Fiction Adaptation - Ideas and Development
First Ideas
Having had a look at my poem 'The Road Not Taken' and after I have continued to re-read to ensure I am at a stage in which I am starting to understand the words and meaning, I now feel I am in a position to start creating and brainstorming for the piece.
Straight away I knew that my adaptation was something I wanted to ensure set the same mood and tone I got from reading the poem. That in life, it sometimes is going to make you chose a path which may be a difficult decision and could massively impact your future, the poem itself is called 'The Road Not Taken' which almost already offers in my opinion a somber tone. Instead of focusing on the road the speaker decided to take, it's as if Frost is reminding you about the choices the road you didn't take, could have given you by naming the poem 'The road not taken', already brings remorse into my mind.
I also know that unfortunately, due to the current circumstances we are under, I have to be realistic about the limits that I may face while in production. Due to circumstances, I am having to shoot, direct and complete the whole production on my own. As we are also unable to meet other people, I am having to think outside of the box in regards to how I am going to have someone feature in the film.
My first Idea however is that I will be looking into if I can film the whole thing completely POV in first person, this allows me to be able to actually film my adaptation safely, as I have no one able to feature within my film as we cannot meet indoors. Although, this idea is mainly as it would be the most easiest with research to complete in circumstances, as I wouldn't then need to attempt to be the main character myself. After thinking about this as my first idea, I also think how POV could be so symbolic within the poem also.
The poem is about how you individually may face challenges in which you need to pick the correct road, the POV will show how impactful this is being in first person, as if the viewer is making the decision with you, resonating with their own journey.
I will be looking into the symbolism of filming in first person, below also.
Symbolism in POV
I started by thinking about times in which a POV shot has been impactful for me and I remembered straight away within the Kings speech, remembering POV shots of the King first addressing the nation after being through his training. As pictured below.
Fig 1. King Speech Walking POV (2010)
I believe here they used a POV shot because for a second it allows you as the viewer to think about how he would feel going through that, it puts you literally in the Kings perspective and the Kings shoes. Imagine how you would feel knowing that you may or may not be able to address the nation as the king because of a stutter, having all those people watching you, it makes us as the viewers also nervous and builds tensions. Reminds me of a time I have had to present something and you have a pause of silence looking at everyone staring at you.
That's why i feel that filming in POV would be incredibly suitable for my adaptation of my poem, as I've mentioned, filming in POV in my opinion would highlight the tension of my main character needing to make the right decision on the path he is going to take, it also is interactive with the viewers, allowing them to also make their own minds up. It highlights singularly that this is a decision that only my main character can make, that this his life and I feel the POV works well to highlight that.
First Look at the Poem
There are a few factors that I have written down that I wish to examine in more detail and to explore what this may mean going into creating my adaptation. I've realised that adaptation is 'achieved most often by offering a revised point of view from the original' (Sanders, 2016). Which I found from reading Adaption and Appropriation, Although I agree with this statement and I will be making my own narrative based on the choosing path narrative from the poem, I would also like to convey the tone or the majority of the narrative into my own story. Below I have wrote down what I take from the poem so far.
Making a Choice
The Poem indicates 'Two Roads Diverged' and 'Sorry I Could Not Travel Both'. Both indicating that the character within the short film is having to make a serious decision, this is something I will definitely be factoring into my own idea as this is what I I convey as the main theme of the poem.
Risk
I feel the poem also brings a slight tone of risk and an anxious undertone which comes along with the fear and risk of choice. A decision that is needing to be made, you can hear within the poem the speaker weighing up both options of both the travelled paths.
Ending
The Risk also seems to seep into the Ending also and how the risk of choosing a path actually leads to the speaker not divulging if he made the correct choice or not. The irony at the end of the poem 'And that made all the difference' allows you to interpret the poem into your own. In my own opinion, I do feel that regardless of the undertone which seems to be slightly daunting. I would like my adaption to be slightly positive, to allow the audience to understand that regardless of making the right decision, having the courage to make a decision in the first place is a positive start.
Symbolism
As I have mentioned above, I will want to ensure I carry the symbolism throughout the poem into my adaptation as I feel this is massively important into adapting the poem into my own and follows the tone of the poem and narrative.
Remorse/Reward
The Poem itself through the title almost shows remorse, 'The road not Taken' instead of being about the road he did take, it's like instant regret that the wrong path was chosen, or remorse surrounding if the right decision was taken because Frost seems to be thinking about the road not taken by the speaker. However, along with the ending, I feel the poem itself is open to a lot of interpretation and the fact that we don't actually find out if the speaker made the right choice, I feel like this leaves us as the reader to interpret our own ending.
Idea Development - 5th December
With these five points and factors in mind, I want to ensure that I am using all of my interpretations of the poem into my short film, by doing this it allows me to follow my interpretation, thoughts about the meaning and symbolism while also adapting it into my own. I will now be generating a few ideas so that I can start developing my film.
The idea of creating a short film based on one main character needing to make a choice, had me thinking about some of the life choices I have had to make and other life choices that people probably experience a few times within their lives, if not on many occasions.
-Love Choices, between two people.
-Work choices, Having to make the decision between jobs, which career path is better/rewarding?
-Happy, Choosing to make decisions for happiness?
-Money, Choosing to make a choice
-Mental Health choosing to speak out
After having a think about the choices above, I've decided to follow a theme of mental health. Although the poem is about choosing a path in life and I don't necessarily believe that anything surrounding mental health is a choice, I do think it's important to show a change if people can chose to speak to someone and speak out.
Due to current circumstances with so many people living on their own, I'd like to incorporate this within my short film. This helps with the benefits of filming and being realistic about what I can film and accomplish on my own, I also feel it is extremely relevant and also relevant to my interpretation of the poem.
Initial Idea/Concept
As I've mentioned above, I wanted to look into current circumstances and how lockdown could be impacting people. After thinking about my Idea and how I would like to convey this, I feel it should show struggle and that the 'two paths' as mentioned within the poem indicates a choice of choosing to continue to bottle up your emotions and struggle, or choosing to speak to someone to help. I know that my short film will be based on one single character, a girl and someone who is struggling with the lockdown and the mental strain this has of living alone.
I started brainstorming from my own experiences of lockdown and how I've been feeling and also how I felt other people would feel.
I want to make sure that with such a sensitive subject, although I have gone through this during lockdown, I want to make sure that I'm still researching and ensuring that this is done tastefully, factually and is beneficial for maybe people who are feeling the same or need to know that there is a choice and that there is people to speak too.
Within my brainstorm and what I think would covey and symbolize my message without telling and just showing, here are the feelings I have felt during lockdown and the way I feel impacted by them.
-Bad Sleeping Pattern
I could show this with a time-lapse of the alarm clock each morning, getting later and later when turned off. This could be my character showing that she is getting up later each day of lockdown, showing that she is starting to not care about waking up early or when she wakes up, regardless of the time of the day.
-Not Speaking or making the effort with friends
Speaking from my own experience of feeling down, this is something that I always did, I felt like I didn't have anyone to speak to which was in fact wrong, I had loads of people around me but I couldn't see that. I can show this within my film by showing a POV shot of a phone showing lots of ignored messages from friends, I think this will show the fact that when you feel alone, you're sometimes blinded that you do have people around you that can help.
-Not eating properly, choosing takeaways over cooking/-Struggling to find any motivation.
This is also another factor of someone who is feeling alone or down and I feel this goes with the lack of motivation below, the motivation to not be able to cook or bring yourself to do anything because feeling down makes you feel tired.
I wanted to ensure that my knowledge on mental health was correct so I referred to NHS website, to ensure like I said above that the information within my short film is reflective and that I had conducted research to ensure that.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/low-mood-and-depression/
Within the website, the NHS show that Symptoms of depression and feeling low can include
-Feeling Sad
-Feeling More Tired Then Normal
-Feeling Angry
-Not Getting Enjoyment Out Of Life
I also researched within the anxiety page of the NHS website, which also mentioned the following symptoms, showing that mental health issues aren't always just physical and can also be mental symptoms that stop you from doing things.
-Struggling to Maintain relationships
-Difficulty looking after yourself
After looking at the NHS website and looking into what I feel I can convey through film and my own adaptation in what I think will show my characters struggle, I feel I am in a good position to look into the style and imagery of my film and also beginning on the script.
Imagery
'The most commonly considered adaptations are those that move from the telling to the showing mode, usually from print to performance.' (Hutcheon, 2012). This Quote from A theory of adaptation is fitting for this stage, it allows me to see that it's important that my adaptation accurately is a representation of the poem, however now I'm at the stage in which I put into practice what I envision the imagery in my short film will be.
I wanted to look into two short films that resonate with what I am trying to achieve so that it can give me some insight into how other people have conveyed my narrative. I feel by analyzing the following videos, I can have a look at the techniques they have used and the effectiveness. This research should confirm if the practices and Imagery I wish to use will be beneficial for the symbolism and meaning of my adaptation of the 'The Road Not Taken'.
The First Video is a short film I found on youtube that was created during lockdown, I actually felt this was really effective and knew off the bat that I could take inspiration from this film.
Firstly,
The film shows brilliantly how editing and repetitive shots can be used to show the audience that this is meant to be over a certain amount of days and isn't one day. The use of the Medium Close Up of the man opening and shutting the curtains, with the character doing the same action and using that shot repetitively, shows the audience that this is a new day and in fact the character is living the same routine through each day. I also feel this is extremely powerful as it implies already that maybe the character is bored, this is then confirmed brilliantly with long shots of the character sitting at the table, again each shot the man is dressed differently, with different lighting. Again, this implements to me as that audience that this is another sign to show the man is struggling and feeling alone.
The space within the shot around him shows the emptiness, the kitchen also seems quite bare with nothing around him. Again, maybe symbolizing that this man is feeling alone due to the pressures of lockdown.
One thing I don't completely feel resonates with the importance of the film is the music, it seems almost like a horror track, which has shown to me that is not something I want to feature within my own film as I feel as a viewer of this short film, it took away the seriousness of the story and message the maker was trying to get across. Therefore, this has also given me inspiration into maybe having a silent film, or a film in which you only hear the sounds the character would actually be hearing, which in my case, the character living alone, is not actually hearing alot.
This has confirmed to me that my initial thought of having the alarm clock that represents the start of a new day, just like the curtains showed me within this film, should work in showing that it is a new day. I felt nervous about attempting to show a certain amount of days passing with a quick paced edit as I hadn't done this before but now I have seen someone else do it and by seeing that keeping the camera in the same position and changing characteristics can show this well and seamlessly.
The second video I am looking at in relation to my fictional adaptation is using POV to film a complete film. I haven't heard or seen of this done often, So I wanted to ensure that it was something someone else had achieved, so I didn't feel like I was trying to attempt something crazy.
Already I do have problems I feel like I may face with making all shots POV, I feel like I need to have a transition shot at the beginning that then helps go into POV. So I'm hoping by seeing this short film it will allow me to see from research and inspiration how I can introduce the POV to my shot.
I didn't gain as much through this short film as I may of thought, the use of colour I thought resembled the feel of the film which seemed highly exposed and also bright which I felt worked well for the tone of this piece which was more upbeat.
The transition of going into POV doesn't actually happen and the film starts of with POV from the beginning of the character being in bed, the shots are also filmed with equipment that allowed the DOP to use both hands within the POV shot. I felt this was important for me to see as again, this allows me to understand as the audience, how seeing both hands makes the POV shot feel authentic. After seeing how this has been shot, It has allowed me as the audience to see how seeing both hands made me feel that I was actually in the characters position.
Learning this as the audience, has made me see that it is crucial within my short film, with it being such a personal and potentially relatable story that it need to be authentic which wouldn't make sense if you could only ever see one of my hands, knowing that I was using the other one to hold the camera.
Style
Cinematography
As I have mentioned I will be shooting in POV, after some research, I think this is the best option for me, I also want to look into how POV can be effective.
After reading Blain Browns Cinematography: theory and practice book he says 'The power of subjective POV as a device is to involve the audience both visually and emotionally' (Brown, 2016). I agree completely with this statement and research, which is why I want to ensure that I film in POV for my short film. As my character is going through mental health issues, which is something a lot of people can be affected by, it already has some sense of involving the audience however POV really will put the audience in my characters shoes.
Within my research I came across the writers digest, that speaks about both the Pro's and Con's of using POV which I found extremely helpful.
The article goes on to say that 'POV can make for an intimate and effective narrative voice' (Column, 2017). I felt this was important for me to read as this is exactly what I need to ensure that my narrative of depression and anxiety is conveyed correctly. The narrative I am covering is something that is extremely intimate and in some cases could be relatable for someone else. In that sense, this has confirmed that filming in POV will help the audience to feel as if they're in the mind of the reader with this being intimate.
The article also mentions how sometimes filming in POV can sometimes not work with multiple characters as it can then be complicated and confusing for the audience. This is okay for me as it will only be one character within my narrative, so this should suit well.
Sound
Although I have seen short films with music features that have a similar theme and narrative of mine, In this case I have decided that it would be beneficial for me not to have any music, I really want to convey how my character is feeling, alone and slowly getting worst and feeling worst about life. By having silence with only the sounds like the television or kettle boiling, this will also along with POV help the audience to understand how my character is feeling, alone.
Editing
I want to ensure that my editing is fast paced to represent how the characters mental health is spiraling out of control, I will be doing this by using my research above to show how POV, editing and also the silence will all show the loneliness and struggle my character is going through.
Just like the video in lockdown I analyzed above, it has also shown me how important it is to have varied speed, focusing on the main aspects of the story and then also going into quick montages to allow the audience to see time passing. This is something I will definitely be adding into my adaptation.
Symbolism
Much like the poem which shows a lot of symbolism which is using words to mean another like 'road' meaning journey. I want to ensure I convey that within my film as after all my fictional adaptation is taking the narrative of making a choice from the poem. Although, some tone will be conveyed in my fictional adaptation, I will not be taking the ironic tone of the poem into my narrative as I do not feel this suits the position my character is in and will take away from the seriousness.
These are the things I would like to represent within my short film to show the state of my characters mindset, like the NHS website showed.
-Alarm clock progressively getting later
I feel the alarm clock getting later will show that the character is more tired. This will also help me show its a new day.
-The dirty cups represents her life and loneliness getting worst by the day
Making tea each day, slowly I want to show how dirty cups and washing is building up, again showing the representation of tiredness and not caring.
-Looking out the window indicates the wanting to escape
-Not responding to the texts, indicates the shut down.
On the NHS website it also indicates how people can shut down and struggle to maintain relationships. It also shows how sometimes you may feel like you're not looking after yourself.
Now I had gone through this, it was time to look into writing the script.
Scripting
I've always worried and disliked writing the script, this is the part I don't look forward too, In past Units in which we have had to write a script, I have always felt unprepared with my story, like I never really know where my story ends or goes.
In this case, as I am adapting this poem into my own adaptation with some similarities, the main aspect I am taking from the poem is that in life you are having to chose a path. I also find the poem quite sarcastic and Ironic which I have spoken about before, which also features hints of resentment. These are factors I will not be taking from the poem.
I have already started my script, as my poem actually has no dialogue, I found it harder to write the script. It was at this point I felt I needed to expand on my knowledge of scripting from previous units and see what maybe was going wrong and why I was finding it so hard to look
I came across a brilliant article on Screencraft that actually helped me finish my script, it reminded me to sort of keep things simple, refer to the scriptwriting rules and think about every word you write.
These are the main tips my research has gained me.
1) Do Not Forget The Plot
This is something I feel like I have struggled with before as I have mentioned, I almost feel like I rush things and don't get a full picture of the story I am actually trying to tell. In this case, I actually felt as if I knew the story inside out, I had focused so much on the symbolism and how I was going to show how my character was feeling through POV and methods that affect the audience. I hadn't actually worked out the ending, yet I was trying to write the script.
The article goes on to say you should 'outline your story before writing dialogue and action'. The article also goes on to say how bad scripts often don't have a main goal, each scene should progress or reveal something new about the struggle or success of the story or character you're trying to tell.
This really opened my eyes up and gave me the courage to then go on and actually start writing my script again, sort of like a second draft without even finishing the first one, as I knew straight away that what I had just read in the article, wasn't what I had been putting into practice.
I then went through my story again and worked out every segment, I already felt confident in the story, it was just the ending. Within the poem, as I have mentioned before, the speaker almost allows you to take from the ending what you wish, we never actually know if the character took the right path by choosing the road less trodden. In my adaptation, although not exactly the same, I would like the ending to be known and for my character to have a positive ending not an ironic one like the poem.
Therefore, I decided within the script to ensure the character got the help needed, I felt this was best for what I was trying to show within my adaptation and that the character choosing to seek help from Sarmatians was the right choice to chose instead of continuing to suffer. However, I would like to leave it as a cliffhanger, we see our character dialing and ringing the number to seek help however we don't actually know what happens after, this is so my adaptation is still representative of the poem and the speakers way of allowing the reader to decide the ending.
Here is my finished Script Below
Fig 5. Script Page 1 (2020)
Fig 6. Script Page 2 (2020)
I am happy with my script and feel that by conducting the research, it allowed me to see what my issue was, that I hadn't actually fully worked out my story and was caught up with symbolism and how I was going to shoot the film. There are some mistakes within my script, after looking at the script now, there are times in which I speak as If I am the director and not as the writer. Using parts in which I describe a shot. I have learnt from this that scripts are in fact written to tell the story, you're not trying to direct someone to film it, that is what storyboards and shot lists are for. The script is purely to get your story down and ready to go. In the future, I want to ensure I don't write like that going forward and I learn from this that it is important to understand what the script is designed for and to be more prepared with the story.
List Of Illustrations
Fig 1. King Speech Walking POV (2010) Blog Spot [Google Image] At: http://monroesmile.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-kings-speech-point-of-view-shot.html (Accessed on 12/12/2020)
Fig 2. King Speech Crowd POV (2010) Blog Spot [Google Image] At: http://monroesmile.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-kings-speech-point-of-view-shot.html (Accessed on 12/12/2020)
Fig 3. Poem Mind Map (2020) - Own Photo
Fig 4. Lockdown Mind Map (2020) - Own Photo
Fig 5. Script Page 1 (2020) - Own Photo
Fig 6. Script Page 2 (2020) - Own Photo
Bibliography
Brown, B. (2016) Cinematography: theory and practice : imagemaking for cinematographers and directors. (Third edition) New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. At: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/detail.action?docID=720723
Hutcheon, L. and O’Flynn, S. (2012) A theory of adaptation. (2nd ed) London: Routledge. At: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1016075
Lockdown One Minute Film Challenge (2020) [Youtube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw-FcDdxSU8 (Accessed on 10/12/2020)
NHS. 2020. Anxiety, Fear and Panic (Online) At: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/low-mood-and-depression/ [Accessed 05/12/2020]
"Point Of View" a short film from Doug Smith (2010) [Youtube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYZm7jB9YA4 (Accessed on 10/12/2020)
Sanders, J. (2016) Adaptation and appropriation. (Second edition) London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. At: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/detail.action?docID=308508
Screencraft. 2017. Ten Common Screenwriting Mistakes and How to Fix Them (online)
At: https://screencraft.org/2017/07/07/ten-common-screenwriting-mistakes-avoid/[Accessed 15/12/2020]
Writers Digest. 2017. Why Point Of View Is So Important For Novice Writers (Online) At: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/point-view-important-novel-writers#:~:text=Pros%3A%20The%20first%2Dperson%20POV,the%20reader%2C%20sharing%20something%20private.&text=A%20novel%20with%20a%20large,from%20a%20first%2Dperson%20viewpoint. [Accessed 15/12/2020]
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