FICTION ADAPTATION: New Project Proposal

Following Mike's feedback from my original project proposal, I decided to give more thought to a narrative for my adaptation. I came up with a new project proposal which retained some features of my original proposal (e.g. the flickering shots) but this time I put more thought into a narrative arc.

My New Proposal:

Interpretation:

The poem is about comfort in the time of loss. The voice of the poem has passed away and is telling the reader / their loved one that they are still present in all things around them. I will show this by showing the character being present in different surroundings (inspired by the poem - so ‘a thousand winds that blow’ will be portrayed as a windy open field & ‘sunlight on ripened grain’ will be portrayed as sunlight flickering through a wooded area). I want to briefly show the characters together at the end to show that they are both still together although one is not there in physical body, and then flicker the shot so that the deceased is no longer there in body.

Summary:

James is waiting for his girlfriend Ellie to come home so they can go out for a meal /
date / lunch date. She leaves him a voicemail to say she’s running a bit late but quite a bit of time passes and she’s still not home. James becomes concerned and heads down the lanes that Ellie usually drives down to find there’s been a car accident, he drops the flowers he had for the date. Cut to James looking distressed and looking at pictures of Ellie. A flower is posted through the door, the same kind that James dropped at the scene of the accident. He opens the door to find a trail of flowers. He follows the trail to find a girl dropping the flowers. It is Ellie. He follows her through different locations and she flickers between being present and absent from the shots. He loses her, he begins to look around. An arm links through his, it’s Ellie, they walk off, she flickers to being absent from the shot.

Beginning:

Start with black screen - just audio - Ellie (girlfriend) leaving a voicemail - “oh, hi love, its me, running a bit late, traffic’s mad, did you want me to meet you at the restaurant or actually no, I’ll text you when I’m coming down the lanes okay”

Cut to shot of boyfriend James’ eyes - then to the clock - then to eyes looking concerned - then to the clock - couple more shots of clock to show time passing

Cut to quick montage - tie up shoes - straighten tie - grab flowers - lock door

Cut to James walking down lanes towards camera - few shots of this - on final shot, James stops with blank expression on face - blue flashing lights reflecting on his face - flowers drop to the floor - cut to black

Middle:

Cut to James looking at photos of Ellie with distressed expression on face - quick cuts fading to black showing his distress

Sound of post through the door

There is a flower (the same kind that James dropped at the scene of the accident) - flicker back to clip of James dropping flowers - then flicker back to flower on the doormat

James opens the door to see a trail of flowers - track / pan to show trail

James begins to follow the trail to find where it leads

After following it for a couple of scenes - he sees a girl in the distance walking and dropping the flowers - she looks over her shoulder - it is Ellie

He follows her - she is showing him that she is still present in all these surroundings even if she is not there in body

We follow her through a couple of different locations (showing different aspects of nature e.g. a wooded area, an open field area, a country lane) she flickers between being present and absent from these shots

James loses her - he looks around, confused

End:

An arm links through his - he looks to the side - it’s Ellie - they walk (we observe from a long shot) she then flickers to being absent from the shot.