G. Fictional Adaptation - Project Evaluation.
Project Evaluation for 'Till death do us part'
The Idea
Finding the idea for a poem written in the 1700s was at first a challenge, it would have been great to adapt a novel but I read that due to a lot of copyright laws, it is more challenging to do so.
I read the poem that I wanted to do before the brief and I wanted (at first) to make it a personal story, about my love of wine and how it can cause trouble with friends and family when I have too much and become vocal, then the next day finding it even harder to say sorry because I wasn't in a right frame of mind (which has caused me problems over the years) But I found that idea a little to close to home and too personal and it would have required a heavy use of dialogue which I did not want to do as it wasn't the effect I wanted to go for, but it did inspire me to think about the aspects of relationships and bought me closer to the development of my final idea about my past arguments with people, who I never did say sorry too and one day they weren't here anymore for me to apologise and it was too late to ask for forgiveness when I knew I was in the wrong.
The main challenge about the idea was having to go back to my past and bring up feelings and emotions that I had buried deep inside, this did cause me to have a little break down as whilst on this unit I lost two more people that I loved which caused more upset and emotional. At the time very good directors can use this energy and channel it into something productive but at present for myself 'own experiences' are sometimes harder, yet I also know that they can also be the best stories.
Actors.
After putting the idea to my actors, my female actor (Claire) was concerned that she couldn't cry on cue as I had written an emotional scene for her to do, I reassured her that it wasn't a necessity but gave her some pointers to try before the shoot, as I have been taught to cry on the spot it was easier to give some pointers.
On the day, I made sure the camera keep rolling for 4 minutes just so I could capture any emotion that may have been the 'money' shot, my DOP was looking at me to call cut but I wanted to get this one shot in one take so the longer it was the better chance I had to use the footage.
Feelings are a huge concern for actors. There is almost nothing (except for physical appearance) that an actor agonizes about more than feelings. (Weston. J 2003)
Both my actors were new to the whole acting experience, let alone be on camera and take directions, but they were both very committed and took directions like professionals, I also had a makeup artist on set to for both my actors and costume dresser she also gave the illusion to Claire that she had already been crying, that way if she couldn't produce any tears I already had a plan B. Having a make-up artist on set was a great idea, as it gave me time to go through the shots with my DOP and also had amazing images of both my actors.
Costume and Make-up
I had it planned out that I would get my bride in the black dress to begin with because I wanted to get the exterior shots done first thing for continuity so that the cutaways matched the same time of day, then if it started to get darker then I could use the lights in which I had, however, I have a briefing with the makeup artist before we began with the makeup and she spoke to me about the technical makeup and costume change difficulty that we could face.
1. The black dress and vail required heavy make up.
2. The foundation that she uses is for the 'Camera' and it takes a long time to apply
3 The hair would need to be done as a messy style and require a lot of work to get it back to a structured style.
It was fair to see that Tina had good point, our make-up artist had an hour to do the hair and makeup and it was easier to mess up a face then to face a messy makeup again, I spoke with my AD, Jasmin, who gave me the sunset details and that we could achieve this in the time that we had.
I would not change the final decision as the low lighting in the graveyard, later on, worked well with the ominous mood in which I was going for - Thank you Tina and Jasmin (always trust your crew).
Below - my hair/make-up artist tina with my actress claire
Below - Claire in her emotional scene and Tina brilliant make up effect
Location
We arrived at 12pm to start the day shooting, I was feeling a little uneasy as one of my fellow students had booked this location before yet wasn't able to get in.
I made sure that I had all the contacts that I needed if I had any problems.
It was the first time that I had seen the location in full as my last tour was a quick peek, I found that some of my storyboard visions weren't exactly as I had imagined.
The doors to the church had an entrance hallway and what I envisioned was to use natural light as well as LED lights to illuminate the area making it look like the entrance to a heavenly place.
However, we utilised the lights and had the same effect.
But this is how I wanted the light to look.
After examining the different lights I saw that the sharpness of my image matched that of the light and shadow in which I wanted to see as an outcome as the image (below) has a more fairytale feel to it, in which my film is not a fairytale, it is a tragic adaption of emotions.
Also in my image, my bride looks crisp and pure.
We faced some issue on the day of filming which could have caused a lot of problems if I had sound and dialogue recorded on the day.
When we arrived some people from the church community tuned up at the same time to put up the nativity stage for Christmas, they did ask permission to us first because they weren't booked in the diary and the priest said they would have to wait.
We didn't see this as a problem but they had brought a dog with them which barked the whole way through the shoot.
I made a point of using my directors vocal instructions to say "quiet on set' but I don't think the Dog heard me, but as I knew I wasn't going to use diegetic sound it wasn't a big issue but it was off-putting at points, plus I thought we had got an amazing location for free, I didn't want to have the liberty of being too forceful about the noise.
A great example of working in a 'doggy bark' environment - under pressure
Our outside shoot was on my mood board and I knew exactly what I wanted, I knew I wanted my bride and groom to appear coming from the grave and disappearing behind a tree, as I wanted the illusion of spirits and lost souls coming from the grave in search for their loved ones and the tree represents the name of the poem 'A poison tree'.
The graveyard was noisy with traffic however I shot with no sound so it wasn't an issue, having to find the right angle to film was the most challenging as on one side I had traffic and the other side was a public walkway and at the time of shooting the schools where just let out so I spoke with my DOP and we both found the angle to shoot.
Its always a good idea to recce the area and make sure of the certain time ie: rush hour, school rush and visual background as these are the elements that can take away the audiences attention from what they need to experience.
Directing My actors and working with my DOP.
For many directors, the thought of “directing actors” can install panic. Directors who were once cinematographers, say, or who have worked on film sets, might be at ease working with crews or blocking shots but will freeze up when challenged to give notes to actors.
Such performance anxiety is not surprising. Unlike the crew, with whom directors have the whole shoot to develop working relationships, many actors are only on set for a few days. So it’s understandable that directors may worry about “getting it right” when it comes to guiding them in their performance.
But the thing is: there is no “right”. (Fae. E. 2016)
The first thing I wanted to make sure whilst onset was to make sure that my actors felt comfortable, I stayed calm and collected and walked through everything that I wanted from them, even down to emotional expressions on there face.
I was lucky enough to have actors who asked questions and I gave them some lee-way to run through the scenes as many times as they wanted, as the key to good acting and getting the best out of your actors is allowing them to get it right.
Working with my DOP and Floor manager
Rehearsing the shots
A birds-eye view of the shots
Inserts and Cutaways.
These terms are used interchangeably to describe a cut to a small, significance of a scene ( Chandler. G. 2009)
The first step when I got onto premiere was to decide when and where I wanted the cutaways of the fast passing car and how pace and visuals needed to match the urgency of the tone of the film, as I wanted to slowly build up the tension with my cutaways creating a montage sequence, this has been a method that has been done many times. It was developed in 1925 by the Russian Sergei Eisenstein, and it was a way of extending the imaginative possibilities of the art form.
After watching the Rocky films I saw that having cut away montages really can give the sense of time passing, but in my case Time past.
Transitions
Getting the transitions perfect (or near) was my main priority, I had blocked my actors out on the day to walk in the exact same line past a concrete pillow, when it was the widow vs the sprit husband because this resembled 'walking in the path of a loved oned one past) we had some issue at first as a man (who was in the church was walking up and down)
But I only had to do two takes of each of my actors because they took directions well.
Below is an example of the clip that could have been used however the obstacle was the there was a man in the shot, I was up high looking down at my actress so I couldn't call cut.
Sound.
Finding the correct sound for my film took the longest, as I had filmed with no audio, after my first rough cut (Below) I a spoke with Sam, who advised me that if I just had the music playing, it would seem like I had been working for the musician and not having the music work with my piece. To get around this idea (on my second rough cut) lI took away the music and just inserted atmos sound, buzz track and sound effects, so I could see the story rather than creating something like a music video, it worked so much better as a narrative with just added sounds, I then put the music back in but lowered the audio.
I have a sound library of copyright-free audio, however, I should have decided what sounds I wanted prior to the edit because that took the longest to find, I should have been more organised with a file before, so I could structure the music beforehand.
The sounds I used:
The Idea
Finding the idea for a poem written in the 1700s was at first a challenge, it would have been great to adapt a novel but I read that due to a lot of copyright laws, it is more challenging to do so.
I read the poem that I wanted to do before the brief and I wanted (at first) to make it a personal story, about my love of wine and how it can cause trouble with friends and family when I have too much and become vocal, then the next day finding it even harder to say sorry because I wasn't in a right frame of mind (which has caused me problems over the years) But I found that idea a little to close to home and too personal and it would have required a heavy use of dialogue which I did not want to do as it wasn't the effect I wanted to go for, but it did inspire me to think about the aspects of relationships and bought me closer to the development of my final idea about my past arguments with people, who I never did say sorry too and one day they weren't here anymore for me to apologise and it was too late to ask for forgiveness when I knew I was in the wrong.
The main challenge about the idea was having to go back to my past and bring up feelings and emotions that I had buried deep inside, this did cause me to have a little break down as whilst on this unit I lost two more people that I loved which caused more upset and emotional. At the time very good directors can use this energy and channel it into something productive but at present for myself 'own experiences' are sometimes harder, yet I also know that they can also be the best stories.
Actors.
After putting the idea to my actors, my female actor (Claire) was concerned that she couldn't cry on cue as I had written an emotional scene for her to do, I reassured her that it wasn't a necessity but gave her some pointers to try before the shoot, as I have been taught to cry on the spot it was easier to give some pointers.
On the day, I made sure the camera keep rolling for 4 minutes just so I could capture any emotion that may have been the 'money' shot, my DOP was looking at me to call cut but I wanted to get this one shot in one take so the longer it was the better chance I had to use the footage.
Feelings are a huge concern for actors. There is almost nothing (except for physical appearance) that an actor agonizes about more than feelings. (Weston. J 2003)
Both my actors were new to the whole acting experience, let alone be on camera and take directions, but they were both very committed and took directions like professionals, I also had a makeup artist on set to for both my actors and costume dresser she also gave the illusion to Claire that she had already been crying, that way if she couldn't produce any tears I already had a plan B. Having a make-up artist on set was a great idea, as it gave me time to go through the shots with my DOP and also had amazing images of both my actors.
Costume and Make-up
I had it planned out that I would get my bride in the black dress to begin with because I wanted to get the exterior shots done first thing for continuity so that the cutaways matched the same time of day, then if it started to get darker then I could use the lights in which I had, however, I have a briefing with the makeup artist before we began with the makeup and she spoke to me about the technical makeup and costume change difficulty that we could face.
1. The black dress and vail required heavy make up.
2. The foundation that she uses is for the 'Camera' and it takes a long time to apply
3 The hair would need to be done as a messy style and require a lot of work to get it back to a structured style.
It was fair to see that Tina had good point, our make-up artist had an hour to do the hair and makeup and it was easier to mess up a face then to face a messy makeup again, I spoke with my AD, Jasmin, who gave me the sunset details and that we could achieve this in the time that we had.
I would not change the final decision as the low lighting in the graveyard, later on, worked well with the ominous mood in which I was going for - Thank you Tina and Jasmin (always trust your crew).
Below - my hair/make-up artist tina with my actress claire
Below - Claire in her emotional scene and Tina brilliant make up effect
Location
We arrived at 12pm to start the day shooting, I was feeling a little uneasy as one of my fellow students had booked this location before yet wasn't able to get in.
I made sure that I had all the contacts that I needed if I had any problems.
It was the first time that I had seen the location in full as my last tour was a quick peek, I found that some of my storyboard visions weren't exactly as I had imagined.
The doors to the church had an entrance hallway and what I envisioned was to use natural light as well as LED lights to illuminate the area making it look like the entrance to a heavenly place.
However, we utilised the lights and had the same effect.
But this is how I wanted the light to look.
After examining the different lights I saw that the sharpness of my image matched that of the light and shadow in which I wanted to see as an outcome as the image (below) has a more fairytale feel to it, in which my film is not a fairytale, it is a tragic adaption of emotions.
Also in my image, my bride looks crisp and pure.
We faced some issue on the day of filming which could have caused a lot of problems if I had sound and dialogue recorded on the day.
When we arrived some people from the church community tuned up at the same time to put up the nativity stage for Christmas, they did ask permission to us first because they weren't booked in the diary and the priest said they would have to wait.
We didn't see this as a problem but they had brought a dog with them which barked the whole way through the shoot.
A great example of working in a 'doggy bark' environment - under pressure
Our outside shoot was on my mood board and I knew exactly what I wanted, I knew I wanted my bride and groom to appear coming from the grave and disappearing behind a tree, as I wanted the illusion of spirits and lost souls coming from the grave in search for their loved ones and the tree represents the name of the poem 'A poison tree'.
The graveyard was noisy with traffic however I shot with no sound so it wasn't an issue, having to find the right angle to film was the most challenging as on one side I had traffic and the other side was a public walkway and at the time of shooting the schools where just let out so I spoke with my DOP and we both found the angle to shoot.
Its always a good idea to recce the area and make sure of the certain time ie: rush hour, school rush and visual background as these are the elements that can take away the audiences attention from what they need to experience.
Directing My actors and working with my DOP.
For many directors, the thought of “directing actors” can install panic. Directors who were once cinematographers, say, or who have worked on film sets, might be at ease working with crews or blocking shots but will freeze up when challenged to give notes to actors.
Such performance anxiety is not surprising. Unlike the crew, with whom directors have the whole shoot to develop working relationships, many actors are only on set for a few days. So it’s understandable that directors may worry about “getting it right” when it comes to guiding them in their performance.
But the thing is: there is no “right”. (Fae. E. 2016)
The first thing I wanted to make sure whilst onset was to make sure that my actors felt comfortable, I stayed calm and collected and walked through everything that I wanted from them, even down to emotional expressions on there face.
I was lucky enough to have actors who asked questions and I gave them some lee-way to run through the scenes as many times as they wanted, as the key to good acting and getting the best out of your actors is allowing them to get it right.
Claire was nervous and stiff on the first shot but she told me that she wanted to do it again (walking up the aisle, although we were on a time frame, I had my assistant director always checking the timing of each shot that we needed to get.
My actress filmed a feedback video on how she and her co-actor (Melvin) felt on there first acting job with me as their director.
My actress filmed a feedback video on how she and her co-actor (Melvin) felt on there first acting job with me as their director.
Blocking the actor is important because it allowed me to determine where I wanted my actors to be on set on in the correct camera vision, it helped me with where the lighting was ( I used the natural sunlight) so it was important for me as I was not using any lighting on the tracking shots.
It allowed me to rehearse with them and my DOP and I could make adjustments with the camera or my actors positioning, I could also mark and shoot multiple times.
My DOP who was Alyssa Watson, is a great DOP, we always (on two other projects) have worked well together as I liaise with her about what I want, but she also has many suggestions of shoots in which would look good and reminds me of the rule and about not breaking it, Kelsey was the floor manager and assisted Alyssa when she was using the track and dolly, together they work as an amazing team, I had the faith of my shoot in their hand as they are amazing at suggesting shoots that I may not have thought about.
Below are 2 short videos of how I communicated with my actor and DOP on the day and how I blocked my actors for the shot.
Below are 2 short videos of how I communicated with my actor and DOP on the day and how I blocked my actors for the shot.
Image of the walkthrough with my actress
Working with my DOP and Floor manager
Rehearsing the shots
A birds-eye view of the shots
Having a shot list and a storyboard really helped me with the blocking process, my storyboard was like a map it gave me the path to my destination but I didn't always need to follow it, it also gave my actor a chance to throw some suggestions at me, as claire wanted to change the pace of her walking because her pace was too quick for the camera, so this was great practice.
The most important part about blocking and direction is where the camera was placed, we used a track and dolly and tried some different shots such as Claire walking past the camera, stand still and a focus pull, which was all good footage for me to have in the editing stage.
Stunts
On the last scene of the film, I wanted the effect of the door closing by itself, so I came up with the idea that myself and my AD would lay on the floor and shut the doors behind our bride and groom, we had to take this shot a few times as we were at times out of sync, but the end product in the edit turned out to have just the illusion that we were hoping for.
The car pulling out of the car park was last minute idea as I didn't think it would be visible due to the parking restrictions, I wasn't sure whether my actors could get a space to park, and I didn't want to risk asses and drag my cast, crew and make-up artist to a location which was owned by a council, as this would have caused all sorts of issue's, fortunately, my actors got a space outside the church and the ground was mainly gravel so that he didn't need to pull off at mighty speed to create the illusion of urgency.
Stunts
On the last scene of the film, I wanted the effect of the door closing by itself, so I came up with the idea that myself and my AD would lay on the floor and shut the doors behind our bride and groom, we had to take this shot a few times as we were at times out of sync, but the end product in the edit turned out to have just the illusion that we were hoping for.
The car pulling out of the car park was last minute idea as I didn't think it would be visible due to the parking restrictions, I wasn't sure whether my actors could get a space to park, and I didn't want to risk asses and drag my cast, crew and make-up artist to a location which was owned by a council, as this would have caused all sorts of issue's, fortunately, my actors got a space outside the church and the ground was mainly gravel so that he didn't need to pull off at mighty speed to create the illusion of urgency.
Editing.
I had a lot of footage to work with which made it easier to follow my storyboard after I had put them into their bins, having bins and being organised for an edit says time on the day.
Inserts and Cutaways.
These terms are used interchangeably to describe a cut to a small, significance of a scene ( Chandler. G. 2009)
The first step when I got onto premiere was to decide when and where I wanted the cutaways of the fast passing car and how pace and visuals needed to match the urgency of the tone of the film, as I wanted to slowly build up the tension with my cutaways creating a montage sequence, this has been a method that has been done many times. It was developed in 1925 by the Russian Sergei Eisenstein, and it was a way of extending the imaginative possibilities of the art form.
After watching the Rocky films I saw that having cut away montages really can give the sense of time passing, but in my case Time past.
Transitions
Getting the transitions perfect (or near) was my main priority, I had blocked my actors out on the day to walk in the exact same line past a concrete pillow, when it was the widow vs the sprit husband because this resembled 'walking in the path of a loved oned one past) we had some issue at first as a man (who was in the church was walking up and down)
But I only had to do two takes of each of my actors because they took directions well.
Below is an example of the clip that could have been used however the obstacle was the there was a man in the shot, I was up high looking down at my actress so I couldn't call cut.
Sound.
Finding the correct sound for my film took the longest, as I had filmed with no audio, after my first rough cut (Below) I a spoke with Sam, who advised me that if I just had the music playing, it would seem like I had been working for the musician and not having the music work with my piece. To get around this idea (on my second rough cut) lI took away the music and just inserted atmos sound, buzz track and sound effects, so I could see the story rather than creating something like a music video, it worked so much better as a narrative with just added sounds, I then put the music back in but lowered the audio.
I have a sound library of copyright-free audio, however, I should have decided what sounds I wanted prior to the edit because that took the longest to find, I should have been more organised with a file before, so I could structure the music beforehand.
The sounds I used:
- Birds Cheeping
- Choir Sing
- Church Bells
- Buzz track
- Wind passing in the car
- Door creaking
- Car starting and speeding away (footage from the day)
- Make my images at the start move so that it matches the pace.
The feedback I got from my rough cut was mainly about the sounds and how keyframing the audio would fit better with the movement and tone.
The birds cheeping in my rough cut were far too happy for the omnibus scene I was hoping for, I needed to find a bird that represents death like a blackbird or a crow.
Seeing the bird as well will give it a more eerie mood, so I had to find some archive footage.
If a black crow appears in your surrounding, it is believed that someone you love will die.
I should always be aware of what noises are better suited for my scenes, cause I just typed in 'Bird' Rather than saying what birds represent a mood or an event, for example, Doves represent 'love' so I could have used my mood board to insert a dove flying over, yet it also represents angles.
Overall the feedback that I needed to work with on my first and second rough cut was:
- Make the pace more ergant.
- Work with atmosphere sounds and buzz track.
- Keyframe the sounds and the music.
- Use an alternative bird.
- don't make it a music video.
- Make the opening credits the same as the end credits.
Below are my 2 rough edits in order:
Fine Cut.
Title Sequence.
Title Sequence.
After the briefing, Sydney got a huge A5 piece of paper and did a spider diagram to what our ideas were.
My idea was to have all the poets merging into an overlapping montage to represent the fiction adaptions which we are all doing, we could have sped it up to make it look stylish.
Ethan had the idea about having a book morphing into a movie like the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin.
Then it came to the end and Charlie messaged to say who was doing the sequence and we all through ideas in.
Fine Cut Critique.
When she first started to edit she had a clock sound in the background, which I said sounded really good, as it was like sound passing by, so she incorporated a clock to the sequence, the 11 stands for the 11 of us on the unit and it meshes well with our projects, plus it's short and simple yet is meaningful with the sound and the images.
all in which was recommended in the feedback I took on board throughout my editing, OI wanted more time on sound as I feel I could have built a very good soundtrack throughout, yet I feel I mainly focused on the images and not so much the sound, I understand now the importance of having sound and how it should be apart of the storyboard before I went into edit.
My idea was to have all the poets merging into an overlapping montage to represent the fiction adaptions which we are all doing, we could have sped it up to make it look stylish.
Ethan had the idea about having a book morphing into a movie like the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin.
Then it came to the end and Charlie messaged to say who was doing the sequence and we all through ideas in.
Fine Cut Critique.
When she first started to edit she had a clock sound in the background, which I said sounded really good, as it was like sound passing by, so she incorporated a clock to the sequence, the 11 stands for the 11 of us on the unit and it meshes well with our projects, plus it's short and simple yet is meaningful with the sound and the images.
all in which was recommended in the feedback I took on board throughout my editing, OI wanted more time on sound as I feel I could have built a very good soundtrack throughout, yet I feel I mainly focused on the images and not so much the sound, I understand now the importance of having sound and how it should be apart of the storyboard before I went into edit.
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