FICTION ADAPTATION: Project Evaluation

The Production Process:

Upon our introduction to the unit, we were set the task of adapting a haiku into a short sequence using stock footage. The aim of this was to get us used to the idea of adapting a literary source into a visual medium. We could interpret the haiku literally or use it as a sort of metaphor for something else instead - I decided to interpret the haiku literally as I struggled to find a stock footage to form a metaphorical sequence. This task was very useful as it acted as a smaller scale version of what of our sonnet adaptations. From this I learnt skills such as; picking apart literacy to find imagery, looking for deeper meaning (rather than taking everything very on the nose) and seeing how a piece of text could transfer to a visual sequence on screen.

Our next session involved a camera movement workshop where we were able to get our hands on the DSLRs and different bits of kit (track and dolly, jib and fig rig) to experiment with how different camera movements can convey different things. I found this session extremely helpful as it helped me to think about which movements I wanted to use in my adaptation to convey the sombre yet comforting tones portrayed through my chosen sonnet; Do not stand at my grave and weep. Following this session, we then had to come up with a short experimental sequence portraying one of four given emotions, I chose despair. To portray the feeling of despair I decided to use tracking in shots to reveal the character's emotion, tracking out shots to isolate the subject within the frame, close up shots to again reveal emotion and I also coloured the footage in editing to have a blue / purple tone. I used this task to experiment with ideas that I wanted to include in my final adaptation as I wanted to ensure they would work to convey the sombre atmosphere. I also experimented with flickering the image in the editing process as this was to be a big feature of my final adaptation. I discovered that all the techniques I wanted to use (such as blue colour grading and flickering the images) worked exactly how I wanted them to, giving me confidence that they would also work in my final adaptation.

We also had a lecture about 'the illusion of movement' which featured techniques such as stop motion and hyper lapse. I put the contra zoom / stop motion technique to the test and liked the effect, however, I decided it would not be a technique that I would be using in my adaptation (although I am keeping my mind open to using it in future projects). We also had a lecture on montage - something I was keen to use in my adaptation. Out of all the montage techniques, I ended up using some intellectual montage and some metric montage for the scene where my character James is in the house. Overall, these lectures were very helpful in giving ideas of different experimental techniques that could then be used in the final adaptation piece.

Whilst these workshops were taking place, I was working on my project proposal. Looking back at it, my first project proposal was very weak. I think this was mainly due to being unsure what exactly I was meant to be coming up with. I was unsure whether we were just using the sonnet as inspiration or if we had to create something that directly related to / displayed the poem. I had only come up with a few different types of shots I wanted to use and not really put them into any form of narrative structure. Following the feedback with Mike, I was able to form a more solid project proposal that included a proper narrative structure as well as the type of shots I wanted to use to achieve the mood and atmosphere I set out to create (a slightly sombre atmosphere which would be conveyed through blue colour grading but with a comforting tone which would be achieved mainly through the prop the warm orange flowers).

Finding actors has always been something I have struggled with in the past, however, for this project it didn't seem to be an issue. I contacted the actress I used in my directions unit last year and she was more than happy to be involved. That just left me to find the male actor which was also no problem at all. My locations were quite easy to find as they were mainly all out in nature, so all I had to do was find a countryside location. The more complicated piece of my pre production was working out the visual design element. I wanted colour to be a really important aspect of my adaptation so I therefore had to do a lot of research into it in order to work out how to create the specific look I envisioned.

Once all of the pre production elements were out of the way, all I had left to do was to shoot and edit the project. I made sure I had a very detailed shot list in order to make the shoot days as efficient as possible. I also didn't have a lot of time with my actress on the first shoot day as she was only available for a few hours. We stuck closely to the shot list and also had a bit of time to get some extra shots which actually proved to be very handy in the edit. After the first shoot day, I updated my notes / shot list to be more specific so that the second shoot day would go even more smoothly (which it did). I knew exactly which shots I wanted so I was able to focus more on the look of the shot than the content (as I already knew exactly what I wanted the content of each shot to be and where exactly it would take place). I think the raw colouring of the footage I took on the second day was a lot better than the raw colouring of the footage from the first day as I was tight for time. However, this was all smoothed out and matched up in the edit.

The editing was probably my favourite part of the whole process as this really allowed me to be experimental with the work. I am really happy with the colour grading I did on the footage and am also very pleased with how the flickering shots turned out. I was worried that the footage I shot with and without Ellie in in each location wouldn't match up but it turned out fine - in future, to ensure the footage matches up even better I could use a fig rig. The longest part of the editing process was the sound design. I knew I wanted to have a lot of natural sounds when the characters are out in the natural locations so I had to make sure this was on point. I also had to match up footstep sounds with every step each character took (which was a lot of work considering my whole piece is about one character following the other through different locations). I feel that the natural sounds do get a little washed out by the background music but if I increased them any more then the audio became a little distorted. If I had more time I would have worked more on this aspect of the sound design to find a way of increasing the volume of the nature sounds without them becoming distorted.

Overall, I am happy with how my project turned out. I feel that my narrative works well to display the themes of the sonnet as well as having its own original feel.

What worked?

- Before shooting my project, I did a lot of pre production. This really helped when it came to my shoot days as I knew exactly what shots I wanted to capture and then what order I would piece them together in when it came to editing. This meant that the shoot days and editing process were as efficient as possible. I created a mood board featuring the style and colour of the images I wanted my footage to have and also a shot list detailing every shot I needed.

- I feel like the colour grading of my project was strong. I set out the visual design I wanted to achieve in my project proposals and in my mood board. I wanted to focus on contrasting colours - specifically blue / purple and orange / pink. To achieve this look, I filmed all my raw footage with quite a low contrast flat look. This then meant that colour grading was a lot easier as it gave me a lot more room to play around with and add contrast and colours.

- The flickering shots had the look I wanted to achieve. I feel that they work well to suggest that my character is both present and absent from those settings - present in spirit but absent in body. I did this by filming the footage with Ellie in it and then filming the exact same scenes without her and then layered them in editing, adjusting the opacity for the shots. I feel that the flicker effect is strengthen by the static sound I added.

- The camera movement worked well. I feel like I was able to create the feeling that James is following Ellie through these locations - I do not think that the piece would be as effective if the footage was all static and still. I also really like the slight tracking out at the end of the piece to isolate James in the frame and showing that he is without Ellie in body whilst the music shows that she is there in spirit.

- I think my actors performed well and the locations were great. Both actors were good at following direction and also adding their own input into the project. The locations were exactly how I imagined them, I was able to find natural locations all very close in proximity to each other which made the shoot very smooth.

- I feel that I managed to clearly portray my narrative through the footage and edit. I was afraid that my narrative was too complex and that the audience would get lost, however, it is clear there has been an accident and that she has passed away. The sequences where James is following Ellie allow for questions as to why she's there and then the flickering provides further intrigue and begins to suggest that she isn't really there in body. I feel that I have successfully adapted the sonnet into something of my own whilst retaining many of the themes that run through it.

What didn't work?

- Whilst I do think my scheduling was good, I did feel a bit tight for time with my actress. I only had a few hours to shoot with her which meant we had to stick almost exactly to the shot list. We did have a bit of extra time to get some additional footage but I would have liked to capture more so that I had more to experiment with.

- A couple of the shot with Ellie were slightly over exposed - this wasn't a massive problem as I was able to resolve this in the editing but I feel that this reduced the amount I was able to play around with the image as I had to first match it to the other shots before I could adapt it further. It did, however, work well to remind me to check the exposure of each shot on the shoot day I did with James. I was able to learn from this error.

- I feel that the reflections of the sirens on James' face at the scene of the accident are not completely convincing and therefore remove some of the dramatic impact of the shot. I think if I had more time then I would have been able to play around with the colours, scale, opacity and blending of the sirens a little more to make them more realistic. I did try to overcome this problem with the sound design. I added the sound of sirens which increased in volume as James got closer to the scene of the accident. I also added a high pitch ringing sound to suggest the impact that the accident has had on the character. I feel these aspects of this scene work well, I just think the visual aspect of the sirens could have been improved.

- Due to the lack of verbal narrative / dialogue, my piece lacks peaks and troughs. Although it is possible to form peaks and troughs in a purely visual narrative, it is more difficult than when you have a verbal narrative as well. I could have spent a little more time coming up with my narrative and thought of a couple more events to happen - rather than it being a simple 'event - chase - resolution' sort of structure.

- I feel that my sound design could have been better. Like my narrative, there are not many peaks and troughs in the music. I did attempt to resolve this issue by dipping the music down almost to silence when James loses Ellie in the lane, but I feel there could have been more moments where the sound design differed. I also feel like the natural and atmospheric sounds got a little lost amongst the background music, however, I couldn't increase the volume without distorting the sounds. I feel that if I had more time I could have discovered a way to do this and therefore increased the quality of my sound design.

What did I learn?

- I have learnt how to interpret a sonnet and analyse it for imagery to inspire my own work. I feel that I could have been more abstract in my interpretation but I do like the narrative I ended up forming. I feel that analysing the imagery really helped in choosing where to set my narrative and also what themes there should be in it. Because of all the natural descriptions in the sonnet, I decided to revolve my narrative heavily around nature.

- I have learnt how to experiment with different techniques. I have not really been confident using moving shots in the past but now feel like I have increased my confidence in this area. I also learnt that experiments do not always work out but that it is better to try and fail rather than never trying at all (a small example being: I tried to add titles at the end of my project to reinforce the narrative but it ended up looking odd. Instead I added a credit at the end saying where the film was adapted from. I feel this has the same impact as having the titles would have and fits in better.)

- I have learnt that pre production is key to a smooth shoot. I did a lot of work in the pre production stage to make sure I knew exactly what I wanted to capture. Although I did run into a couple of issues during the shoot, I hate to think how much worse these would have been with less preparation.

- I have also learnt how essential camera movement is - it helps to draw in the audience and add to the narrative. I feel that my piece would have been very stagnant and boring if the camera just stayed still. With the inclusion of the tracking shots I used to follow the characters through different locations, I feel that my piece is a lot more enticing and effective in conveying the mood and emotion within the narrative.

What could I develop?

- In future I could develop my narrative further so that there are more peaks and troughs in the structure. There should be more obstacles for the characters to face. My project was very linear and only seemed to follow one sort of story. More peaks and troughs in the sound design could also help this aspect of the production.

- In future I should ensure my characters' eye lines match up. This was quite an annoying and easily avoidable mistake which I didn't account for in pre production. In future, if I have a lot of shots where characters are looking at one another (but the other is out of shot) I should always consider where exactly there eye line should be.

- In future I need to leave enough time for the sound design as I didn't realise how time consuming this would be. My scheduling for the pre production and the majority of the production was good but was a little weaker in post production. In future, I will not leave the sound design to last and priorities this in the edit.

- I would now like to try using similar techniques with one of the panasonic cameras so that I can improve the visual quality of my work. Whilst using the DSLR worked well for this and we had been using them in the workshops leading up to production, I feel like a panasonic camera would give the film a more cinematic quality with a higher quality picture. Now that I have experimented with the specific techniques (i.e. layering opacity, colour grading etc.) I would like to implement them whilst using a higher quality camera like the panasonics.

Conclusion:

I have really enjoyed this unit. At first it seemed daunting as I do often struggle to come up with an idea, but after analysing my sonnet and doing some research into it I was able to form a good narrative. I feel that my narrative could have been stronger and should have had more peaks and dips with different events occurring, but I still feel it worked well to convey the feeling of the sonnet. I am pleased with my pre production skills, I feel that I managed to prepare everything very precisely which enabled the shoot days to be very smooth and efficient. I am pleased with the colour grading I performed on the footage and the rest of the edit in general. I feel that I have really developed my editing skills which will come in handy for future projects. I also feel that this project has increased my confidence and encouraged me to try different techniques that I wouldn't normally consider. It has made me realise that there are plenty of opportunities to be creative if you step outside of your comfort zone.