FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: EVULATION

Throughout this project I have had struggles and achievements. This experimental film is by far one of the most difficult projects I've attempted but I feel I've done exceptional for what I started with.

Pre-Production
During Pre-Production I struggled, having submitted a poor pitch I didn't have a solid idea and was starting to panic. However, I found a solution by going out and reading and researching into the Sonnet I had chosen. By doing so I was able to find out the story behind the Sonnet and rather than adapting the sonnet itself I took the story of how it was made and adapted the Sonnet into that. I was able to get a script together which meant I had a document to work off and develop. I did do a lot of independent work with the script which I managed well, looking to my fellow students and actors for advice on it so I could make the right choices. I broke down and planned out my entire shoot, shot for shot and broke down the sonnet and detailed what I could do for visual shots in relation to the sonnet's lines. I used visuals and my own research to help get this across. I also managed to get a constant theme across my film which I'm really happy with. I feel my biggest achievement in this is how quickly I turned this project around for myself. When I had my proposal meeting with Mike I had no idea and no story and then from researching I was not only able to get an idea, I was able to make a narrative which is something a few students didn't have but it meant I had a story I could tell. Casting my actors I feel is a strength I've improved on. Rather than just going off their experience, I looked into what sort of person they were as well and really thought through who would work well. My choice of Sophie and Carly was good because they have that Sister relationship that I needed by being actual sisters. I pulled in all my resources for this and used past projects are reference and research to help with this such as my practise with the Track during News Production and also my lighting practise I'd be lucky enough to get from Derek during an outside project which meant I knew the sort of lighting equipment I needed for the project. As well, my choice to change the character last minute I would say is a strength. As I looked into how someone would actually act with the loss of a child I tried to make the film as real as possible and believable as possible and ended u using the experience people have told me about to change the script and improve the story. Finally, throughout I stayed organised with all my paper work and when it came to the day before shooting I was able to send out a detailed call sheet to everyone which showed detailed plan for the shoot and all the needed information.

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: EDITING

When it came time to edit the film. I started by adding all the clips to the timeline and sorting them from there, I straight away got around 7 minutes of a 'film' (no credits or titles and with a 5 minute restriction in the Unit handbook).

Since I started shooting late, this meant I had less time to edit the film together and it needs a lot of work. Once I'd assembled the rough cut I was able to see issues within the film, firstly the flow. It was boring to watch, I wasn't getting the emotion that I wanted my audience to get. I just felt bored throughout watching the rough cut. But I persisted and started getting up and cleaning the order. I wanted the flow of the film to be steady and calm.

I started editing together the audio once I'd gotten a cut together and added in the voice over. Once this was done I went and started on the Flash back scene. (Scene 4).

I edited this in a separate sequence so that I could find and fix it quicker than looking through an entire timeline. I put all the clips in together as well as the cut at the end of Stacey making the pinwheel spin then just the pin wheel on its own spinning.
How I achieved the effect I was aiming for, was by going onto the effect controls and creating a layer in the opacity option and then masking around it as best as I could, it wasn't 100% perfect when it was finished and it's as good as I can get it myself, but it's giving me the effect that I want and with colour grading I think I can clearly make this a 'flash back'. Audio wasn't any issue here either.

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: SHOOTING

My shoot for 'Ribbons' took 3 days.

Day 1
From day 1 there was issues with the shoot. To start with I ended up being a crew member down which meant it was only myself and Jemma. Which meant Jemma was on Sound and I had to both Direct and Camera Operate which I hadn't done before. However, we pushed through this and worked through the shots we needed. We had Carly for 3 hours on her own before we got Sophie due to her work commitments so we went straight in with scene 5 where Stacey is walking along a road and then we go into filming the shot of the flowers. With only a crew of 2, setting up the tracking shot was more difficult than I thought it would be. While setting up the track we also set up the flower scene.

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: SHOT LIST

After breaking down the script, I was able to write up my shot list and figure out what I needed to film.

Ribbons Shot List

When planning this I knew that I wanted 3 main camera techniques used throughout this film which is the classic locked off tripod, tracking shots and handheld movements as I feel these work best for the story. 

With Scenes 1 and 8 I had the movements very smooth or locked off to match with the seriousness and the calmness of the scene. Both are very emotional scenes and very important to the story so I wanted movement with the camera to match with that emotion. With the scenes in the street I chose to match with the actors walking and go handheld expect for the reveal of the flowers, I wanted a forward tracking shot to slowly reveal them to the audience. Other shots go with shot reverse shot on dialogue and a pointed down shot of 'Becky' in scene 3 when she lays down on the bed. 

As well as having cut aways of the ribbons and of the pinwheel to mix in with the film to help with visual narrative. 

With all this, I'm officially ready to go into production. 

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: NIGHT TIME LIGHTING

As I've got a scene in this film which I'm using as experemental is the night scene. What's experemental about this is the lighting. Not just the LED lights being used for the line "I am the soft star shine at night". But, I also need to create moon lighting for the night shoot, which can't be achieved with the Arri lighting that we have at UCA as they aren't white lighting.

A few months back I worked on a short film with a Director called Derek Boyes. It was a budget DIY Film which was all filmed at night. Derek had to recreate moon lighting for these scenes and he did so with only 3 lights and it worked really well. Below are some of the behind the scenes photos that I took:

Derek used 3 lights. All bought off Ebay and budget lighting but very effective and powerful lighting. Below are the lights that Derek used.

The Yongnuo YN216 Pro LED was the main light which was used for flooding the location. Then there was 2 of the YN006 lights used to bring detail into the background behind the characters. Taking this advice from Derek I've asked to borrow his lights so that I can recreate this effect and he's allowed me this.

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: CHANGE OF CHARACTER & SCRIPT V2

After reviewing the script, I felt that the Mother character just didn't work. If the Mother had lost one of her daughters she wouldn't get over it as quickly as I've made out. Also, if the Mother was in this situation, I would assume that she would actually be getting closer to her daughter Becky. So, I decided to change this character.

Ribbons Script V2

I changed the character to the friend of 'Chelsea'. Although this means that I now have to find a new actor, I felt this would work better, if a friend who has lost someone is there, she could help more and it would work better as a Mother wouldn't get over the expereince. Ever. 

I say this having spoken to 3 Mothers who have lost children, all of different ages and they are still upset about it. It's an unbearable pain that you can't get rid of and I didn't feel the script worked once I had learnt this. 

I got the friend to come in earlier when the Mother was meant to wake up Becky to establish the character. Then later she comes in and helps Becky to see things in a different light. I feel this works better for the script. I had to change actors so I contacted my friend Chelsea and asked her to come onboard and she was happy once she read the script. Chelsea has helped with a few UCA Productions and is a confident girl overall. She's happy in front of camera and she's got a kind and caring personality. 

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: PROPS

Props are needed for this film, most importantly the urn and the yellow ribbons which I have written into the script as these play a huge role in this experemental film. The list of props needed are:

- Photo of Stacey and Becky (So Carly and Sophie)
- Mobile phone
- Urn
- Pin Wheel
- Flowers
- Sympathy card for flowers
- Yellow Ribbon
- Photo of Stacey (Photo of Carly)
- Blanket
- Paper (folded to represent Poem)
- Fairy Lights
- "Ash" for Urn

With the 2 photos, I needed a photo of both actors playing Stacey and Becky and with them wearing yellow ribbons to relate into the script and story and the theme of the ribbons as well. However, due to availability on my actors this wasn't possible so I instead took a photo of my two actors together which they already had and photoshopped in the ribbon in below. The my actor Carly supplied a photo of herself for the props of the flowers. I also went out and bought 3 bunches of flowers from the local supermarket for the memorial part and a large golden ribbon which I could continually use for the ribbon parts.















I have my own fairy lights which I often use for Light Painting with Photography and also a blanket that we can use as well. The mobile phone we can supply on the day of shooting as all cast and crew will have mobile phones on them. The sympathy card I went over to the local florist and got one from there.

The 2 main props I had to go out and find was the urn and the pinwheel. With it being December, Pinwheels aren't really in fashion or being hugely sold. However, in a small charity shop in Rochester I was able to find this very colourful Pinwheel, it's ideal for the film, it's bright, different colours and only a little bit of wind and it's spinning.

In the same shop, I stumbled across the vas below. This looks like a classic urn and works nicely, simple pattern and easy to carry and open. This was ideal for what I needed so I got it at the same time.

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: LOCATION CHOICE AND RECCES

As my script now only has 3 locations, I chose to keep them all in one place to make travel between sets easier. So I looked first into the field. This needed to be large and open and away from roads, looking like it's like a further field away. Somewhere that you'd maybe go to get away from the world, walk your dog, etc.

Snodhurst Farm
Snodhurst Farm is located in Chatham Medway. Just by here is a local gym and across from that is a large open field which is open to the pubic. It's a common place for people to walk their dogs and according to the Photography department at UCA Rochester, a lot of Students have used this location for photoshoots. So, I contacted the Medway council and asked them what the rules are with filming in this location. They told me as long as we had public liability insurance and our own means of transportation we are welcome to use the location as long as we don't do anything to damage the environment or block access to the public.

When I recced the location I found this the perfect place. You can't see any roads around here and it's not even that far away from the main road and access is nice and easy. The field is large and open and if we brought the track here it wouldn't cause any issues as there's so much room here. I also brought my own DSLR and microphone to see if there are any issues with noise as a road is close by. Thankfully this also wasn't an issue. The cars passing can't be heard further in the field and it's a lovely looking area. Perfect for my opening and ending scene.

15 Balfour Road (Chatham

When it came to looking for a street and a house to use, I contacted my friends over in Chatham and asked if I could use their student house. After talking with their landlord they were happy for me to do this as long as the filming didn't go past 6pm as then all the house mates are home from University. The house is a bit small but for what we need it for it's perfect. My friend Chelsea has happily allowed us to use her room. Chelsea has a really nice and cosy room, not too childish (meaning no bright childish colours or anything that would make you think this is a Childs room) but we have things here such as the book collections and Funko Collections which would make you believe this room belongs to someone between the age of 18-25 which is the age range I'm going for. The windows let in a decent amount of light when open but there's also room for additional lighting to be brought in as well. The bed is a decent size and access is nice and easy. Sound in here is nice as well, not too echoy and can't hear any noises from the kitchen or the living room.

Moving on to the garden, This is a nice open space, although not a nice green and colourful garden, it still works for what we need. It's got the fence on the side and some chairs for the actors to sit in for the scenes. I also like how it's not that green and colourful. I want to go with something different and also it helps when the character Stacey brings in the Pinwheel to "Bring some life to the place". There's plenty of room for us to get in the kit and also the lighting for the night shoots and the sound isn't an issue here either.

The street outside the house (Camera died so couldn't take recce photos) is a nice quiet street where not many cars drive past. Making it nice and easy for us to get clean wild track and footage without cars getting in the way. We did want the track and cheated this slightly by asking their neighbour if we could use their drive on the shoot day rather than filming on the road. I phoned the council to inform them of this and they were happy and also said we could film on the street as long as it was handheld. But filming on someones drive we can use a tripod/track as long as the owner has given permission.  

Below are my risk assessments for the 3 locations that I intend to use:

Balfour Road

15 Balfour Road (Student House)

Snodhurst Farm (Field)

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: SCRIPT

Here is the first version of my script:

Ribbons Script V1

I went with all my visual ideas that I had thought of, adding in the Ribbon in most of the locations to be in the background or somewhere in the scene. This to give the overall idea that Stacey is always around and always with us. I added in voice over throughout the script but added in Dialogue in for Stacey to actually say on camera as well. I wanted Becky to talk to Stacey even though she isn't there but have Stacey reply, showing the love and relationship between the sisters. With the addition of the Mother as a character, I needed a way for Becky to move forward and be able to scatter Stacey's ashes but I didn't know how to get her to that stage but introducing the mother character works. You don't question where this character has suddenly come from as she's her Mother, you almost expect her to turn up.  

I wrote the script so that you don't find out Stacey is a ghost until we finally see the flowers in the scene where Stacey is walking around and the voice over is being heard. I added in the flash back not only to add in the pinwheel but to also show the relationship between Stacey and Becky when Stacey was still alive. 

Finally, the ending of the film, I wanted to show Becky moving on and letting Stacey go, I also wanted to reference the original Sonnet somehow. So, I decided to have the Mother give her the poem as a way that she moved on. Then with Becky scattering the ashes, is a way to have her moving on and for Stacey to become one with the world. The showing all the Ribbons at the end ties everything together and shows she's everywhere and always around. 

I'm happy with the script I've gotten. I wanted a story rather than just visuals. My experemental style for this is both with camera movement and with mixing in the visual styles and the dialogue. I wanted to actually make a story out of the sonnet rather than just visual storytelling, an actual narrative which I feel I've succeeded this with the story I've written. 

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: TORCHWOOD, SEASON 1, EPISODE 9 (RESEARCH)

During my proposal, I wrote about an episode of the BBC Series 'Torchwood' where a character called Eugene wakes up and finds he's been hit by a car and he walks around as a sort of 'ghost'. This was the inspiration for the main idea of having the ghost walking around and following her sister.
Below are some highlights from the episode:

What I didn't want from this style of making a ghost was the classic idea of being able to walk through walls, walk through people. I wanted to have the audience work out for themselves that the character Stacey was a ghost. What I did take from this episode of Torchwood was the way Eugene follows Gwen around and narrates as he goes along in the episode. With my idea of having a voice over from my research into the Shawshank redemption I think I've really got a story for this piece.  

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: YELLOW RIBBONS

During my planning for the script, I researched into the history of my sonnet (Blog about the sonnet) I found that the Sonnet is often read at Remembrance day services so I googled 'Remembrance day' to try and find some visuals that I could add into the film.

What came up was what I expected, the Poppy is a world symbol for remembrance for our fallen soldiers. It's known everywhere and comes with a great level of respect. However, this is so well know for the memory of our brave soldiers that it wouldn't work in my film. As this isn't the story of a soldier, it's the story of a young girl. I considered mixing the colours of the Poppy in, but the colour red is associated with Blood and this is what the fields of Poppies represent, blood spilt in battle so I don't think this would work for my film. 

I did remember, that when a relative of mine past away from Lung cancer, we all wore Yellow Ribbons on the day of his funeral, when I googled 'Lung Cancer logo' it came up as a Ribbon:

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION RESEARCH

When aiming to gain inspiration and also ideas I looked into some successful adaptations from short stories. One which everyone has always told me about is Frank Darabont's "The Shawshank Redemption". This has always been one of my favourite films for both story and style of Directing.

Released in 1994, The Shawshank Redemption is the story about Andy Dufresne (portrayed by Tim Robbins), a banker in America, who gets sentenced to Shawshank State Penitentiary after being wrongly accused of the murder of his wife and her lover. Andy throughout the film and during his trial pleads innocent and we discover during the film that he is innocent but this doesn't change his sentence. Andy ends up becoming friends with Ellis Redding, nicknamed 'Red' (Portrayed by Morgan Freeman). The film tells us about Andy's life in Prison and ends with him finally escaping from there.

When researching into this film, I learnt that it isn't actually adapted from a short story. The film is based off the novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" which was published back in 1982. The rights to adapt into a film were then purchased in 1987. However, this isn't a short story and I found the novella was actually adapted from a Russian short story "Bog pravdu vidit da ne skoro skazhet" which translates to "God see's the truth, but waits". The English translations of the story are titled "The Confessed Crime" and "Exiled to Siberia". So the film itself isn't actually fictionally adapted from a short story but it is still a Fictional Adaptation so I went on and watched it for inspiration.

What I took from this film mostly was the use of Voice Over. Below is a scene from the film as an example:

In this scene, Andy escapes Shawshank. It's a high climax in the film. Here we see an example of what is hear throughout the film. Morgan Freeman's voice over. This is the character Red telling the story. It's a classic film technique but what I love about this mostly is that the main character isn't Red, it's Andy. Red and telling us Andy's story rather than Andy telling us his. I think it's a fantastic add to the film, made all the more better by Morgan Freeman's well known voice. But this technique is something I feel I could use for my film. 

After watching this and seeing the impact the a voice over narrative has on the film I feel it's what my script needs. Have the character Stacey telling us and talking to us through the film. I feel this would seriously help with the idea that Stacey isn't dead but is always around us and I think the voice over would seriously help with the idea that she isn't dead. As well I think it would work better to get across what she is feeling other than having her speak since she can't really talk if she's a spirit. 

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: VISUAL IDEAS

When I had gone through and decided on the lines I wanted to use from the Sonnet. I began thinking of how I could visually show this. Although I don't find storyboards useful, I did find that drawing down a picture of what I wanted to use visually did.

I am a thousand winds that blow
This line I was focused on the word 'wind'. Something blowing in the wind which I could relate to the character Stacey. I thought of maybe one of her tops or a piece of clothing still on a washing line but as I plan for her to have been dead for over 7 months this wouldn't make a huge amount of sense without adding in context.

I toyed with the idea of using leafs, perhaps on a tree or a pile of leafs going down a windy street, I could have mixed in the street with that being the location of where Stacey was hit by a car and this is to symbol that she's still here. But this still didn't feel right to me. It also seemed very complex to get that done.

Finally, I thought about having something she has placed while she's alive and thought of the idea of adding in a flash back to when she was alive, so we see her and her sister Becky happy together and it brings more emotion to the character of Becky since we can see how close they once were. So I thought about her planting a flower and then cutting to it in the current time of the film and it's still healthy and alive and then it would symbolise Stacey is still here and blowing in the wind would work with the line as well.

Thinking through this idea, I didn't think a flower would look as good as there isn't much movement, So I thought of some other ideas for things I could use. Finally, I'd written down a pinwheel as one of the ideas as I remember having these when I was a child. They're bright, colourful and move with very little wind. These are seem sometimes in gardens as well and they're still popular today as they're sold in big brand shops such as Home Base and B&M. The pin wheel is also a bit more unique than a flower and would be kept there if it was put there by a family member that had died.

I ended up drawing out a storyboard for this scene, although basic it does show what it is I want to do. Having the sisters seen together happy will help show how close they were and then a close up on Stacey blowing on the pin wheel and making it spin to then cut to the same shot of the pin wheel, still spinning in the modern day with no one there. The pinwheel is still there as Stacey will always be there and it's still spinning in the wind to indicate she's the wind blowing it.

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: ACTORS

My cast is a fully female cast. This was a genuine choice as I haven't made a film with a fully female cast and I think a story of 2 sisters with their Mother works for this adaptation. Although this could have easily be done with 2 Brothers and a Father it just felt right to have it the other way.

Carly Harding

Carly Harding is a 24 year old Drama and Musical Theatre graduate from the University of Cumbria. Having just graduated this year and has a range of Theatre acting experience, she is looking to get into films more. She contacted me a while ago asking me to keep her in mind for any projects so we met and she read through the script and was very interested in the character Stacey. I've seen her acting and she's very talented and found that I wanted her for Stacey's character more and there is more on the visuals with that character than the dialogue. 

Spotlight: https://www.spotlight.com/2296-3424-9780

Sophie Harding

Sophie was one of the first people I met when I moved to Kent. Although she isn't an actor, Sophie is a very confident girl and never hides away. She is also the sister to Carly so they have similarities and the bond of being sisters so I asked her to play the character of Becky. She was slightly hesitant at first but after reading the script she was interested and agreed. 

Helen Gaston (Awaiting confirmation)

When it came to finding an actor for the character of the Mother, I knew I'd need to search further than the people I knew already so I went to Mandy.com to find an actress. When searching I was looking for an actor who could play an age role between 30-45. I was also looking for someone who's had experience playing a Mother previously. I found an actress called Helen Gaston who has had expereince playing a Mother on 2 television adverts and once in a theatre performance. From the 2 video files on her profile I can see she is a very confident and talented actress. She's also based in Kent which is very helpful. I've emailed her asking if she'd be interested in the project and I'm just awaiting confirmation. 

FICTIONAL ADAPTATION: CHANGE OF IDEA

My original proposal for Mike wasn't very clear and didn't have a structured narrative for a story. After Mike told me to research into the poem I found it was written to comfort a friend after they lost someone. The poem is to show that when you die, you're never really gone and you're always around people you love. Mike suggested to me that I show this with visuals and this is where my idea began to change and finally develop.

After looking through the sonnet, I decided to cut some lines and not use then in my adaptation.

1. "I am the diamond glints on snow"
I don't intend to use this because I won't be using snow in the film. Although this is looking at this line seriously and not looking in deeper I don't feel it's needed for the film and I can be more creative with the remaining sonnet.

2. "I am the sun on ripened grain"
This line I won't be using because I have a line for the line regarding morning hush which almost mixes them in together.

3. "Of quiet birds in circling flight"
I have tried to decide on ideas for this line but can't think of how I could do it. I had considered having people around the character Stacey but didn't see it working well enough.