Fiction Adaptation Unit - My Final Film

Below you can play the final film. Please make sure you view in HD. 

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Evaluation

I have learnt a lot over this unit. I have decided to go for something completely different and out of my comfort zone in order to create a finalized film that shows a true reflection of my skills and abilities throughout pre production, production and post production.

I started off with the idea that I wanted to do something that would push my boundaries. After reading through the list of sonnets the one that I really connected with was Trespass. When alining with it at face value I began to delve behind the real and true intent of the meaning and felt that this was actually about judgement and being on a forbidden path in life. I also gained this insight through my research of the author and his backstory which can been seen in my separate post. This inspired me to think of jobs and what people do in society that people frown upon. I first went down the route of a drug dealer but after feedback it wasn't different enough and felt very cliche. I also went on to think about murder but this has also been done countless times. I finally settled on a sex worker. I feel this was a subject that is completely out of my comfort zone but would also give me some great visual imagery. This along with the representation of the poem made me push forward with this idea to present to Mike. After speaking to him I got some great feedback explaining that it was a strong route to go down and is still adapting the poem but in my own way although I would have to make it work well in symbolizing what we are witnessing as an audience and be confident in the subject that I was going to approach. I felt the idea was a risk but with the right casting, locations, planning  and vision i would be able to pull it off.

I wanted my video to be completely different to everyone else. Instead of following a regular narrative structure with a clear narrative arc, I felt I would play with the brief and focus more on the experimental side of things. I feel my final film does have a build up and there is a story behind what we are witnessing and I have adapted the sonnet well but I felt I could have explored the narrative a bit better. I have used voice over of the sonnet for impact rather than to contextualize but with out the voice over it would not have been as strong in the way of a story. Although I love the final product I have ended up with and feel it shows strong skills and a great adaptation of the sonnet, I could have gone for a more regular story like others on the course. Saying that my main intention was to focus on the experimental side and create a completely innovative and different final product in a style that no one else would have done.

With locations, I feel I picked these out really well. They reflect the story I am trying to tell and create a real tone to the film however I do feel there could be improvements. Although I am happy with the soho location, I wish I could have secured a gentlemen's club to film the strip club scenes in. Although I could still put across the intent of the scene, It would have given me much better footage if I could have shot inside a real club. The footage came out ok but I would have been able to heighten and elevate the project by getting a real scene with a pole, stage and dance floor. In the pre production stages I only contacted 3 different clubs and was waiting a while for them to reply which led me to running out of time. Next time instead of hoping to be successful with the people I have contacted, I will ensure that I carrying on messaging and liaising in order to secure a location more efficiently. For Soho, I secured the rights well contacting 2 different boroughs and ensuring all the rights to film were in place before the shoot day.

In terms of casting, I felt this to be one of my stronger points. I put an advert out on Casting Call Pro in plenty of time and explained the exact nature of the shoot. After receiving several applications I sat down and looked at each one of them. I whittled it down to 3 and was in contact via email with them trying to see if there availability would match up and why they were applying for the role as well as looking through their show reels. I finally settled on Rebecca as she had the most potential to carry the character off well as well as her look. The only thing I should have done extra was to Skype call her before giving her the role. This would allow me to understand her character as a person and to build a professional relationship prior to meeting her but I understand this and will do this for future projects. I also made sure I planned this project well other than casting. I created schedules, liaised well and had a good solid idea before going into production.

Actually shooting the project was an interesting experience. On the day of Soho, the main hurdle was filming in a very busy public space. I felt us as a team dealt with the situation really well as at some points we had a few crowds watching what we were doing. I could have picked a quieter location but this would not have worked for what I was aiming for in the sense of story and imagery. My main role on both days was a director. I felt I directed the shoot really well and all the team said they knew what they was doing at what points. I was very professional and calm which responded with the team well and in what could potentially be a very stressful situation, I was able to keep everyone focused and on board with what I wanted to achieve out of both days. Technicality was also good as I was able to oversee all shots and make sure they were in focus and in a great quality although there were some issues with the club scene. With it being dark, in a small space and with effects like fog,  the footage did come out little grainy and murky. I tried to fix this when editing by color grading but it still remains there. I want to make sure that when Im using different effects that I can test it before hand to see how it will affect the shots.

When editing I wanted to make sure that there was a structure and the piece flowed into different sections. I first of all wanted the first scene to be in black and white to show the bleak and dark world that the character lives in. When it goes to the neon and club scenes, bright colors are added in to show the colorful, sexual world of soho and exotic dancing before going back to black and white again. This was also to show that her life goes round in circles and its the same on the daily routine, we end where we started off. I feel the sound design worked well with all of the sound effects and the score allowing me to build and heighten the film making it powerful, emotional and strong. When editing I wanted it to reflect what I had done in a previous work shop. We had to shoot images and place them together to make it experimental and in the form of montages. I feel I adapted from this very well and have a good selection of montages throughout including rhythmic, intellectual and metric that all helped this film to have an experimental look that I was going for. Shooting in 50fps was also a great choice as the smooth slow motion really helped with the impact I was going for.

Overall I feel this was a really great piece that i'm very proud of. Reflecting back on it, I realize that although the majority of it hits the brief, I wish I could have adapted more of a narrative into it. But, having said that, I don't think it would have worked for what I was trying to achieve. I wanted this film to be very experimental and have a sense of power and impact and, writing a more in-depth narrative would have taken away from that. My adaptation was to take the poem and find my inspiration from it creating a tone and theme that would still stay true to the original text, but becoming more experimental, and I feel I have achieved this. There are a lot of things I have learnt from this project and I feel I have gained a lot of pre, production and post skills that I will take forward in future projects.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Editing

Structure

I knew by the structure of how I wanted to edit this film it was going to be a very complex edit. I first of all decided to gain structure and break it down into 5 different sections. These were the intro, the glitching dark,  the streets, beautiful dancer and the ending. I first of all worked on the intro. I wanted to start with a close up of the characters face then transitioning into a wider shot so that the audience can now see that she is dressed different to how they would have first imagined. I then followed this with some walking shots from behind and in front to give the impression that she walks the streets. After this we move swiftly onto the glitching dark section.

This starts of with the 50fps scene of the actress walking down a more busy street slowed down to half speed at 25fps. This worked nicely giving a smooth flow to the slow motion. Over the top of  this shot I layered neon signs that glitch in and out over the top. This works nicely to transition into the darker world that this character lives in. I followed this with strobing clips and a few shots from the club scene to hint at the role of her exotic dancing profession but I don't give too much away as I want to let it slowly build. This dramatically cuts to black and moves onto the streets section.

I wanted to elaborate the streets of Soho for this section. I started by using a building lit up in neon with more glitching neon signs over the top. I felt this was really effective. I then followed by shots of her down colorful lit up alley ways with neon signs still glitching over the top to build tension. After this it cuts to a fast rhythmic montage of the different neon signs of soho cutting faster and faster to then break into the next section.

In beautiful dancer it contains very fast paced cuts of the character dancing in a seductive way mixing slow motion with normal speed to create a good effect. I used lots of different colored shots including strobes to make the scene very disorientating and rapid. I feel this edited together works well and shows what I am trying to portray. Some of the footage was a bit merky so I tried my best to enhance it with colour grading.

The final scene is the ending which rounds off with a different version of the clip of the actress walking down the street. I then follow this with different shots all in 50fps slowed down that are done in a similar way to the first scene. I did this on purpose to create a circular narrative that this is what she does on a day to day basis and her life goes round in circles.

Sound Design

Sound was very important to me in order to give the powerfulness that I wanted the piece to be. In terms of the score I started off by choosing a slow and melancholy sounding song in order for the audience to align with the character and in a way feel sorry for her. This quickly changes in the second scene with a slightly more ominous and eery sounding track that portrays all is not what it seems. The next track is split into two parts. One is the build up that transitions into the electro club scene and the second is the more slower and moodier part that follows to the ending. I feel they both work well and give a real sense of power to what is being shown.


With sound effects, the first thing I added was the low pitch rumbling sound that features throughout the film. I felt this created a sense of unease and was quite unsettling which heightened the dramatic feel to the piece. When neon signs would glitch on the screen I added some royalty free glitching sound effects so that it brought out the flashing, pulsating signs when they appeared. Another sound effect I added was in the glitching dark scene where it shows a few slow motion clips from the club. I added a breath noise when the character flicks back her hair creating a sense of lust.

Although the piece works without voice over, I made sure I recorded some of the sonnet just to see what it was like overlaid on the piece. I found it really brought a sense of impact when I added it on and although I am not putting it on there to contextualist, I feel it adds real depth to the way the narrative is delivered creating effectiveness and power. Also when researching for this film a lot of short films that I was interested in used voice over in this way to dramatize a piece so that is where I am getting my inspiration from.



Vision 

I wanted this piece to look as good as I could make it and so I decided to color grade some clips. The first and last scenes I decided to put into black and white to dramatize what we were being but also to give a sense of dull and bleak. I also added brightness and contrast to these scenes to really make everything pop. When it transitions over into the sexualized world the piece transforms into color to make it stand out and to really focus on the neon and bright lights. This I feel works really well and they compliment each other as they are intended to. There is clear contrast between them but this is what I was aiming for so that you can really notice the sexual world of color.


Overall I feel very happy with the way I have edited the piece together creating a real sense of power and dominance in the way of the tone. I set out everything that I wanted to achieve applying complex skills that I feel worked well together when viewing the final piece.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Shoot Day Two (Home)

This was another evening shoot like the day before so we once again all had to wait till it was dark. I picked the actress up a little bit earlier around 2:30pm and took her into the studios as I wanted to do some voice over with her. I may use some voice over in the final edit if it gives impact rather than contextualizing the story through it. Once we had finished that we then headed to may house and set up the living room making it believable that we would be in a club. We moved all the furniture around and made a clear space against a white wall. We then set up the tripod and the track and dolly as I wanted these bits to be more static than the previous days shoot but with some smooth movement as well. The actress went upstairs to get changed and we set up a lighting system that I own that can change color of the lights. I also wanted to add a cloudy smoke effect so I used a fog machine as well.

Once we had set up everything we all got into position and began with a few static shots with the lights changing. We had bass music on in the background as well so that the actress could really get into character. I got a variety of wides, close ups and mid shots so that when it came to editing I would have a real choice that I could work with. We then slid the camera along the track side to side with the actress focusing on the camera. Since I'm shooting in 50fps this could look really good when its slowed down to half speed at 25fps creating smooth fluid slow motion.

When we had finished all so these I then decided to try a strobe effect with the smoke and the actress dancing in the middle. This I feel worked really well and will give a dramatic effect when it comes to the edit. I also followed with more colorful shots of the actress dancing so that I could really portray that she was a dancer. I then called a wrap of the shoot and we all packed up the equipment before taking the actress back home.

Overall I feel the shoot went really well and although looking at the footage, some of it turned out grainy, this actually works quite well in contrast to the high quality shots in Soho as it conveys the gritty and seediness of the gentlemen's club.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Shoot Day One (Soho, London)

A couple of days ago we shot in Soho in London. I had already organized about travel and times with the actress and crew also sending out a call sheet a few days before hand. Since this was going to be a night shoot I decided that we would meet late morning and then drive into London to get there just after lunch. This was a good move as we were not rushing around but we had a good amount of time to scope around the area reaffirming the shots I wanted to get as well as checking out for any other health and safety hazards. After an hour of this I then called the crew for a coffee and we had a meeting about exactly what I wanted from everyone out of this shoot. The actress was already changed into her outfit that I had brought for her to wear and had a warm coat on over the top so when it came to filming we would be ready to go. All the equipment was also checked before we left in terms of battery and frame rate so we were ready when we got there.

We started filming as soon as the sun set and the first location was down a back road that was closed off for moving vehicles. This was good as we were all safe to really concentrate on the filming and it gave us good scenery in terms of graffiti and shutters along the walls. We spent half an hour here doing walking shots as this is going to be the introduction to my film.

We next went to film some neon signs that were around where we were. I told Gavin what I wanted and he focused the camera and shot it. Some of the footage came out quite bright around the sign so I reshot making it darker in the background and the neon signs brighter making it really pop.

Next we did some more walking shots with the actress but they were a lot more public. We filmed on some really busy streets and alley ways as I wanted to get a sense that she had no fear when it came to walking around with her outfit on amongst crowds. We were very sensible with this as I didn't want to get in the way of anyone so we waited for a quite gap and then quickly shot what we needed to. although these took several takes to do I am very happy with the final result. We were getting a lot of attention due to having a bright light on the actress and with what she was wearing but it enabled me to get some anonymous shots of people staring and judging which will work well with how I wanted to adapt the sonnet.

PIC

We finally ended doing a few last minute shots near Carnaby street as there was some good visual imagery I could get. We found a nice quite square with metal grating on the sides which added to the tone of my film. When we finished I wrapped up the shoot and we headed home. I feel this day went very successfully applying to all the regulations and getting some great visual shots that I look forward to editing together.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Call Sheets / Schedules

For my shoot I created a schedule for my shoot day in Soho just to make sure the cast and crew knew what we was doing, at what time and where. I included a weather section so everyone knew what to wear in terms of rain, sun and temperature and I also included all our names and contact details so if there was any problems or we got lost then we all had eachothers numbers. 

You can view these schedules below: 

I have sent them out to all the cast and crew so they are aware of what is happening when we shoot prior to the day.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Final Locations

After researching more and visualizing what would be Ideal for my shoot, I have decided that the final locations would be Soho in London and my house. I ruled out the beach scenery idea as I feel I wanted to take the film to a more urban style and give the streets of London its primary location. I feel this would work well with an exotic dancer and fits more with the story I am trying to portray.

Soho was the immediate choice as there are lots of adult neon signs there that I could capture and work with when it comes to editing. There are also lots of urban streets and alley ways that the character can walk down to further establish herself.

Unfortunately I could not secure a gentleman's club to further establish the role of what my characters profession is so Im going to have to reinforce this in a different way. I decided that my living room against a white wall would work well if I could get the actress to dance as well as lots of colorful flashing lights. When she is in her costume I feel the audience will be able to make the link of what she is doing. 

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Equipment List

I wanted to be really organized with this shoot so I created an equipment list using a table in word. I wrote down all the equipment we had and made a column to check it and a column to specify quantity. I will be using this for future shoots as it gives me a good visual of what I am going to need. 

For this shoot in particular I am going to be using the Panasonic as I feel this handles light very well as I have used it in the dark on previous shoots. I am also going to be taking a rode mic for sound incase I needed some atmosphere sounds when it comes to editing. I wanted to bring a Roto Light seeing as we will be filming at dusk as well as daylight and we can make sure the actress is illuminated. Other equipment includes a Fig Rig for movement stability, a Tripod for stationary stability and Hi Vis Jackets to make sure we are safe and visible on location. 

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Communicating and Liaising

For this short film I will need to communicate and liaise with people in order for the project to pull together when filming. This is important as It ranges from casting to land owners and property owners.

I started off with casting which I have mentioned in more detail in another blog post. I made sure that I was in contact with the main applicants that had applied to be part of the project and in particular the main female that I have chosen to be in the film. Due to the nature of the shoot I wanted to make sure she was comfortable with what was expected and what she would need to be doing.

This is very Important to communicate this way so that there will be no surprises or issues on shoot.

I needed to get permissions as I wanted to shoot in Soho London and in a Gentleman's club to get the ideal scenes. I first contacted Red Route Filming who deal with all of filming in London as part of TFL. Unfortunately they did not deal with Soho as it wasn't their direct area so I was then redirected to The City of Westminster borough's email to contact them further.

I then contacted the email for the City of Westminster sending them a similar email to the one I sent before. I made sure it included what we was intending to shoot and where as well as the times and dates. They approved the filming and were happy for us to shoot as we were a small crew and were not putting anything on the floor such as a tripod.

For the Gentleman's Club I wanted it to be local to where I am based so it can cut down on production costs and would be easier for us all to get there. I contacted the managers email telling him what we would be doing as well as when we would be ideally looking to shoot.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Experimental Video (Workshop)

I have created a short experiemental video in regards to a brief that was set out. We were told to pick from fear, dispair, joy or hope and create the short film with our chosen Haiku in mind to see what we can do. I chose to do fear with overlaps of dispair as well as relating to my chosen sonnet. The film can be seen below:

Since I felt my sonnet adaptation was going to be quite dark, I wanted the tone to be quite moody as my final film is going to feature a strong empowered woman who is infact overshadowed and frowned upon within society. This is why although its me, you can sense a feeling of power and strongness as well as a dark underlay. I scored the film with some creepy and tense music to make it seem dark as well as used a different editing techniques that would elborate the tone I was aiming towards.

In regards to color grading, I wanted the film to have a striking effect when watching it. I graded all the footage into black and white apart from the scenes where we used red gels as I felt this contrasted nicely with the other footage. I also used effects to speed up and slow down to make it more dramatic.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Researching The Experimental Film Genre

Experimental film is an unsual genre in film that explores the conventions of cinema and looks at non narrative styles that are not conventional to all other genres of film. This includes a main focus of dance, literature and poetry as the most common themes.

Some examples of experimental films are:

Eraserhead

Un Chien Andalou







































Both of these films hit the experimental criteria with eraser head being all shot in black and white with not a lot of dialogue and a very strange plot. Un Chien Andalou is another experimental film but is completely silent and in black and white which involves hardly any plot at all and has a lot of montages.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Montage (Workshop)

Today we learnt about what a montage is and how it is incorporated into film and editing. This is where when 2 or more shots are cut together it can portray meaning due to what is being displayed and the pace that is being set. There are 5 different types of montage. These are:

Intellectual Montage: Adding 2 cuts together that are not related at all to create a new third meaning for example a mans face and then a bowl of soup cut together creates the third meaning of hunger.

Tonal Montage: Different tonal scenes that are connected together by a different image or meaning. An example of this could be when someone is about to get a punch to the face and then it cuts to a new image of toast popping up from the toaster.

Metric Montage: This is cut with a certain duration. Each clip has the same amount of time when cut between them like a metronome. So each clip would be cut every 3 seconds for example.

Rhythmic Montage: Cutting with a purpose of what we hear for example the clips may change in contrast to the music or sound effects.

Overtone Montage: This is a combination of A Tonal, Rhythmic and Metric Montage simultaneously. The video will use all of them one after the other to create a varied effect.

I had a go at making my own montage and I decided to experiment with rhythmic and metric making all the clips the same length whilst cutting in time to the drums in the background. You can view this below:

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Casting

I wanted to cast someone that would have the ability to play my character comfortably and strongly so I looked on the website Mandy.com (originally Casting Call Pro) and posted an advert of what the project is about and what I am looking for in terms of content and character. This is the advert below:

From posted to closing date I received 10 applications altogether to which I then scrolled through each of them and looked at their headshots, relevant experience and their showreels. Not everyone had a showreel so I did email the applicants who didn't and asked to see further work so I could see their acting skills and learn more about them as professional actors. Once going through them all I whittled it down to the best 3 that I liked and produced a short and easy to read casting document for each one. You can view these below: 

When Looking at these profiles I could see the plus and minuses of what I thought for each one and I was able to lay them next to each other and compare more easily. After a long and hard decision as well as further communication between them all, I decided to cast Rebecca and emailed her saying I would be happy for her to take the role. She accepted and she will be on shoot with us as the lead actress when we film. 

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Researching John Clare

Since I have chosen to do a sonnet by John Clare, I wanted to do some background research on him so I could roughly gadge the original intention of the poem. John Clare was born in the 18th century in 1793. His work mainly spanned across the 19th century and is now one of the most famous poets of this time being re worked in the 20th. He was born near peterborough in England and published his first book of poems in 1820. Being a farm labourer, he was not intending on success but he was quickly praised for the book and several more books were published not far after.

John Struggled with mental health issues including depression and instability as well as increasing his alcohol intake over time creating judgements from society and the community that he lived in. In the last stages of his life he was eventually commited to a lunatic asylum where he remained until he died but still continued writing to help with his emotions which spawned the famous poem "I Am".


Here are a list of poems that he is known for:

- First Love
- I Am
-Summer
-Trespass
-All Nature Has A Feeling
- Autumn
- An Invite to Eternity


I regards to my adaptation I feel I would be tieing into the themes of judgement and where some of his intententions may have been coming from in terms of being disapproved by society with an unstable mindset. Although my key character will be a lap dancer, I feel this could be a modern take of the way he may have been expressing himself.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Researching Style and Tone

When researching this project I came across a video that I would love to aim towards. This video is from a short film by the artist Lana Del Rey called Tropico which is partly set in a strip club. You can view the section of it bellow:

 Its shot very slow with a dark tone to it in a very cinematic way. I love the effect this gives to the audience making them feel enticed into whats happening. Its also very tense but tasteful at the same time which is something I want to incorporate into my project. The music is almost non existent in the way of melodies and chord progression but has loud rumblings and static soundscapes to build tension and to create the mood of the video. I feel this is a great look and I would love to use this in the strip club scenes. There is also voice over which creates a great pace to what the film is about. I was thinking about putting voice over on top of my film in regards to reading out the sonnet whilst the imagery is going on. This I feel would be effective and would tell the story as if its going on in the protagonists head without revealing too much of what its about.

In terms of editing it is cut very slowly together put keeps a good pace in and out of two locations. I want to do this with inside shots of the strip club as well as walking along the streets so the audience doesn't get bored of it being all very similar. There is also good use of strobe lighting which I will look to incorporate as well as I feel it gives a good dramatic effect.

With colors for my own shoot I wanted to use lots of neutrals like blacks, whites, grey's and beiges for costume etc and contrast it with the scenery of bright and colorful like neon signs and lights. I feel this could work really well showing the class of the character but also reflecting neon and wildness of the setting she is in. It would also look a bit out of place as the two do not match together. I felt with the neon signs I could incorporate something like the video below:

I feel it builds a good atmosphere as well as highlighting good imagery. I like the way its edited with some shots overlapping each other as this gives a really nice effect and has a very experimental feel to it. The tone is very dark and moody which is the style that I'm going for so for my own shoot i would like to film the signs in Soho and do something very similar to this. 

I found a different video that I found very inspiring that you can view below: 

I love the soundscape that it uses creating tension and atmosphere as I think it really adds to the mystery of what we are looking at as a viewer. The clips cut to the music creating a rhythmic montage which works really well and both the sound and visual work well together. I also love the slow motion in this video. I think it builds the pace really well and creates a more dramatic feel to what we are watching which would look great for my main character. I wouldn't have my actor standing in front of a green screen, instead I would have her walking down the streets of soho with the neon signs effect combined. I also love the way the model holds herself and her expression from 0.35secs as i sense power and confidence which is the look I want my actress to give.

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Location Ideas

For this unit I wanted to explore the different locations I could possibly use to shoot my Idea. I put together a document which you can see below detailing the 3 ideas; London, Hastings and Kent. I wanted to place imagery with them as well as a highlighted map to show exactly where I am looking to film. Please read through below:

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Chosen Sonnet & Initial Ideas (Treatment)

I have decided to choose the sonnet called Trespass. I looked through the list of the 10 that we could choose from and after reading them through I felt like this sonnet was the one that I could do something with in terms of expressing a deeper meaning to it and adapting it in my own way. The sonnet can be viewed below:

0. 1. Trespass
   By John Clare
   
   
   
   
   I dreaded walking where there was no path
   And pressed with cautious tread the meadow swath And always turned to look with wary eye
   And always feared the owner coming by;
   Yet everything about where I had gone
   Appeared so beautiful I ventured on
   And when I gained the road where all are free
   I fancied every stranger frowned at me
   And every kinder look appeared to say
   "You've been on trespass in your walk today."
   I've often thought, the day appeared so fine,
   How beautiful if such a place were mine;
   But, having naught, I never feel alone
   And cannot use another's as my own.
   
   

When reading through it I immediately felt it was someone who was walking a path in life that people felt they shouldn't be on and I sensed a great judgement towards the person that this sonnet is talking about. I started to go down the line of jobs that people could have that are frowned upon and was first drawn to the character of a drug dealer/addict. After some thought and consideration I decided to steer away from this as I felt it was very cliche and had been done numerous amounts of times. I still wanted to push the boundaries but go in a different direction. I finally settled on sex work but rather than prostitution I will go down the path of an exotic dancer/lap dancer. I feel this conveys the interpretation of the sonnet well and clearly demonstrates a sense of judgement in the way of the job type and the way its perceived.


I want to create an overall sense of power for the protagonist who feels she is on the right path and feels empowered by the job that she does but has society against her portraying an image of being lost and disgraceful in the world of what we live by and what we feel is accepted. I feel I could get some great imagery with this idea as well with lots of neon signs and glowing colours that could symbolise the rays of light in the bleak time she is in. 

In terms of casting I would like to cast a female who is tall and together with the costume of ripped net tights, thigh high boots and a revealing top. I want this character to be recognisable to people that she is part of the sex industry but I want her to show the emotion that she doesn't care. I want someone who looks strong and would be confident with the roll so I will make sure to pay attention to this when casting.

With locations I feel the Soho area of London would be a great place to shoot this. It fits in well with the story as well as imagery that would relate to the sex industry. I am also thinking about shooting in Amsterdam for a day as this would also establish the narrative well. 

0. 
   
   
   

Fiction Adaptation Unit - The Haiku Challenge

After we had our briefing we looked more in depth about what a Haiku is as this would be similar to the type of literary text that I will be adapting from which is a sonnet. A Haiku is a 17 syllables and works as a format in Japanese as 5 on the first line, 7 on the second line and 5 on the last line. An example can be given below:

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,

splash! Silence again.

Autumn moonlight—

a worm digs silently

into the chestnut.

In the twilight rain

these brilliant-hued hibiscus -

A lovely sunset.

We were set a challenge to adapt a Haiku from a list using stock footage and cut together our interpretation of how the chosen Haiku interprets to us. I decided to use this one below: 

Netsuke Sōseki (1275 - 1351)

Over the wintry forest,

Winds howl in rage,

With no leaves to blow.

This is the video I came up with:

I decided to use wintry images like the snow falling in the forest and the mountains in order to set up where I felt the Haiku was set. I then felt this was coming from a persons perspective who was alone so I found footage of a boy who was walking on his own through the setting. This set the tone as well as the sad music to show it was quite a melancholy piece. 

Fiction Adaptation Unit - Briefing

Today we had a unit briefing by Mike Rymer who is going to be teaching this unit. We looked in this session at what fiction adaptation is overall and why they are done in the first place.

We first off understood that fiction adaption is the written that is translated to visual language. It can be adapted from any media source like a book and then translated as an interpretation to another like films, video games and television dramas. Some examples can be seen below:

Books to films:

The Shining

Trainspotting

Bridget Jones's Diary

Games To Films:

Tomb Raider

Doom

Resident Evil

There are many reasons why the idea is to adapt sources to screen and I learnt about some of them today. The main reason is that there is already an audience captured. If you take resident evil for an example, the people who have played the original computer game are very likely to go and see the film as it brings nostalgia and curiosity to something they already love. This makes an adaptation proposal very financially stable and a promising start to box office numbers. The same can be said for books and novels with people already being a fan of the work that is being proposed to translate to screen. 

There could be some downfalls to adaptation which are mainly getting the translation right. You want to make sure you are not alienating the audience that is already there and you want to make sure you do the original work justice. 

After we learnt about what adaptation was we then looked at what we was going to be doing individually for this uni. We are going to be researching, planning and producing a short video for transmission that is a work of adaptation from a literary source. This literary source will be a Haiku from the list of 10 we can choose from which will be explained more in a future post.