Fiction Adaptation: Shot List

Here I have included my shot list for the shoot on Monday. I have broken it up into the scenes so that I can refer to a particular section if I need to. This also helps to organise it a little more and give it more structure. I have introduced each new location with an establishing shot to set up the scene and familiarise the audience with the location. In order to give the audience a connection with the characters, I have included a few close ups, I will use these particularly with Imogen to show her reactions to the dream and the flashback. The shot list should aid me when shooting by allowing me to remember how I'd planned each of the scenes by breaking down the structure of them.

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Fiction Adaptation: Filming Locations + Recce

In terms of location for the Fiction Adaptation film, I have decided on where I am going to shoot it. The poem is set in Brighton on the beach. However, after a group critique with Helen and the rest of the group, I decided to choose alternative locations that are more practical for filming. I could include a few sound elements to give the suggestion of a beach location or use the sound of waves to symbolise it. I have decided to set the majority of the film in a bedroom environment. I felt like this would give me opportunities for exploration as I wouldn't be too limited for time. I have adapted it so that the main character wakes up from a dream distressed and is comforted by her sister. I have asked Rosie if I can film at her house in Maidstone. As the main character is a student, I thought it would make sense to use a real students bedroom to film.

In terms of the other location for filming. I have decided to film at the Riverside in Maidstone. I made this decision as I wanted to incorporate the canal boats and river to compliment some of the text in the poem. For example 'I see a tanker resting on the horizon'. Although the imagery won't be literal to match the words of the poem, it should be representative of them. I have requested permission to film at the Riverside and Kent Film Office have informed me that the permit is in progress. I have decided to film the characters walking to a bench where they will sit and talk, this scene will also include a short flashback.
I think that the decision to choose simpler and more accessible locations for filming will make the process easier for me which should result in allowing me to have more time to film to allow me to get as much coverage as possible.

Fiction Adaptation: Casting

For this unit, we have been asked to create a practical film which will be fiction based. Therefore, I will be needing some actors to convey the narrative to the audience. I decided to interpret the poem and give it my own narrative as I wasn't completely sure what the intention of the story was from then poets point of view. I also felt like this would allow me to be as creative as possible when it came to filming. For casting, I will be needing three characters, two girls to play the sisters and one guy to be the ex-boyfriend. I had put up an advert on Casting Call Pro, looking for actors that were of similar age to me. I decided to do this because I felt like acting students would be the best demographic to advertise to as many actors choose not to be in student films. However, I had problems finding actors that looked right for the parts and were of the right age.
Therefore, I have decided to ask a few members of UCA to act in it. I decided that this would probably work best as they might understand the brief and intention of the piece better than an actor as they have been working on the same brief. I also felt like they might feel more comfortable acting together, knowing each other rather than choosing a mixture of UCA students and actors. When casting the two sisters, I wanted them to not look too unalike so that it would be believable. I decided to ask Ida and Imogen with Imogen playing the main character, who I have named 'Millie and Ida being the sister 'Rachel'. I remember Imogen acting in Plamen's production of the same poem from last year so felt like she might remember it, making the performance easier for her. To play Nathan, I have asked Troy. I have seen him perform in previous projects including the last News project and thought he seemed really natural on screen. He is also good friends with the girls so thought the relationship would come across quite natural.

News Genre Workshop + Lecture with Zoe Sale

Today, we had a lecture with Zoe Sale about the effect of News. This will help us when writing our critical analysis, giving us some background into the genre of news of which we have to talk about in reference to our own work. She showed us a Channel 4 documentary titled 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' which documented the final weeks of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Over the course of the programme, it showed the devastation of the war and particularly the effects on innocent civilians. The footage was incredibly shocking and graphic with gory scenes that resulted in the programme being shown at 11pm. Zoe talked through with us, the events of the programme and why they decided to show certain scenes. She told us that the programme received lots of complaints despite the late showing time because of the material shown and the effect it had on the audience. We were then told to work in pairs to find policies for showing extreme material on the news or in documentary. I worked with Saskia and we found that BBC had a policy in place when it comes to showing graphic material. They explained that they aim to 'reflect the world as it is, including all aspects of the human experience' which is saying that they intend to show what is real whilst 'protecting the vulnerable'. I think that this is a suitable approach for a news channel as they aim to tell the events of the world as they are to inform audiences but filter out material that they deem as too harmful. Therefore, not showing anything unnecessarily without a need to. Zoe also showed us a few real life stories of people who had had near death experiences. The material shown was somewhat upsetting but with a positive ending. I think that the ending is what made the story more watchable. If they had ended with a scene of the person dying it would have felt very dark and upsetting. I found the lecture and workshop helpful as it allowed us to learn a little more about how news channels choose what to show, with their audience and demographic in mind.

Fiction Adaptation: Research - Experimental Film

What is Experimental Film? 
Experimental Film is a very wide ranging genre that defies the conventions of traditional narrative and documentary cinema. It doesn't always necessarily tell a story and won't necessarily have characters. It can be literally anything. In contrast, experimental film can be an aesthetic art form. It takes the most expressive elements from artistic mediums and combines them through sight and sound to creative something completely new and original.
There are many reasons for choosing to made experimental films. Creative freedom means that you are able to express your visions and be as 'out there' as you'd like to be. Narrative film making can be very focussed on restraint in how you go about putting something together, whereas with experimental filmmaking there are no boundaries.

Spontaneity is another factor. When it comes to narrative film making, people tend to stick to the schedule and get the shots they need to tell the story. However, when constructing a piece of artwork, a certain sense of spontaneity is needed. Sometimes shots that are chosen on the day of filming can be the most creative and successful when it comes to editing and the final film.
Personal expression can take place heavily in experimental filmmaking. This related back to creative freedom, as there are no boundaries. This means that the film maker is allowed to express the tone and feeling of the piece in whatever way they want to and put their own personal stamp on it.
I found this information very interesting and inspiring to read about. This unit allows us to be as creative with imagery and sound design as we'd like and being experimental is definitely something I would like to achieve. I think that to make sense of the poem, which is very abstract and artistic, I want the imagery to reflect this and compliment it rather than shying away from bring as expressive and symbolic as possible.

Fiction Adaptation: Progress Meeting + Essay Feedback

Today I had a meeting with Helen to discuss my planning progress for the fiction piece. In terms of script, I have written a first draft which is in a table form like we did for the documentary unit. However, Helen suggested I complete a more detailed, theatrical script which tells the reader a little bit more about the actions of the characters and delves more into the narrative of the piece. In terms of location we discussed the riverside in Maidstone that I have applied to film at through Kent Film Office. She agreed this would be a good place to film, providing I fill out a risk assessment, taking into account the risks of filming near the water. In terms of pre-production, Helen advised that I give meaning to everything in the piece, using the visual imagery to symbolise what the poem is saying to justify it. This will give the piece a more 3D feel as the characters should come across like real people with a viable story in order to engage audiences. In terms of casting, I will be advertising on Casting Call Pro to find actors for this piece. 

Helen also gave me some feedback for the essay. She said that I was writing well and just need to make a few adjustments including adding more quotes and references from theorists to further analyse the subject matter and allow me with more factual material to compare the programs I am looking at. In terms of word count, I was over the word limit and need to cut down the essay considerably to allow for the adjustments. 

Fiction Adaptation: Kent Film Office

For a small scene in my Fiction Adaptation piece, I will be requiring to film at Maidstone Riverside. The characters will walk along the riverside and sit at a bench to talk. As it is a public place, I have enquired about permission to film there by contacting Kent Film Office. I am planning to film on 5th, 6th and 7th December and have told them what I plan to film there. It takes at least a week to get a response from them but hopefully they will have no problems with this, as there aren't many health and safety risks.

Script (2nd Draft)

Here I have included the 2nd draft of the script for the fiction adaptation film. I decided to set it out like a theatrical script because it is a drama piece rather than a factual programme and so I felt like this structure makes it easier to interpret. It also allowed me to go into more detail for the scenes and the actions for the characters which will make it easier for the cast to follow. I included the lines of the poem as the dialogue throughout, this should make it easier to follow when filming as I will know what section of the poem will go with the imagery I am filming.

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Fiction Adaptation: Poem Breakdown + Narrative Development

In terms of how I want my fiction adaptation to come across, I would like it to be a combination story and montage. I have intended it to be a narrative driven piece that will engage audiences and allow them to relate and understand the characters with a few elements of visual imagery that will symbolise the words of the poem in an abstract way that shouldn't come across as too literal. When thinking about the narrative, I decided to focus on a few elements and think about what that says to me. The idea of the 'mannequin' gave me a few ideas, deciding that I wanted it to be a person rather than just a artificial figure. I worked through the poem, line by line, thinking about how to interpret it. The line 'We are throwing stones into Brighton's ocean lips while we try to solve each problem', I particularly focussed on the idea of solving a problem which said to me that the characters are getting away to talk over the thing that is troubling one of them.
There is a line of dialogue 'it's nice to be lost somewhere no-one can get you', I interpreted this by relating the idea of someone menacing who she is afraid of being the mannequin, she is desperately trying to recover from.
Some of the dialogue was very difficult to interpret such as 'you look thin, if you die soon, can I eat your ribs'. As this is coming from one of the characters, I felt like this was very strange and difficult to place in a narrative. Therefore, I have planned to use an element of visual imagery to illustrate this so that is more of an abstract element. Other montage elements I want to include the line 'I want to tell her that she burns everything'. For this, I plan to show a messy bedroom, highlighting every day destruction rather than something overly vivid like burning something.

Fiction Adaptation: Research - Spoken Word Poetry

Spoken word is writing that is meant to be read out. Examples include stories, poems and monologues. For this unit we will be looking at poems and how we can adapt the spoken word and bring it to life through exciting imagery and sound design. If a poem is rich with imagery, the listeners will see, hear, feel and even taste what they are being told.

There are a few poetic devices that we see continually through poetry. Repetition is a device that can help a writer generate exciting poems with just repeating a key phrase to emphasise it. Rhyming can enrich the diction of the wording and make it more theatrical.

Performance is an important aspect. Spoken word poems are written to be performed. Projection is vital so that the listeners can hear every word and can engage in what is being said, this is helped through good enunciation. Facial expression and gestures can also help to bring the actions of the poem to life.

In reflection of what I have researched about the concept of spoken word poetry, I think I will take some of the advice about performance and use it for my own adaptation. I don't think I will have someone on the screen reading the poem aloud, however, I do intend to have it read as a voice over. It is important that it is delivered as a performance so the audience can engage in what is being said and can hear every word. I think that with this unit being a fictional unit, performance and elaboration is incredibly important.

Script (1st Draft )

Here I have written a 1st draft script for the Fiction Adaptation piece. I decided to use a simple layout like the scripts we wrote for the group units as they are easy to read and interpret. I set up two headings. The image tells me what I will be filming and the dialogue/sound is what will be heard. I think that this script is quite straightforward and I plan on working on a more detailed script so the cast can understand what i'm looking for.

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Fiction Adaptation: Montage Workshop (Filming + Edit)

On Tuesday we carried out the filming for the Montage workshop. Initially, the day got off to a bad start as we had misinterpreted the brief. We had come up with a character and a narrative for the film in order to convey the emotion we had chosen. However, after talking to Helen and Mike, we were told to focus more on the emotion itself and the imagery we could capture to convey it. We brainstormed some possibilities as a group, thinking about how we could use every day objects and scenarios to convey feelings of despair. We came up with a few simple ideas such as a bin spilled over or someone standing in the woods alone. We experimented with the camera, looking at focussing and framing to put emphasis on the material. We also decided to use the track for a few shots, as this is something we had looked into for the previous camera workshop.  Today, we edited the footage we had shot on Tuesday. We each had to create our own edit for this workshop to allow everyone in the group to interpret the footage in their own way. At first I found it very difficult to edit without thinking about sequencing. It felt quite strange to think about cutting two completely unrelated clips next to each other, with no context. However, I kept the theme of despair in mind and tried to use clips that I felt emphasised this. In terms of colouring, I decided to make the footage black and white. When I think of despair, I think of a loss of colour and liveliness therefore I thought that making it greyscale would drain it of this. In terms of sound design, I used a few sounds effects such as a dripping tap to make the diegetic sounds more prominent. I also found a simple piano track to lay over the top to bring the piece together and further emphasise the mood. Below is the final film.

Fiction Adaptation: Idea Development (Feedback)

On Thursday we had a group meeting to discuss our ideas for our fiction adaptations. I had brainstormed my ideas, exploring a few possibilities for location and the narrative. However, I think that I had been thinking a little too literally about how to interpret the poem. I had written in my notes that I would use a coastal location as the poem takes place in Brighton. However, after feedback from Helen and the group, who suggested I think more creatively about lation, I have decided to exclude this as a possibility and to only hint at this, possibly through sound design. The narrative of the poem comes across as very abstract and subject to interpretation, with plenty of visual description that I think could be pictured in many different ways. Therefore, I have decided to choose my own narrative for the poem, retelling the story in my own way. It is clear in the poem that it features two sisters, however, their reason for being at Brighton in unknown to the reader. There are also mentions throughout about a 'mannequin'. We are told that he is naked and being asked to leave the beach, however, we do not know who he is or what he is doing there. Therefore, I have decided to give him a motive and connection to the other two characters, incorporating the memories of him from one of the girls' point of view. In terms of location, I will be using a bedroom where the two sisters will be when the poem starts, I may then plan to include a few other locations as the poem progresses. I think that the meeting was very useful and allowed me to broaden some of my ideas and think out of the box a little more in terms of character development and location possibilities.

Fiction Adaptation: Montage (Group Project)

What is Montage? 

-To use oppositional images presented in juxtaposition to create new meanings.

-The technique of producing a new composite whole from fragments of pictures, text or music.

For this unit, we have been asked to adapt a piece of fiction, in the form of a poem into a visual film. The brief expects us to illustrate the text in the most inventive and creative way possible to allow the audience to visualise the poem and bring the words to life. The use of Montage is likely to be apparent in every film, where the images are unrelated but edited in a sequence so that they relate to the written text. This technique is often used in film and television. For example there are a few montages throughout the film 'Hot Fuzz'. The clip below shows Simon Pegg's character Nicholas illustrating events in his life that enabled him to get to where he is at present, as a Police Officer. As he explains each event after another, this is shown on screen in a couple of sequences, almost in list form. This tells us and shows us a little about the character in a very obvious way so we are left feeling like we understand the character.

In order to learn more about montage and how to address it for our own projects, Helen has asked us to get into groups of four and create a short montage (3.00m). I will be working with Ellen, Saskia and Cheyenne. We were given four emotions, of which we must choose one and represent in our montage. The options are Joy, Hope, Despair and Fear. We decided to choose Despair as we felt we could be creative with it, we also felt like negative emotions are generally easier to convey. We had a meeting this afternoon to discuss ideas and have come up with a few possibilities for the story. Cheyenne suggested we show the character having a terrible day, highlighting all of the things that go wrong in montage form, resulting in them being in complete despair by the end after their life has fallen apart. I think we could be quite creative with this idea, combining some quite fast, visual imagery and even experimenting with colour to convey emotion. We have planned to have another meeting tomorrow to extend our ideas and develop on this initial idea. 

Fiction Adaptation: Research into Poet

I have found some information about the poet Antosh Wojcik who wrote the poem I have chosen to adapt for this unit. Although there isn't much online about him, I have read his article 'My experiences of poetry' which allowed me to find out a little more about his career and works. He describes his view on poetry at a young age. 'A lot of the time, I had no idea what any of it meant and didn't want to care about the poet's plight, so I rejected it the moment I no longer had to study it'. I found this quite interesting as he describes poetry as something he never had a huge passion for and something he just fell into in later life through writing short stories. He expanded on his poetry during university by performing what he had written at open mic nights, of which he received great feedback. In terms of his other poems, including one entitled 'Poem 364', which feels quite personal, he reads them through first person starting his sentences with 'I'. This immediately makes him the character of the poem, something I can imagine to be quite engaging when he is performing. He uses this as a platform for telling his stories in a very personal and direct way.

In terms of the poem I am looking at - 'Building a Second Home as it Sinks into the Sea', I think the style is completely different to his previous works. There is no use of 'I' and he tells the story through characters. The poem itself is very complex with graphic imagery such as 'I have been picked clean by sky piranhas, they thought I was a basket of chips carrying a heart'. This line struck me in particular because it seems to be dehumanising the character which brings quite a lonely tone to it as if the character feels unimportant. I wasn't sure what his interpretation of the poem was but for me, I feel like at least one of the two characters in the poem is troubled by something, but it is not made clear exactly what. There are mentions of a mannequin, who is described as a naked man who is asked to leave the beach but he is not brought into the poem later on. Other lines hint to this idea but I think it could be interpreted in many different ways.

Fiction Adaptation: DSLR Camera Workshop

Yesterday, we had a camera workshop with Mike Rymer who has had a lot of experience in the industry with cameras including DSLRs. He has also worked at the Epsom campus, teaching on a similar course. He gave us lots of information about the cameras themselves, and what they are best used for. For example, the DSLRs have better field of vision than the Sony cameras which means that the image is much closer to what we see with our eyes. From my experience, I would say that I have enjoyed using the Canons much more, in particular for the picturesque effect you can achieve with them. He then showed us some examples of camera movements including track, tilt, jib, pan, dutch angle. We have been taught these in previous workshops but it was interesting to learn about them in a bit more depth so we know when they are most appropriate to use and what effects they can give.

Contra-Zoom
Mike introduced us to the technique called a contra-zoom. He showed us some examples from films including a scene in jaws where a character is experiencing shock as children are being attacked by a shark on the beach. It is a technique which involves tracking and zooming in or out simultaneously. This puts emphasis on that person to show what they are feeling. It can also be used to emphasise an object, making it appear bigger than it is. We were then split into groups to experiment with some of the techniques he told us about. We experimented with the contra-zoom, which was relatively successful after a few attempts. It was quite challenging to get the timing right as you cannot zoom faster than the speed of the track otherwise the effect will not work. We also tried to do a 'Michael Bay' inspired shot. He is well known for using a shot which establishes a new location or 'big moment' by using the camera handheld and rotating it around a person for dramatic effect. Mike Rymer described this as a technique often used to tell the audience that something exciting is about to happen. Saskia and I experimented with this shot and found it quite tricky to pull off but we were able to get a general idea of it. I feel a little more confident about using these techniques and camera movements in upcoming projects, if the scene requires it.

Fiction Adaptation: Research - Classics

On Fridays we have been having lectures regarding an essay for the fiction adaptation unit. We had to choose from three possible questions which differed slightly but all came under the same subject, making the lectures easy to relate to any of them. In order to adapt something onto screen, there must be an original text or literary material to work from. We have been looking at classics and why they are so widely adapted for the big screen, and have been re-done over and over again. I am planning to look at the works of Charles Dickens who wrote several classics that have been adapted many times on tv and film.


Why do people choose classics? 
Classics were usually written quite some time ago making them copyright free. They are widely recognised and taught in schools so every one grows up knowing their stories. An adaptation involves the adaptors personal take on not only the classic story, but its wider implications and the prevailing ideology of the time itself. Lots of people can influence an adaptation including the director who will have their own personal vision for how to tell the story. Each performer in the piece will play their character how they want to and bring their own interpretation to the role which will also affect the piece. Other more modern aspects including music and effects will make the story new and bring a more present day feel to it. Classics are interesting to write about because they have so many interpretations where people have taken an original story and come up with a whole new vision for that story.

Fiction Adaptation: Chosen Poem

For the practical aspect of this unit, we are to make a film of 3-5 minutes in length that adapts the literary material from an existing poem onto screen, telling the story in the most creative way possible. Helen gave us a booklet with a set of existing poems to choose from. They all differed hugely, all of which told a story, some with more adaptability than others. I read each of them, keeping in mind potential ideas and thinking about where I could take them. Some were incredibly long which was slightly off putting as I felt like there would be way too much to work with within the time frame of the piece. On the other hand, a few were very short which I thought would make it difficult to produce something that would hold the interest of the audience for the duration of the film. After thinking about each one and writing down a few ideas, I decided to choose 'Building a Second Home as it Sinks into the Sea' by Antosh Wojcik. This poem felt very visual from the first sentence. It begins with the concept of a mannequin, something I felt could be interpreted from lots of different angles. I felt like I got a different impression every time I read it which is what attracted me to it, as it left me to imagine a few ideas. I also liked the description the poet used to illustrate a coastal environment, almost in quite an abstract fashion which could also allow me to be as creative as I like with my film.

'Building a Second Home as it Sinks into the Sea' by Antosh Wojcik.

There is a mannequin sunbathing next to us.
We can't tell if it's ours. We didn't give him a name
or barcode him with a birthmark. He is naked.
The police are asking him to leave,
there are children here, they are too young
for the smooth of him. His blank eyes
read the sunbeams. He says nothing.
We are throwing stones into Brighton's ocean
lips while we try to solve each problem.
Pebbles talk in skims on wave skin,
I hurl so many goodbyes the day winds down
into pier lights. I see a tanker resting
on the horizon and say to my sister,
I can sink that boat with this stone.
I don't account for size and distance.
She says, it's nice being this far from home,
avalanches her feet into the tide,
it's nice to be lost somewhere no one can get you.
I have been picked clean by sky-piranhas,
they thought I was a basket of chips carrying a heart.
My sister says, you look thin, If you die soon, 
can I eat your ribs? What would you do 
if you were on Grand Design Revisited
and you came home to see the changes 
and everyone inside had been cut up 
and their skin was used for wallpapering?
My head falls off. She points at the skeleton
of the burned down pier, asks if she did that
I want to tell her that she burns everything
she touches. She lights a cigarette with hand-fire,
starts walking to the B&B we are calling home.
The mannequin has been arrested, his indent
is all that is left on the beach. A waxwork
sits next to me, naked, shiny-dull with night
light. I hope she doesn't fall asleep here,
I don't want to find her melted body
in the morning, clutching the rocks
I will launch into the sea for the whole of tomorrow.

Fiction Adaptation: Unit Overview

For the second unit this term, we have been given a brief under the title 'Fiction Adaptation'. Fiction Adaptation entails the process of translating a written text onto the screen. This can be on any scale and is used all the time in film making. Many timeless novels including the works of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens have been documented on film and television, with many different adaptations, each providing a new spin on the original text.

In this unit, we will be building on our screenwriting skills from the first year by taking a poem which translates a story and adapting this to film. We will also be introduced to the art of adapting literary material, thinking about it in a creative and constructive way to make the piece our own and not think about it in a way that is too literal and a direct copy of the text. The practical film is to be 3-5 minutes in length and can take any form and come under any genre. As we are adapting a poem, we have been instructed to keep the original text in the piece, whether this is on screen or spoken aloud in a voice over or by a character. This should help to illustrate the poem and tell the story through the words.

Along with the practical film, we must write an essay that answers one of three questions. All of the questions cover the same brief as the practical aspect of written texts being translated into on screen productions. By looking at existing examples of Fiction Adaptation, this should help me in thinking about my adaptation and how to approach it in my own individual way. I have decided to choose the following question for the essay component of the unit:

'Discuss the view that “with a successful adaptation, the original work is transformed into something new and different, although retaining many traces of what it was formerly’ with reference to at least one text adapted for broadcast on television'. 

Out of the three questions, this one felt like the most broad option and something that I could talk about in depth and even relate to the practical element. The first person that came to mind was Charles Dickens. He is a prominent figure in the history of literature, with his most well known works being Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and Bleak House, amongst many, many others. When I thought about literary material that has been adapted onto screen repeatedly, Charles Dickens novels seem to have been used over and over again in both TV and film. I may change my mind when it comes to what I discuss for the essay but the works of Charles Dickens was my initial reaction as I feel like there will be so much comparison amongst adaptations.