FICTION ADAPTATION: Research into Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep & Mary Elizabeth Frye

Mary Elizabeth Frye
- Born 1905 in Dayton, Ohio
- Orphaned at the age of 3
- Became a florist and housewife
- Known for the single poem - Do not stand at my grave and weep
- Did write other poetry but never published
- The sonnet remained anonymous until the late 90's when Frye claimed authorship
- Frye never copyrighted the sonnet as she said it belonged to the world: "I thought it belonged to the world; it didn't belong to me. I still feel that way … it was written out of love, for comfort. If I took money for it, it would lose its value ... maybe I'm a nut."

Why did she write the sonnet?
She wrote the poem in 1932 specifically for a young German Jewish girl (Margaret Schwarzkopf) who lived with Frye. She was worried about her mother who lived back in Germany. Schwarzkopf had been told not to return to Germany because of the increasing unrest (especially against Jewish communities). When her mother died, Schwarzkopf told Frye that she was sad that she could not go to her mother's grave which then prompted Frye to write the poem.

In 1939, the US Congress published the poem for the United Spanish War Veterans Memorial Service - it resonated with every reader who had lost a loved one. It has severed to comfort not only the young girl it was originally written for but also to every reader who has lost a loved one.

Analysis of the sonnet:

To gain a better understanding of the sonnet, I decided to analyse it and pick out the important features. I thought that I could then use this to add to my ideas.

The main findings from analysing the poem:

- firstly, the sonnet is actually 12 lines instead of the traditional 14 lines
- it is written in loose iambic tetrameter
- the imperatives give the sonnet a tone of authority
- the lines describing nature have softer, more consoling sounds
- a lot of natural imagery
- the beginning and end of the sonnet are almost parallel
- the voice of the poem is coming from beyond the grave
- tone of comfort and reassurance

How this has inspired my adaptation:

- the iambic tetrameter gives the sonnet a steady rhythm - I think it would be nice to carry over this steady rhythm into my adaptation by including some rhythmic montage. I have an idea of following characters so it would be quite effective to time this to some non dietetic music.

- because of the tone of authority, I would like my main character to be commanding (even if it isn't in an obvious way). In my developed project proposal, I would now like to have two characters (a boyfriend and a girlfriend) one of which has passed away (the girlfriend). She will then entice / pull the other character through different locations - she has control over him.

- I want to include a lot of imagery and sounds of nature - the majority of the settings for my adaptation will be out in nature and will take inspiration from the imagery described in the sonnet.

- I would like the beginning and end to be parallel to mirror the sonnet. This could mean starting and ending in the same location e.g. the country lane.


Analysing and picking apart the sonnet has definitely helped me to develop my ideas. My first project proposal was very vague and didn't have a lot of direction or a narrative structure. However, after analysing the sonnet, I feel I have come up with a clearer narrative arc which is inspired by the sonnet but isn't too 'on the nose'.

FICTION ADAPTATION: Experimental Short (Despair) Feedback

The feedback for my short experimental sequence was generally very positive.

The sound design was quite strong - it helped to convey the story without narrating it. It gives context as to why the character is in despair and also helps to enhance the emotion in the piece.

The upside down sequence works well to throw the audience. It helps to convey that his world has been turned upside down. It could work well as a motif.

The different opacity shots worked well - helped create the confused / dazed / despair feeling.

The colour of the sequence worked well - the blue tone helped to suggest despair.

FICTION ADAPTATION: Project Proposal Feedback

Today Mike provided me with some feedback for my project proposal:

The main advice was to find a clearer structure / narrative as at the moment there is no narrative - just a series of shots. The shots I have thought of will work well if there is a story to link them together.

Finding a narrative - is the character on a journey? Are we following them? Why are we following them?

At the moment it feels like the poem is being used for exposition which is not the idea - the idea is to use the poem for inspiration and adapt it into a visual narrative. This was not my intention but I can see how my proposal suggested I would use the poem for exposition.

My main idea that I wanted to stick with was that I wanted to follow a character who has actually passed away - my idea was to show them being present and absent from the same shot and flicker between them using different opacity. Mike liked this idea and suggested further ways I could show my character being absent - e.g. showing them with no reflection in a window or in a puddle or showing the character being obviously ignored.

Mike liked the idea of playing around with different saturations of shots, I will retain this in my developed project proposal.

I think I have a good idea of what visual qualities I would like my adaptation to possess but I haven't given enough thought to the narrative.

Following Mike's advice I will:
- form a clearer narrative
- figure out the character's journey
- perhaps bring in another character (so that I can show my deceased character being ignored)
- think about what camera movements and experimental techniques I can use in my project

FICTION ADAPTATION: Experimental Short - Despair

Mike gave us the task of developing a short 2-3 minute experimental film which explored one of the following themes:
- fear
- hope
- despair
- joy

The task was to shoot original footage inspired by the camera movement workshop and the experimental workshop about montage and the illusion of movement. The theme we choose should compliment our chosen sonnet.

As I chose the sonnet: Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep, I decided to explore the theme of despair and how camera movement can convey this feeling.

In order to convey despair I wanted to explore the following camera movements:
- tracking back (tracking away from a subject to make them more isolated within the frame)
- tracking forwards (tracking towards a subject to show emotion)
- close up shots (showing emotion)

As well as exploring these shots I also wanted to play with:
- saturation - this is a technique I am currently considering in order to convey despair / sadness in my project. I want to start my project with low saturation and increase the saturation during the film. I attempted this in my experimental short film, however, I feel I made it so subtle that it didn't come across
- colour - colour plays a big part in my project. I want to focus on contrasting colours such as orange and purple or blues and pinks. I gave a blue tone to my short film about despair.
- opacity - I plan to play with layering different opacities in my project - I wanted to experiment with this in this short experimental film to make sure it works as a technique.

I feel I managed to capture the emotion of despair quite well - here is the short experimental sequence:

FICTION ADAPTATION: Project Proposal

Whilst I don't have a sold idea with a clear narrative yet, I have had some ideas about how I would like my project to look and some certain techniques I would like to include. 

My interpretation of the sonnet:

The reader of the poem has passed away yet they are still present in all the things / activities they used to enjoy. Therefore I want to bring this across in my piece by showing my ‘reader’ / model present in these situations then absent from these situations. However, I want to keep the mood and movement the same between these present and absent shots to show that the person is still present in these situations. 

I want to start with slow, desaturated shots and then build up to more saturated, faster shots showing the character present in these situations. 

Vision Statement 

• Contrast between happy and sad - colour and desaturated colour - movement and stillness
• Start on medium shot of model sitting on stool in large open space - then start tracking out (colour quite desaturated, music building)
• Cut match on action shot to single object taking up the same amount of frame as the model was (i.e. a flower alone in a field - keep tracking out, slow pace)
• Another match on action cut to a different single object in open space - keep tracking out
• Cut to following model through alley - colour more saturated
• Transition by layering same shot in different opacity but without the model 
• Keep moving through alley without model
• Cut to model in another situation
• Transition again my layering same shot in different opacity without model
• Do similar thing in a couple of different scenarios??
• Closing shot parallel to beginning shot but colour saturated this time

Cast

Young girl who has passed away - we are following her

Ellie - used her in my directions unit so I know she works well in front of the camera

FICTION ADAPTATION: Illusion of Movement

In the second part of today's lecture we looked further into experimental film making by exploring the illusion of movement.

Animation - the technique of photographing successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence. 

Eadweard Muybridge

In 1878 Muybridge set out to discover whether a horse becomes fully airborne when it trots or gallops. Muybridge developed a way to take photos with an exposure lasting a fraction of a second and arrange 12 cameras along a track. As the horse galloped by, it tripped on wires connected to the cameras causing them to fire in rapid succession. Muybridge found that the horse does become completely airborne as well as discovering an early stop motion technique which was an early form of animation.
http://100photos.time.com/photos/eadweard-muybridge-horse-in-motion

Thaumatrope

A thaumatrope is a small disc held by strings on opposite sides of its shape. An image is drawn on each side. When the disc is spun, the two images appear to become superimposed. Although it does not produce animated scenes, it relies on the persistence of vision principles that other optical toys use to create illusions of motion.

A thaumatrope is a small disc, held on opposite sides of its circumference by pieces of string.  An image is drawn on each side of the disc, and is selected in such a way that when the disc is spun, the two images appear to become superimposed.  To spin the disc, one string is held in a hand, and the disc is rotated to wind the string.  Then, both strings are held, and the disc is allowed to rotate. Gently stretching the strings will ensure that they continue to unwind and rewind.  This motion causes the disc to rotate, first in one direction and then in the opposite.  The faster the disc rotates, the greater the clarity of the illusion.

'Persistence of vision is the eye's ability to retain an image for roughly 1/20 of a second after the object is gone. In this case, the eye continues to see the two images on either side of the thaumatrope shortly after each has disappeared.  As the thaumatrope spins, the series of quick flashes is interpreted as one continuous image.'

http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit06.htm

Flick Book

A flip book is a collection of combined pictures intended to be flipped over to give the illusion of movement and create an animated sequence from a simple small book without machine.

http://www.flipbook.info/history.php

Zoetrope

A zoetrope is a device that produces the illusion of motion from a rapid succession of static pictures.

The zoetrope consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images from a set of sequenced pictures. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits at the pictures across. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, and the user sees a rapid succession of images, producing the illusion of motion.

http://zoetrope.org/zoetrope-history

Rotoscoping

Rotoscoping is the process of drawing animation over live-action film.
Max and Dave Fleischer invented the process in 1915 to animate Koko the Clown of their Out of the Inkwell series. Rotoscoping has been used lightly (to create realistic movements for otherwise stylized characters) and heavily (nearly tracing an entire actor's movements, form, and facial expressions).

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Rotoscoping

On top of this, we watched some short videos displaying the use of experimental techniques:

Taking inspiration from the final video, I decided to experiment with a stop motion contra zoom type of shot. I set up the camera to be eye level. I then took a photo of my subject Alex. After each photo I zoomed out a little and moved the camera forward a bit. I like the effect I achieved, however, I ran out of how far I could zoom out as I didn't zoom in all the way to begin with. I am keep to try this method again as I liked the effect it gave and seemed like a much simpler way to achieve a contra zoom effect that actually doing the contra zoom whilst filming live action.

FICTION ADAPTATION: Soviet Montage

Soviet Montage:

Kuleshov Effect - audience creating meaning out of 2 shots put together

Discontinuity editing:

Intellectual Montage - the coming together of two things creates a third meaning.

Combining shots that are depicted - single in meaning, neutral in content - into intellectual contexts and series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtnTs90knro

"A series of images can, when correctly composed by the filmmaker and then interpreted by the viewer, produce an abstract concept not strictly present in each of the composite images."
http://offscreen.com/view/eisenstein_intellectual_montage_poststructuralism_and_ideology

Example:

Tonal Montage - put together two or more shots of tonally connected things to build up an impression with a tonal continuity.

"Relies predominantly on the emotional integrity of the shot. Tonal Montage draws from the same thread for one sequence, creating one whole emotional tone throughout the sequence. " - http://limitedfuss.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/editing-tonal-montage-eisenstein.html

Cutting according to the emotional tone of the piece. Tone = any visual or aural characteristic that two different shots could share in common.
E.g. In The Revenant character's warm breath in the cold atmosphere creates a fog. Then cuts to foggy atmosphere. Shots have the same tone.
Can also use geographical tonality, light tonality, aural tonality etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtnTs90knro

A tonal montage uses the emotional meaning of the shots. Not just manipulating the temporal length of the cuts or its rhythmical characteristics. The point of this is to elicit a reaction that is more complex than Rhythmic and Metric.
http://veracity24.tumblr.com/post/39686928799


Metric Montage - a constant duration - the shots are a certain length e.g. shower scene in Psycho

Cutting according to exact measurement; irregardless of content.
Eisenstein sites the patriotic demonstration in The End of St Petersberg as an example - the cuts are made irregardless of the individual content but rather to create a sense of chaos with the gun fire and explosions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtnTs90knro

Where the editing follows a specific number of frames, this is based purely on the physical nature of time, cutting to the next shot no matter what is happening within the image. The reason for this is to get an emotional reaction from the audience.
http://veracity24.tumblr.com/post/39686928799


Rhythmic Montage - cutting to music is an example of rhythmic montage.
Also referred to as continuity editing. Cutting according to the content of the shots.

The physical length of each shot may suggest a rhythm or pattern to the montage; however, the tempo of the action within the frame should also be considered. The rhythm of the montage may conflict with the rhythm of movement within the frame, hence generating tension. 

An example of rhythmic montage is the famous 'Odessa steps sequence' in The Battleship Potemkin (1925). This particular sequence is of a baby carriage rolling down a series of stairs in the midst of warfare. The sound of soldiers marching and gunpowder filled the air and there was nothing anybody could do to stop the carriage. The duration of each shot created tension along with the unsynchronized marching of the soldiers' feet. 
http://limitedfuss.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/editing-rhythmic-montage-eisenstein.html

 The cutting happens for the sake of continuity. This creates visual continuity but it may also be used in order to keep with the pace of the film. 
http://veracity24.tumblr.com/post/39686928799

Example:

Overtonal Montage - a combination of tonal, metric and rhythmic montage.

Cutting according to the various tones and overtones of the shots.
"From the moment that overtones can be heard parallel with the basic sound, there also can be sensed vibrations, oscillations that cease to impress as tones, but rather as purely physical displacements of the perceived impression." - S. Eisenstein.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtnTs90knro

An accumulation of metric, rhythmic, and tonal montage to synthesise its effect on the audience for an even more abstract and complicated effect.
http://veracity24.tumblr.com/post/39686928799


This video sets out examples of all the different kinds of montage: