describing this

8. Brandon is forced to face his addiction when his sister comes to stay with him. While she is there
she meets Brandon’s boss and there is an immediate attraction between the two. They eventually
come back to Brandon’s apartment and end up making love. Brandon, extremely disturbed by this
gets very upset and angry. So he unchanges to go for a run. leave in audio and end with voiceover

9. Brandon is angry so he goes for a run in the city, it’s night and cold out but
strangely he has classical music playing while he runs, opposite of what
you’d expect to hear. McQueens protagonists’ problems are never explored
through dialogue but always through visualization. Keep audio music playing

10. Brandon can’t have sex with a women he’s interested in. He is looking off into the distance
after not being able to bring himself to make love with her. Which is unusual for him as he is a
sex addict. He likes this girl but is facing an internal struggle with himself. Leave audio playing

11. 12 Years A Slave: here we see a once free african american man from New York, Solomon, who
was having dinner with two men who acclaimed to be musicians looking to help him further his
career. But they have really deceived, drugged, and sold him into slavery in the south. leave in
audio

12. Here Solomon is approached by a slave owner for the first time. He is
beaten and then given new clothes to wear. We finally see where Solomon
has been taken to but we never hear his thoughts. leave in audio.

13. You can see the livid welts left by a slave owner’s whip in the backs of
the slaves. McQueen shows you this versus just telling you because
he wants the audience to see and feel, not just listen. He wanted to
show exactly how it was like for the slaves. He wanted people to feel
pain and empathy for them. He wanted to tell the truth.

14. Although we don’t know what Solomon is thinking we can see the slave owner
he beat up approaching with two other men on horses. They drag Solomon to
the tree to lynch him because of his obscene behavior. Leave in audio.

15. In this scene we see how Solomon, a slave looks like hanging from a noose
on the tips of his toes trying not to choke to death while other slaves avert
their gaze and continue on with their chores. Voiceover and leave in audio

16. Creative Piece
• Close up or over the shoulder shot
• even though people don’t like to talk about these
things we still have to and make others aware

17. Live Action
• Showing reactions and emotions vs telling/
saying them

18. • In McQueens’ films his protagonists are facing human survival in states of
extremities.
• lots of pain and suffering but never any insight, inside the mind of them
• Visualization of his narrative, visualization is his narrative
• He uses the body as art to display and visualize
• Visual art; show what it looks like vs telling
• tells the truth of the story by visualizing it
• A major theme McQueen uses throughout his films is visualization
• Depicting the physicality of the human body
• maybe even as art