Fiction Adaptation - Critical Evaluation

Having come to the end of our first term being back at university, i can honestly say i've absorbed a variety of technical an theoretical attributes that have contributed massively to the final piece of this unit. 

   
Pre-production
What worked and i was later thankful to myself for, was my preparation on my shoot days in terms of planning out a storyboard and having a shot list. This kept structure throughout the day and sped up the process of actually filming. I felt organised throughout the entirety of pre-production, and once i got my concept i found it natural in what direction i was going with it. 
Initially the concept was a bit frail and didn't have much of an arc, but with persistence and finding that running theme, i was able to attach another layer to it which created within it a subtle narrative. 
I feel some things could of gone better in the preparations, possibly doing more research on the poem, so that i'd have a much more greater understanding as that is absolutely pivotal in an adaptation of anything, to know 100% what the source material is trying to convey and its origins. 
At the end of it though, looking back, i'm content with how i managed my time and prepped shoot days, i've taken a lot away from this experience.


Production
All the shoot days went relatively smooth, i was extremely happy with the footage i recorded and how efficient i was gathering it all. It was definitely due to the work put in beforehand with all of the preparation achieved which set the tone really for the rest of my production, in terms of being ready and set. 
However there is still always room for improve and i feel that if i was that little bit more prepared, i could of actually filmed on just one day instead of over two. I think this could of easily been accomplished if i would of prepped just that little bit more and if i gave the weather a bit more attention. I lacked general common sense of the first shoot day as i completely forgot the sun setting stupidly early and lost precious time because of that. Also, even though i was able to get some great looking shots, i still need to refine my skills with the Panasonic DVX 200s. They're great cameras but i still don't fell 100% comfortable with one of them, so maybe i need to take one out in my spare time and have a play around. 
Again, there're things that what i set out to achieve, had been, but on the whole i can see looking back now that there is still a lot more learning to be done in terms on theory and practical.


Post-production
The edit was the part i was dreading, i knew it was going to be the sound that would make or break the video and to find juxtaposing sound designs that worked was going to take me some time. What i also wanted to try and incorporate into it was some style of soviet montage editing, i was thinking intellectual, or possibly some rhythmic as well. I'm not sure if i captured it but the scene where i cut from the water drop to a drop of water splashing on the leaf with a huge 'bang', was my attempt at the rhythmic montage, i'm not too convinced i had achieved it. I was happy with the general flow, but i appreciate the feedback off Mike in that there was a kind of lack of cohesiveness, however i felt the awkwardness of a mishmash of shots quite useful for the narrative especially in the middle section of my film. 

I'm still not sure on the end sequence, the quotes from the poem, i'm not sure if it ruins the entirety of it as it doesn't really fit my aesthetic that i was going for, or just that its an exposition of the poem which i really wanted to steer clear of in the first place. 

The conflicting noises were also a risk but i felt my reasoning behind it justified the decision, i felt the ambulance sirens definitely had more of the desired effect i wanted than the gun shots. I was happy with the flow of the heartbeat throughout as i felt that carried the piece in a slow progression towards the end very harmoniously. 

Obviously there were a few issues with the edit and i didn't really give myself a lot of time as the trip to Manchester didn't allow me so. I feel looking back on the finished edit, with that extra time, maybe look more into the sound design of the piece, focus more on that. To also make think more about the composition's cohesiveness, fluidity and shot selection. 

Overall though i am pleased and pleasantly surprised with how the finished edit has turned out. I can say for the first time that i'm actually kind of satisfied with myself in terms of the work that has been produced. 

What have i learnt
There were some effects utilised that i've never actually used before e.g the mirror tool, manipulating that was very satisfying an especially with the result i got out of it. 
I've also became more aware of how important time management is, and how costly it can be, so going forward i know now that preparation is the key to success. 

Having a small kind of understanding of soviet montage editing from last year, i felt it was vital to look over those editing methods again as they have useful ways in evoking emotional responses. You can create tones an emotions with what you place next to a certain image and i did try to project that into my work, but i'm not fully convinced it worked. 


What skills could be developed
There are a ton of things that could be further developed, i want to be 100% comfortable with the cameras, i want to use the lighting equipment more to be able to use them to convey contrasting emotions an evoke responses. Also throughout the majority of my composition there wasn't a great deal of camera movement and i know how effective it can be, in terms what the emotional response it can create, unfortunately i just couldn't carry back all the equipment plus a dolly to Manchester. I think as well, i possibly need to begin to start putting money into my projects, to fork out for taxis so i can get all the equipment i need to actually carry out what i had initially planned to.

Conclusion
Overall at the start of this unit i was apprehensive and unsure what to make of all the sonnets, i felt isolated and had a serious lack of creativity flowing in the cognitions. Though as the weeks progressed and research began it became apparent pretty quickly that i had a concept that would allow me to be creative and still have a subtle structure to it. I'm pleasantly surprised with how it has ended and i'll have a lot to take away from this unit in terms of all the production aspects. 

Fiction Adaptation - Critical choices & why

I just wanted to create a post which would shed light on some of the decision making and my cognition's on a variety of aspects that i feel may not get a mention otherwise. 

Sound design -
At the half way mark of my film i decide to incorporate sounds that i would associate with life and death, the passing of life especially, reasoning for this is simple, the poem speaks innately about life and the mourning of people dying and that we're not to linger on it. with the sound and visuals, I wanted it to be shocking and conflicting, to play on that fear as it adds a greater depth of layers an sophistication. 

Visual display - 
In essence to me the poem is about life, the remnants of the dead with the living and the dead transforming into something fresh and reborn. That is why reincarnation is themed visually throughout with the ice melting sequence. I tried to convey how life is cyclical with it but i'm not too sure if the audience will grasp it as it is quite obscure. I feel for what my concept was, i have displayed what i set out to achieve, but maybe some people won't be able to see link the creative metaphor with the poem as they're not open minded to the abstractness of the piece? 

Inspiration - 
A film that i had seen fairly recently, Mother, by Darren Aronofsky, left a profound feeling deep inside of me. The films biblical themes, and its usage of symbolism throughout the narrative was extremely engaging and breathtaking. 

The film popped up in my mind when i knew the theme of my poem, and the interpretation of it, as Mother is about mother nature, which just keeps giving, even know man kind keeps repeatedly destroying it, eventually killing it, it gives new life, and the cycle begins again. I intended to try and start and end with the same shot, how the film does, as it conveys the message so beautifully how cyclical the world is, unfortunately though i couldn't justify starting off with the ice cube melting as i felt it would make the structure of the narrative less powerful. 


Editing -
I was in two minds in regards to having the burning furnace sound coinciding with the flames visually, or to have it running with the ice. But in the end i decided to go with the burning sound under the flames to add emphasis on the heat, an to keep the authenticity.  

The final shot of the red robin leaving was intentional, as this is the last time we see the bird i felt it was significant due to the poems direction towards the end of it, it goes from these beautiful visuals, to an authoritative tone, so i cut in the heartbeat soundtrack which contrasts nicely with the imagery.

The end sequence with the mirror effect was chosen to signify life and death, life being represented by the shot facing upwards, and death, by the shot turned by 180 degrees. I wanted to play with the theme throughout, and that essence of remaining, just not being able to see. 

Fiction Adaptation - Film/Rough Cut Feedback

FEEDBACK FROM MIKE -

- Fits the brief, is experimental. Ice works well, the jump cuts are effective. 

- Think more about the sound design. 

- Think more about bringing it back to the poem? Possibly add titles at the end. 

- LINK BACK TO THE POEM

- Currently it is ' an inspired piece by the poem, not a true adaptation. ' However I can change that by adding titles. 

- Make it more cohesive, give it a natural flow by using the imagery and sound creatively.

Overall the feedback was positive, with the main focus being on the sound design and its development. I now need to think more about what will fit the piece and add to the cohesiveness of the visuals and the accompanying sound. 

I did have some concerns about the ice shot, as i felt the jump cuts didn't quite fit naturally, however mike liked the juxtaposition of the fire and ice. One issue regarding the opening fire scene was its duration, so i'll think about possibly shortening it, as looking back it does drag quite a bit. 

Now its just about giving it the final few tweaks, at the end especially. 

Fiction Adaptation - First rough cut

Here is my rough cut, now what needs more concentration and time is the sound design on the sequence, especially towards the end of the film.

Feedback was took on and implemented immediately, its just a case of figuring out how it can be achieved effectively. 

(Don't stand at my grave and weep)

What worked - 
The initial concept was to have a theme of reincarnation throughout it, which is displayed through the ice melting sub-narrative. I wasn't too sure if it working but after being viewed by Mike he felt it had achieved what it had set out to. 
A fair amount of content conveying the main chunk of the poem, i.e the beautiful locations, landscapes and nature itself was captured quite successfully so i was pleased about that. 


What didn't work - 
I still don't really think the narrative that i was going for really ever progressed distinctively enough, in hindsight maybe i could of been less obscure and brought in a character to really play on the loss/passing of a human. As well as this i think i included too much imagery, for what my narrative was, possibly it worked, but 


What can be improved - 
All the sound needs to be refined and looked at with more detail an scrutiny. I want to have more contrasting sounds and visuals, keeping the juxtaposition theme running throughout as i'm playing with two extremely powerful topics, life and death. 


What needs to be the focus - 
Sound and minor continuity editing issues. See how i can improve the sound and fill the spaces appropriately.

Fiction Adaptation - Shooting

Prepping of shoots -
Knowing that i had from the 28th - 4th (Nov - Dec) to gather all of my footage was kind of daunting as after those dates i knew that whatever footage i did have, would have to do me for the edit. I looked into the weather during the week in Manchester and there was only one day with fairly decent weather so i planned with my partner a rushed time schedule of what time we'd get out there and begin filming. we knew roughly our primary location, it was situated in a large field, called turn moss meadows, and from there we would then venture down to the river Mersey to acquire some more shots. We had no actual idea of how the weather would really turn out so we wrapped up for all terrains. There was also quite a physical challenge taken on by myself before all of this was to begin, that was carrying the camera bag, tripod, and my large rucksack back with me from Maidstone to Manchester. Having to get the underground with that amount of stuff should be illegal, but i can safely say i did it, an also safely say i'll never be doing that again. 


Manchester
Shoot day 1 - 
This day actually fell quite short of what i thought i'd be able to achieve simply down to time management. I had spent the morning preparing and wanted to leave for 12pm, however my partner wasn't ready due to miscommunication and we ended up leaving to shoot at around 2pm. This left us with little time as we had to actually walk to our location from the house which was a time consuming 35 minute walk, by this time you could already see the colours in the sky changing and the sun sinking away into the abyss. My heart was sinking as the weather report gave me one clear day and it was running away from me so we set up shot in a nearby location with similar natural surroundings to speed the process up. So we got to the location and now we needed to set off the smoke bombs which were no way near as straight forward as they should of been. The smoke bombs needed fire to ignite them and a lot of it. I was sat with one for 10 minutes atleast with a lighter underneath it, in the mean time the weathers temperature is dropping and so is the suns angle. 

(Turn Moss, Stretford, Manchester)

I wanted to get a variety of the smoke bombs being set off so that when i came back to the edit i had a vast amount of differing smoke footage to manipulate. I knew that the more i had, realistically the better off i'll be as it'd give me a greater option to choose from. I was only actually able to get 2 shots on this day and i did begin to worry and anxiety began to build as the weather reports weren't looking hopeful.

Manchester
Shoot day 2 - 
I was extremely lucky as on Friday 1st December, for weather was a blessing! I got on the phone an organised a quick expedition to the same location to gather more footage with my partner. We headed out much earlier, around 12, so had plenty of time in comparison to the other shoot day. I did have a few issues regarding dog walkers, joggers etc, making sure it was secure to set off the smoke bomb, as i didn't want to attract any unwanted attention that could create set backs on the shoot, so i was vigilante and aware of my surroundings at all times. I felt i'd gathered enough smoke bomb footage at around 2pm so we made tracks on the upper level running along side the River Mersey. This is when things just clicked in my head and i knew i need footage of the river running down stream. Also coincidentally when i had my camera out the sky transformed within about 20 minutes of us shooting the river, into a gorgeous orange/crimson delight, an i just had to grab as much footage as i could. 


Maidstone
Shoot day 3 -
This to me was probably the most significant day in terms of the content i gathered. It was a make or break situation as I'd realised after coming back from Manchester that i didn't have the main arc of my subtle narrative, an i needed to shoot something that would represent the themes of reincarnation quickly. Flowers and fruit decaying needed a fair bit of time to achieve a decent aesthetic and feel, so i just went with the ice. Earlier in the day though i knew i needed shots of the night sky, and imagery that would convey new life/beauty in the everyday moments. I was struggling at first for the night shot, as the Panasonic DVX 200s don't deal great in dark spots, however the moon was that bright an orange, an with the zoom that the cameras have, i managed to get quite a nice shot. Then in the morning it began to rain, giving me a beautiful shot of rain drops gradually falling down through the crack of my loft window. It was a very opportunistic moment which i knew had relevance and would be able to be incorporated very easily into the narrative. Knowing it was raining, i had a chance now to grab the 'money' shot, a shot that i had drawn into my storyboard atleast three times, and had been so far, unsuccessful in trying to attain it, this was the leaf shot with water droppings on. Fortunately it was easily accessible and right outside the front door of my house, it took me a while to focus, and as i was fully zoomed in, a breathe of air would judder the camera, so i had to be incredibly still, however it was still relatively shaky. 

(Nearing the night)

It was nearing the night and i only had a few more hours to get the ice sequence shot, so i set up in the basement of my house. Gavin helped me with the tripod as i wanted it lowering to about just above the floor level. I had one light fixed in an upwards position, giving a solid drop to the ice melting. The shot was set and now it was literally just waiting it out and capturing the footage. 

(Ice shot set-up)

Analysis of all shoot days and footage gathered - 

I believe that i prepped a fair amount, but maybe didn't manage my time well enough to carry out the level of preparation that was done. The shoot days in Manchester didn't go as smoothly as the one in Maidstone and i think that came down to fully knowing the ins and outs of my narrative and that became so much clearer when i got back to Maidstone. I knew fully what was needed to be captured on the camera when i arrived in Maidstone and i think that was a result of knowing i didn't gather enough in Manchester which did put the pressure on a little. I think next time i'll have to think more about the structure of my shoot days, prioritise scenes that need a particular setting and lighting, e.g like being outside in an open space. 

I am happy with the majority of footage i acquired, it did make me realise how great these new Panasonic's are also. As well as that, it's definitely got me thinking more about the camera and its vast abilities, which is engaging me to think more about the actual footage i shoot and how it will be perceived and interpreted by the audience. Some things obviously didn't go great, out of 8 smoke bomb shots, i only used two, that was just down to being rushed each time they went off as you were always in a tense limbo, not knowing when they would set alight, but when it did you would never be ready. 

So i think i could definitely improve my patience behind a camera, and i need to take out one of the cameras in my free time and really delve into the vast attributes it holds an absorb as much as i can about it if i do want to get into camerawork. 

Also, not to allow everything to be left last minute, this is in regards to the ice melting sequence, I knew i had a rough idea but i didn't believe it could be achieved so i kept batting it off until i knew it was the only option. If i maybe applied myself to that initial idea in the first place then maybe i would of gave myself more time to enhance that sequence? 

Overall, my shoot days were more of a success then a failure, i wasn't able to capture one of the initial ideas, but i replaced it with a similar visual concept and now in the edit i should have lots of footage to play with. 

  

Fiction Adaptation - Pre-production

I tried to prep and plan as much as I could as from previous shoots I've realised how vital it is to actually know what you're going to do beforehand, as when you turn up to your location, not having a clue or an idea on the structure of the shoot day, you begin the crumble and ultimately lose yourself time shooting, and if its shooting in the day, outside, in autumn, vital sunlight. 

As my concept for the interpretation is based primarily around reincarnation/nature, I wanted to be outside primarily, shooting beautiful close ups, long shots and try my hardest to get some wildlife creatures involved as I feel it could definitely be a really handy cut to emphasize the reincarnation element I was going for. Also it'd be extremely relevant to my poem. 

Plan - 
I knew I had atleast one day with perfect weather, (being in Manchester, I had to take this open window as you don't tend to get many great days) so I planned around that and drawn a storyboard to give me some structure to base myself of. 

(Extremely basic storyboard)

I had a form of a shot list also ready for my first shoot day and a lot of notes to hand but also still allowing for new ideas to come to mind, as the narrative was quite an ambiguous one, i could manipulate and gather footage without any restrictions due to not having a real structured narrative which ultimately gave me peace of mind when i was going to be out on shoot. 

(Another woefully bad storyboard)

I knew i was going to face some challenges along the way, the main one being weather, and also not having any crew members to help me set up shot and just generally assist me on the day. So i had to orchestrate with my girlfriend who was fortunately in Manchester at the same time, with her when she could help me film.  

  

Fiction Adaptation - Actual Narrative

So after discussing quite heavily with Mike some concepts and my proposal, I felt that I didn't really need a character, and wanted to play with the visual aspects more so with this as I felt if I were to throw a character into the mix then it would restrict my creative abilities when it came to shooting. 

I knew though that I had to try and think of some kind of arc, in which atleast a basic narrative could be strung upon and that we all travelled on together, (the audience and the visuals) so that with this I could add lots more creativity into the visual imagery and focus more on that. 

Having spoke about the usage of smoke bombs and what they could signify, I wanted to blend them with another object metaphorically, which would be an indication of the passing and coming of life itself; Ash would be scattered, being captured to fall downwards, and then the smoke would rise, one entering the earth to be engulfed, and one being born into it, releasing itself freely. 

The smoke within the film is representative of many things, life being the main focus, but also as a visual gateway to loop in other key shots, like the flowing water. I wanted a natural, fluid an authentic feel to it as the poem to me comes across with an inherent tone of peacefulness, as its about coming to terms with tragedy.

Also throughout the piece, which was spoken briefly in my proposal, i wanted a running theme which would compliment the focus point which was the passing of life. I felt this kind of got lost through shooting it as I found it hard to grasp a strong concept that I could run with as I really did not want to put in a character. Possibly this was a mistake on my end, but I went with using strong imagery anyway, and continued the theme of the 'cycle of life', I had a few ideas rolling around in my head; flowers dying, fruit decaying, ice cubes melting. Due to practicality reasons and time constraints I went with ice cubes, I felt it captured in essence what I wanted to convey, I just need to make sure in the edit that I can achieve it. 

With the end of the sequence I want there to be some kind of new equilibrium, we've seen the scattered ashes, the dead put back into the earth, we've seen the rise of a potential new life/being with the smoke bomb, now with the ice cube, i'm thinking to reverse all the footage of it melting to take it back to its original form. Again i'm a bit apprehensive to see if this can be achieved effectively, but i'll just have to wait and see.   

THE STRUCTURE OF COMPOSITION/FILM 

BEGINNING - 
The death of life
Signified through the use of the flames and non-diegetic sound played simultaneously together. The fire is a clear indication to the passing of life, later on with the ashes being scattered and allowing that connection to be made from the first shot. 

MIDDLE - 
The beauty of life
Having a variety of extremely visually engaging, natural wildlife shots, i wanted to fill this section with the beauties of the every day life within this environment. This needed to encapsulate briefly some of the things the poem touched on, like the fields, the sun and the birds. I wanted to expand with things that you also associate with these environments and that's why i chose to get coverage of a river, and to bridge the shots of the river and the smoke bomb together for post production purposes. 


END - 
The birth/rebirth of new life/old life remaining
As the on going visual metaphor throughout the film had been the ice melting, which was to represent the inevitable death of a life, I wanted then to reverse the long and lengthy theme which had been shown throughout all of it staggered, to then be reversed rapidly, back to its original form and end it there. This was to indicate how the world is forever cyclical and what you may think has left this world, actually doesn't, it in fact remains, but potentially as something different, or something similar. 

Fiction Adaptation - Montage Editing Workshop

Seeing as i had not attended the Soviet montage workshop, i decided to do a bit of my own research on the topic. I found vast amounts of examples and reading tools on it and so i soaked up a lot. I did try an utilise what i had read an incorporate some of the editing styles into my work. 

I knew briefly what it was about as we had discussed the editing style last year theoretically with Louis Heaton. I love learning about new theories and styles, especially ones that have such a revolutionary impact in film, as this kind of editing definitely did and it changed many aspects of it. 

Soviet montage began roughly around 1917, amidst the Russian uprising against TSAR, the current ruling oppressive power force in Russia at the time (This was also whilst Russia was in complete disarray due to being heavily involved in WW1). 
The moscow film school - found 1919.
Films primary function, to make films in support of the Bolshevik political party, making news reels for propaganda purposes.

This brought about the Kuleshov effect, he began his own workshop, 'The Kuleshov Workshop'. Lenin loved the film 'Tolerance' (1916) an screened it all across Russia, the film was dissected heavily by Kuleshov an his co-workers, and started to reassemble the shots in different ways, to see what effect they had. 

This brought about the Kuleshov Effect - 
' The meaning of film was not only in spatial composition, but in the arrangement of shots.'
He termed the phrase 'Creative geography' meaning film can transcend space and time.

 Then came about Sergei Einstein, he developed Soviet montage through theory. Breaking confines of space and time to make film a unique language in itself. His debut film, Battleship Pometkin, was a huge success due to its editing and themes. He believed montage acted in the same way as a Marxist dialectic which is history being a perpetual context.                                             Synthesis  
                                                Thesis ->     <- Anti-thesis     
                                                     PROPAGANDA

The 5 methods of Montage editing - 

Metric Montage - 
Cutting based purely on the length of the shot. cutting to the beat.

Rhythmic Montage - 
Concerning rhythm of action in the shot, similar to metric, cutting in tempo with the action in the shot.

Tonal Montage - 
No concerned with time, but the tone of the shot. Lighting, shadows, shapes of frame. Cutting inbetween different aesthetics give tones of Marxist dialectic.

Over tonal Montage - 
Combines metric, rhythmic and tonal, an how they play against each other.

The last one, Einstein's favourite
Intellectual or Ideological Montage - 
Where as the previous methods focused on inducing emotional  focused responses, this montage felt to express abstract ideas by creating relationships between opposing visual intellectual concepts. 

Fiction Adaptation - Experimental Film Feedback

As a collective group we watched our experimental films, and gave constructive feedback on them. Each one was different to the last screened and that was very refreshing as everyone had their own identity placed on screen.

(Hope - Experimental Film)

Feedback -

Having watched it back with the class, people initially thought the theme i had picked was Fear, and i can kind of see why. I didn't capture fully what was flowing through my mind at the time in which allowed the piece to develop into something that wasn't my true reflections of the concept i had. 

Mike enjoyed the piece, it had resemblances of Scandinavian TV drama's but ultimately lacked a plot, it felt quite vacuous and i felt that also watching it back.

Working on this project gave me some fresh ideas in terms of camera movement that i could incorporate into my final piece. It allowed me to test out some initial thought processes like the tracking in and out, and playing with just still pictures. It was also a chance taken to use the DSLR, which i found quite straight forward and comforting to use, a very nice camera to work with.  

Fiction Adaptation - Project Proposal

This is my project proposal with brief concepts about the poem and its origins. 

The context of this poem - 

Fry wrote this poem in 1932. She wrote the poem specifically for a young German Jewish girl named Margaret Schwarzkopf who lived with Frye and was worried about her mother who lived in Germany. Frye wrote the poem from the point of view of the girl’s mother in order to give hope and comfort to this young girl who had suffered so much. In 1939, the U.S Congress published her poem for the United Spanish War Veterans Memorial Service. The effect of the poem was monumental. It resonated with every reader who had ever lost a loved one. Thus, Frye became famous through this one small poem written with the intention of comforting a young girl overcome with grief. This poem not only offered comfort to the young girl for whom it was written, but also to millions of readers across the world.

Do not stand at my grave and weep By Mary Elizabeth Frye


Do not stand at my grave and weep:
 I am not there; I do not sleep.
 I am a thousand winds that blow,
 I am the diamond glints on snow,
 I am the sun on ripened grain, 
I am the gentle autumn rain. 
When you awaken in the morning’s hush 
I am the swift uplifting rush
 Of quiet birds in circling flight.
 I am the soft starshine at night.
 Do not stand at my grave and cry:
 I am not there; I did not die.

I got from the poem that life is continuous. 

No static shots.  

I want themes of reincarnation. 

Play with opacity.


My interpretation for this poem is that life in its self is forever in a progressive cycle. Death is not the end, the dead return and accompany the living. It offers relief and comfort to the reader, to overcome emotional obstacles and this would resonate with millions as death is something that everyone can empathise/relate with.  

1905, spent her life as a poet and housewife. Although she is now named among some of the most famous American poets, she never earned a dime for her poetry, and it is this solitary poem which gave her a name among the most renowned American poets. Frye claimed that if she took money for the poem, it would lose it’s value. She also never sought a copyright for the poem, claiming that although she penned the words, the poem was not hers. She claimed that it belonged to the world. 

Play with opacity? Have a lead a male/female, standing in a large open space, particularly a field. 

Fiction Adaptation - Experimental Film

So we were tasked with creating a short 2-3 minute sequence, which explored one of the following themes: Fear, Hope, Despair and Joy, shooting original footage which had been inspired by the camera movement and experimental workshops. 

I chose Hope, I didn't really have a great concept for it but I went with the initial idea and tried to be as abstract as possible. One of the main reasons was due to everyone deciding to pick the theme Fear, which I felt was possibly the easy option, thus resulting in me choosing something against the grain. 

(Experimental Film - Hope)

I'm not sure if what I was going for was captured, but in essence I still think it works as the music with some of the imagery compliments one another. The main concept I was trying to portray was an initial anxiety that Oliver had of the chairs, the chairs were representative of any initial obstacle/negative situation. But through self belief and hope in himself, Oliver was able to overcome the initial doubts that had plagued him. Thus the shots with the lights, signifying the battle and the self belief prevailing, then eventually the shots back to reality (Back in normal lecture room light) with close ups of him smiling. 

It was an intriguing workshop that I took a great deal away from, making me think more about what the movements could actually represent and be depicting. 

Fiction Adaptation - Camera Workshop

In this workshop with Fergus and Mike, we took out all the equipment and the objective of the workshop was to see how much emphasis and emotion can be brought about with the use of camera movement. 

Pieces of equipment used:

Track

Jib

Fig Rig

Handheld

Attempted shots:

Contrazoom

Tracking

Tilt up 

(Camera workshop edit)

I created this short sequence with some of the footage that was curated during the workshop. We tried every kind of shot, utilizing all of the apparatus that was on offer. I personally struggled with the contrazoom shot the most though, I found the challenge of having to focus and zoom out whilst pushing it on the track, hard to master. 

What I felt came out okay-ish was the jib shot, and a small tracking shot. I liked the fluidity the track shot can give, an emphasis on the character that could be derived from it if it was placed in a particular scenario of a narrative. It also obviously gives an extremely professional feel to it on a production level, which would add more to a narrative in every aspect.

Overall it was a productive workshop with many things being taken away and already applied to my own project in respect to my thought process/cognitions of my own poem adaptation.

Fiction Adaptation - Haiku Challenge

In our lecture with Mike, we were briefed on our new project, Fiction Adaptation. With this brief we were given a nice introductory task that would give us some insight into the kind of skills and logic behind the films that we would eventually be creating for this unit.

So we had to create a short 30 second clip from a select list of poems, I chose - Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) - 

My life, - How much more of it remains? The night is brief.

I felt with this, I wanted to go down the route of pollution, life on this planet and the fragility of it. The way in which i tried to portray that was simple, trying to gather clips of factories/industrial landscapes and smoke to capture that sense of pollution/emission into the atmosphere. 

I didn't quite get the footage that was desired, however I still felt it possessed stylistically the themes that were intended to be depicted. 

(Haiku Challenge - Short film)

TV News: Critical Evaluation

These 6 weeks have flown by, to think I was being briefed on what this project was about 6 weeks ago! I can't believe how fast time is going and with that my time at university. So lets begin by reflecting on everything from start to finish. 

I think as with all projects, I tend to have a vast amount of ideas for the beginning of a project, but all generally get found out, and lose their attraction rather quickly as they never really have a strong narrative. So it is hard to get the ball rolling, and coming off the back of a long summer I found it difficult to get straight back into that work mindset.

PRE-PRODUCTION
I felt the workshops, planning and critical discussions we had with Helen & Jo served us brilliantly. The camera & editing workshops were really focused and I felt I gained a lot from them, it gave us new attributes that we were able to implement into our project that we didn't know before. I was really pleased with how we dealt with our initial ideas being dealt a severe blow by Jo & Helen, as everything they said was correct, the initial concept of E-cigs and myths, didn't really fit with the humorous style we were going for, so we had to think fast and change it an which we did effectively. Planning and scripting was key for this task as we didn't have a lot of time, so thanks to Alex and the group collectively we were able to express ourselves more freely on set because were had prepared so well in the pre-production. Overall I felt we had great structure and with that comes success, Google doc demonstrated that as I believe if we didn't keep all of our progress and updates somewhere then it would of been anarchy following up research etc. Overall the pre-production was great, all down to a great hard-working team. 

(The Ladies)

PRODUCTION 
Having missed one of the days of shooting due to illness, I felt on the day I was on set I had to give 110% to make up for my losses on the other shoot day. A few minor things went wrong, we had only realised half way through the shoot that the mic had been unplugged from the camera, so some of the footage already filmed earlier on in the day will of been filmed with no sound. Obviously this could of been avoided if someone was wearing headphones, and I think for a part of that filming I wasn't, so that's something i've learnt, ROOKIE MISTAKE. Everyone was class on set, there would be times where everyone would zone out, and slowly it would descend into stupidity but we got back to working order quickly after a few shouts. Cinematography wise, we didn't get all the coverage we would of liked, near enough though, we would of liked a few more establishing shots but overall very satisfied with the footage we acquired. Also, what could be done better within production next time is properly time managing, being stricter with it so that we can all be there for the start, until the finish.


POST-PRODUCTION 
This is probably where I spent most of my hours in the whole of the production process as I wanted to create the best possible sequence. We all separately tackled our own pieces, but the package was the main focus as that was the one that could be manipulated an played around with since it wasn't the 'live'. I felt the overall product looked great, again it goes back to the production, if we were able to go back and manage to get a few more variations of shots, maybe it would of pieced together even better, but its finished now and hopefully to a satisfying/pleasing standard. 

WHAT WORKED
There were many things I felt we had got really right with the final piece. Mainly things in the edit, we had lots of sounds and titles, making the end product feel generally quite tight an engaging piece. We as a team had great communication skills throughout, we had set up google doc, and had our own group chat on Facebook and Whattsap. If ever anyone needed anything we were literally a message away, so there was never any miscommunication etc. The editing of the package, a section where Aiden is drinking, we've edited it so it gradually speeds up, denoting the passage of time and the amount of drink he is consuming.

(The Man)

WHAT DIDN'T WORK
I felt certain scenes could of been produced much more creatively/better. Our metaphorical sequence that we attempted to do showing the bodies process of a hangover, I felt that could of been developed into something much more creative but we lacked time an we needed something. Also our studio shots of Alex in the 'bunker' looked kinda cheap, and rushed, it was kind of the angle we were going for but again, I felt it could of been better if we  thought it through a bit more. We weren't decisive enough from the beginning on our initial ideas/concepts so I think that was an issue which resulted in other issues.

WHAT HAVE I LEARNT
In this speedy 6 week unit, I think its safe to say one major thing i've learnt and should of learnt sometime ago is to keep myself updated with the blog. Also, how to use after affects and having a basic understanding of the DVX 200's. I feel more confident with editing having been tasked with quite a chunk of it, an just a general boost of confidence with my all round ability and attributes but still knowing there is much more to be learnt.


WHAT COULD I DEVELOP
There are many aspects of mine that definitely do need further development, but if i were to focus on the main ones, it would have to be editing and camera operation. If I want to be serious about camera operation then I have to do my own research and keep continuing to create short films not just in university times but outside of it. I'd like to nail down my technical competency, be sure enough in my own ability to go out and believe in myself that I can do a job. I think my editing obviously needs refining as well, there is always much room for growth and improvement. I know there is so much more to learn regarding both disciplines, which is kind of daunting but exciting at the same time.

CONCLUSION 
All in all, the unit has been a learning curve for me in many aspects, my abilities are only expanding and i'm grateful for that. I feel pumped now, ready for the remainder of 2017. I think i'll definitely spend more attention to detail on the blog in the next unit, as I feel that's where my work lacks the most. 

TV News: Final Cut

With deadline day being tomorrow, and having both Helen and Sam's feedback given and taken into deep consideration, we needed to get on with it and apply the finishing touches that had been asked of us. 

With having both of their critical views been applied straight away it wasn't long before we had perfected our project. We did this by adding extra titles, extra sound bites and stings, just giving the sequence more life throughout it as that was one thing Helen said it lacked throughout parts of it. 

We then also colour corrected all the packages and sequences, giving it that extra bit of professional feel, an all rounded completeness. After that it was time to pass it to Ferg and get it uploaded on the hard drive!

(The final cut)

TV News - 2nd Edit feedback with Sam

Having had our first edit session with Helen and her feedback being applied with effect, we then had Sam look at our work. Sam thought the sequence had cohesiveness, a theme and a good aesthetic. 
However he did have some constructive criticism, and potential enhancements to consider before handing it over: 
- Include more graphics over title sequences
- Get rid of the Mum shot
- More visuals to words
- Colour correcting needed doing
- Sound levels needed checking
- Find the right music that will fit with the tone of the piece

Overall the feedback was taken on board, progression is being made and we're working collectively to ensure the complete product is what we want. 

TV News: Shoot schedule & Shot list

So we had scheduled two days to be our allocated time for filming. These two days were to be Monday 16th October, and Wednesday 18th October. We had everything organised and prepared for these shoots to be as efficient as possible. 

On Monday 16th October, Melissa, Katie and Alex would be going to Broadditch Farm to shoot the Live package. Katie will be the presenter for the piece, Alex the camera man and Melissa the runner keeping everything running smoothly. 

On Wednesday 18th October, All of us would be filming all day at various locations throughout, Alex's sisters house and his house. The day started at roughly around 10am and we finished filming at around 8pm. I would be presenting this piece, an partly taking role as a camera operator, Alex would be camera op and presenting also as we'd be shooting some of the trailer and opening sequence here at these locations. Katie would be on camera, and Melissa also on camera. 

Here is a shot list created by Melissa - 

TV News: First edit & Helen's feedback

Having filmed and acquired all of the footage on our hard drives, we began quickly to edit the footage to have something to show Helen for the rough cut. 

We split the editing up between us as a group, Katie did the Live news sequence, Alex did the promo, Melissa did the first scene of the package and I did the rest of the package.

PUT PICTURE HERE

In total honesty we didn't have a great deal to show Helen as we'd only just got the footage together, but what we had to show we received positive feedback on. As we were going for a quirky, interesting an humorous feel, Helen supported that an stated she felt it also. 

There was something that we as a group wanted to ask Helen, basically to get the all clear on a shot that we wanted to include in the package sequence but to no surprise it wasn't granted clear passage. We had shot two kinds of end sequences so fortunately we didn't just rely heavily on that one. 

Feedback was clear and concise, Helen had mentioned she already felt it had a quirky, fun, engaging tone to it and that she could see people watching this within our target audience. 
Feedback - 
- A few more cutaways on the Live news sequence.
- Get more down on the timeline for the package. 
- Think about the music choice for soundtracks.

Overall the 1st Edit meeting went positively and filled us with confidence and belief. We now just need to keep it coherent and have the same themes running throughout it. 

TV News - Shoot Day

Having booked my train for 9am, to be at Gravesend for 10am, I was ready for a long day ahead of me. Kids, bloody kids had already disrupted the shoot day, holding me back atleast 30 minutes due to causing disruption on the train, the filming hadn't even begun yet but we were behind on our shoot schedule due to this, thankfully other members were late too so it didn't feel like all the weight was on me.

We adapted to this and planned to have everything ready to be shot at Alex's sisters outhouse by 11am, unfortunately we got side tracked and had several things to purchase for production purposes (Fry up scene). We eventually got there at around 1pm, and began to shoot the first scene in which I was presenting, I found it hard and increasingly pressured with each take as inevitably mistakes would be made and I found myself putting even more pressure on. I managed to learn most of the script, enough so that I could piece to the camera an eventually be able to look at the script as then we could cut out the bits where i'm not looking down the throat of the camera. 

We had got through half of the day unscathed, slowly but surely working our way through the script, trying to get as much coverage and shots as possible so that when we came back to the edit we had a vast amount of varying footage to play with. We were following the script but now and again go off it to do some improvisation like the intro, and a certain scene with the lemon, but mostly sticking to the script throughout. 

As the day got later, and my stomachs got hungrier, stress began to sink in and we just wanted to get this done and wrapped. We were put on hold as to think of a way to get the dogs attention for one of our shots, when suddenly Alex just started screaming at the dog, an boy did it work, we didn't have a clue what was going on until we saw the camera rolling. We ended the day with pizza freshly baked by Alex's mum. Nice.

What worked? 

I felt on the day everyone pulled their weight, we had great luck with Alex's friend being so cooperative and positive throughout the process, that made everything that much easier. I believed we got all the shots we wanted, we weren't rushed at Alex's house for time so we had ample time to think through fully on how to create the best possible shot and way of telling the sequence. What also worked nicely was the metaphor sequence, even though we didn't have a vast amount of material, we did well with what we had.

What didn't work/ could be improved?
Well with everything going to smoothly on the day there were only a small number of things that I could realistically flag up. One that could definitely do with some improving is time keeping, making sure we stick to the schedule as we had some crew needing to leave to go to work and if we had all been on time and ready/prepared, we could have avoided those situations. Another one potentially, bringing up creativity to the game, and this comes in to preparation of a shoot, writing up more potential concepts and creative gags on screen to play out. I felt we lacked at some points a real creative point, or not lacked, but it just took a lot longer than it should of, and especially when we're on shoot I felt like we should of had those concepts/ideas down and ready to test. Maybe that could be a point to establish in the next unit, to test out more ideas first to see if they actually work. Also wishing we got more coverage of the metaphor sequence, we didn't have much to play around for that sequence and I felt that was a shame. 

Overall I thought the day went to plan by 95%, productivity levels were sky high and morale never stooped lower than 110%. We worked creatively together and brought the best out in one another on the day and managed to get everything done on the script, so I couldn't of been happier. I think for next time if we can just mange our time a bit better we'd be overall a bit more efficient but apart from that it was a great shoot day.