Fiction Adaptation | Pre-production: Cast and Locations

Abdullah Ibn Abihi

For the role of Abdullah, I needed someone with dark skin and preferably a beard, so that they looked as if they were from the Middle East.  In the script, I also describe somebody with a beard which is important to show his religious beliefs as a Muslim.  Therefore, I asked my friend Imran if he could play the role of Abdullah and he was happy to oblige.  He has experience in filming projects with me before, and so we both know each others' strengths and we should work well together on this project.

Imran is also Muslim, and so I was able to ask him about the potentially delicate subjects that the film deals with so that I could make sure that I approach it sensitively and respectfully.  I also ensured he was comfortable with praying on camera, as this is traditionally a very personal practice.  He will also help me with the Arabic translations in the opening scene.

Support Officer

In the script, I wrote the role as a man however during the casting process, I felt that the gender of this character does not matter - the main role of the support officer is to be someone that is dealing with a refugee without knowing much about what they have been through.  Therefore, I chose to cast my sister, Nikki, as the support officer.  She has acted for me before and also works in as an office administrator, speaking with lots of clients in a similar manner to how she would be speaking to Abdullah.

Mother and Child

This role does not require much acting, and so I was not worried about ability here - I was mainly looking for a mother that was comfortable to allow herself and her child to be filmed.  I asked around and initially asked a family friend, who was happy to allow her baby to be on camera, but she herself was camera-shy so somebody else would have to play the mother.  I asked another family friend, Lauren, and she was happy to be on camera with her daughter.


I would have liked to cast actors I did not know using Mandy or another service, but due to the short turn-around and other time commitments I had, coupled with the uncertainty around my shooting locations, I did not feel comfortable asking people I did not know to commit to filming as I was not completely sure of how and where we would be filming.

Woodland

I contacted three different locations to shoot this scene.  Two of them were wooded areas that I had described in the script, but the third was a marshland area, which I feel would convey a more desolate and unforgiving landscape.  Here is what I sent to one of the locations (I sent more or less the same thing to the others):

One of the woodland sites did not respond at all.  The other woodland site responded, and after I sent them my risk assessments and application form, they asked for a fee of £200, which I was unable to fulfil.  Therefore, I was left with the third site - the marshland.  They got back to me and allowed me to film without question.  This was a blessing in disguise, as once we got to the shoot location, we found an area with lots of old ruined buildings and bricks which looked a lot like this could have been a warzone at some point.

Town Centre

For this location, I had to contact the Kent Film Office for advice as it would be in a very open public space with lots of pedestrians walking about.  I liked the idea Mike posed in my proposal feedback about placing a camera in a busy street and seeing peoples' reactions, which is what I am planning to do with the help of a high-vis jacket and a some release forms.

I am yet to hear back on my confirmation, however if it does fall through, I will film on a quieter road and try to use extras for this instead.

Office

I am in contact with the manager at an office where I filmed previously for another project, and he is willing to spare an office for our filming.  As this is such a busy shoot day and the office is located about a half hour drive away, I may have to compromise with shooting on this day - I may change the office scene into a sort of 'home visit', so I can film the support officer scene at Abdullah's home so we can save some time and get more filmed.

Home

I will just use my house for this, as it will be easiest and it will not be difficult to achieve the aesthetic I want to.

Fiction Adaptation | Pre-production: Script, Shot List and Schedule

After solidifying my narrative and proposal, it was now time to refine my idea into a script.  I used my proposal as a basis for writing the script, and afterwards I concocted a shot list to put my ideas on to paper as to how I want the film to look.

LINK TO SCRIPT

I made some changes to the story through the script-writing process:

• As Mike suggested, the story is now set in Britain, not an 'alternate Britain', and I have removed the attack so that now all the persecution felt by the central character is more psychological than physical.
• The central character was initially called 'Amal Ajam', 'Amal' meaning hope in Arabic, and 'Ajam' meaning foreigner/non-Arab in Arabic.  After consulting with Imran, the actor that will play this character, we have decided that he should be called 'Abdullah Ibn Abihi'.  Imran is Muslim and comes from a more familiar background than I do, and so his input here is important to ensure I deal with these issues respectfully.
• I have also added a small part at the end involving a mother and baby, which will help to enforce the line "but, having naught, I never feel alone and cannot use another's as my own", implying that Abdullah no longer has a family, as they are back in his home country - whether they are alive or dead is left ambiguous, but regardless, Abdullah cannot see them.

The plan is to shoot over three days - my main actor, Imran, has limited availability and so I have planned the shoot around this.  On the first shoot day, I aim to film the woodland and bedroom scene in two locations, meaning we will have to fit a lot into that day.  The second shoot day will be very short as I am only shooting the mother and baby which should not take more than an hour, if that.  The third shoot day, I hope to film the office and town centre, again, we will have to fit a lot of filming on this day.

Fiction Adaptation | Ideas Development and Proposal (+ Feedback)

Upon deciding on my poem I put together my proposal for what I would like to produce for this project:

Trespass

By John Clare

I dreaded walking where there was no path

And pressed with cautious tread the meadow swath

And always turned to look with wary eye

And always feared the owner coming by;

Yet everything about where I had gone

Appeared so beautiful I ventured on

And when I gained the road where all are free

I fancied every stranger frowned at me

And every kinder look appeared to say

"You've been on trespass in your walk today."

I've often thought, the day appeared so fine,

How beautiful if such a place were mine;

But, having naught, I never feel alone

And cannot use another's as my own.

Interpretation of Sonnet

I chose this sonnet as I felt I drew the most interesting interpretations from it and because this sonnet in particular works well in portraying a journey, which compliments adapting it for film.  The main theme I picked up on was ‘otherness’ and of wanting to fit in somewhere that the narrative voice is not welcome.  Therefore I have decided to base my adaptation on ‘Trespass’ around the story of an asylum seeker, trying to fit in to British life but struggling to integrate as a result of racially intolerant people in his new home town.

I feel this theme is appropriate and relevant due to the divisiveness that came about after the EU referendum and the rise in racially-motivated hate crimes toward ethnic minorities.  The Syrian refugee crisis has also contributed to this, sparking debates into how to deal with vast amounts of displaced people and their integration into different countries as a result of being forced away from their own country.  My adaptation will be set in an ‘alternate’ Britain under a more right-wing and intolerant government, to act as a ‘what-if’ scenario showing the worst of what could happen if right-wing political hate groups gain more traction and support in the coming years.

Certain phrases in the poem stood out for me to highlight the theme of otherness:

·        “feared the owner” – the ‘owner’ being native British people who may be persecuting the central character on account of his race, and the character fearing for their safety as a result

·        “trespass” – brings about the idea of not belonging and invading somewhere they are not welcome

·        “I never feel alone” – the central character is always being watched as an outcast

·        “cannot use another’s as my own” – lack of self-belonging

Synopsis / Beat Sheet

‘Trespass’ follows Amal, a 22 year old refugee who flees his home country to live in Britain, but is met by intolerance and discrimination.

The script itself is still in development, but I plan to include these key events throughout the film:

·        The story begins with Amal running through the forest – he is being hunted down by soldiers.  He hides behind a tree and begins praying.

·        We then cut to the office where Amal is speaking to his welfare officer after he is granted asylum.  The officer is asking how well Amal is integrating into British society, and he is disheartened.

·        We see Amal walking through the street, constantly looking over his shoulder – we hear some heckling and racial slurs – Amal tries to ignore them but the voices get louder.

·        The screen cuts to black, then to Amal’s bedroom.  He is slumped on the bed, holding a bloody cloth to his head.  He looks to the side of his bed to a photograph of his family.

Vision Statement

I intend to utilise montage for my film to highlight the transition between Amal’s home country and Britain.  This will highlight the contrast between Amal’s life before and after leaving his country, and will also show similarities between his situation at home and in Britain – he is persecuted in both places and I will aim to depict this using montage and similar shots in both locations.

I would like to make heavy use of the visual motif of the Union flag to emphasise nationalistic attitudes of this version of Britain – I will also utilise colour grading with the red, white and blue colours to stand out and intimidate Amal.

I will also primarily use handheld shots to capture the sense of fear from Amal as he is running away from the soldiers and also when he is walking down the street being heckled.

In the scenes where Amal is praying, I also feel it would be appropriate to use a track to dolly in and out – I will dolly in at the start of the film to show Amal growing as he is growing hopeful that he will reach “the road where all are free” which I will then contrast with a dolly out to show Amal shrinking as his hopes are diminished as he becomes isolated through how he is treated in Britain.

I would also like to utilise the extreme close-up shot with a shallow depth of field so that the camera is well within Amal’s psychological space.

I also want to go all-out on sound design, as we are focusing on Amal, I want the audience to hear what he is hearing so that they feel what he is feeling.

Characters / Casting

·        Amal – the central character; a refugee that has been forced from his home country to live in Britain

o   Name means ‘hope’ in Arabic

o   Dark skin / dark hair / beard / middle-eastern accent

o   I have got in contact with somebody willing to play Amal, however I will post an advert on Mandy.com as there is a chance they are not available

·        Soldiers

o   We will not actually see these onscreen, but we will hear their voices – they will have middle-eastern accents speaking in Arabic (?)

·        Welfare Officer

o   White British / can be male or female

·        Racist hecklers

o   White British / predominantly male

Locations

·        Woodland

o   This will act as Amal’s home country as he is running away from the soldier and taking cover.  I feel shooting these scenes in a woodland area would portray Amal’s isolation, as the trees tower over and encompass him, mirroring the eyes watching him as he walks through the streets of Britain.

·        Office

o   This is where Amal will meet with his welfare officer – this will be somewhere bleak and uninviting.

·        Street

o   Typical British street, with bunting and Union flags if possible.

·        Bedroom

o   Amal’s bedroom is a small, almost claustrophobic space, highlighting his isolation and entrapment.

I also found some images online to support the aesthetic of my film:

Mike seemed to like my proposal, and said that whilst it was ambitious, it could be a very effective piece if executed well.  He also asked whether the story needs to be set in an 'alternate Britain' - my reasoning for this is that whilst there is a lot of division and intolerance in our society at the moment, I did not feel that we are at a point where somebody from a different ethnic background would be beaten up just for walking down the street.  We decided it would be better if I aimed to create a more accurate representation of Britain, and also if removed the attack from the film.  I feel this is the right choice to allow myself to create a realistic Britain and to highlight that there is disparity between certain ethnic groups and communities within Britain, without the need for depicting violence, which could come across as hyperbolic.

Mike also asked what the resonance of the film was; what was the parting message?  I feel that the resonance of the film should be to bring attention to the intolerance that is present within our society, especially in the wake of Brexit which seemed to validate peoples' insecurities about ethnic minorities integrating into British culture.  I would be very pleased it my film could shed some light on how non-British people may feel isolated and persecuted in Britain because of other peoples' prejudices.

He also asked how I would aim to incorporate montage into the film.  I would do this in a similar way to my experimental film; by splicing short clips from different angles to highlight the fear of persecution.  I would also use montage to create parallels between the central characters' persecution in his home country, and in Britain by using shots from his home country in context with Britain.  Mike also suggested that I could place a camera in a town centre to see real peoples' reactions, to create a genuine sense of being watched and of isolation.  This will be a logistical challenge, but something that I would like to incorporate to add to the authenticity of the film.

Fiction Adaptation | Experimental Piece + Camera Movement Workshop (7th September 2017)

Today we were in the studio looking at different camera movements, and what effect they have in terms of generating emotion, tone and meaning.  The eye is drawn to the movement in a frame, so moving the camera can guide the audience's reading of a scene, and diffuse / destroy / weaken a scene's dramatic conflict.

1. Dolly (or track in/out)
1. Can be used for a reveal, to build intensity, or to follow movement
2. Pedestal
3. Truck (or crab)
4. Pan
5. Tilt
6. Roll (or Dutch tilt)

For our experimental pieces, we had to chose between four themes to demonstrate using the camera movement and editing techniques we had learned in the previous weeks.  I chose fear (out of fear, despair, hope and joy), as I felt this would be the most relevant to my adaptation.

I chose to demonstrate this in a fairly simple way.  I got my actor, Will, to sit on the ground, curled in a ball and rock as if afraid and I emphasised this with the camera movements and editing.

We experimented with using the track and dolly, as well as with the jib and fig rig.  I felt the track and dolly worked nicely to bring the audience either into the action or away from the action.  I decided to use the track and dolly to enter a character's psychological space by tracking in towards them.

I chose to use the dolly and the jib to isolate Will in the frame, and I also utilised the depth of field to add a sense of mystery to the shots.  I applied some basic yet drastic colour grading to bring out the dark tones and saturate the red colours to lay a sinister and dark foundation.  I also interjected some fast cuts of different camera angles to bring about some distortion and unease.  Combined with the sound design, I feel this has been effective in portraying fear, and also tension, in my experimental film.



I would like to use these techniques in my film, particularly the montage, as I would like to create parallels between one location and another.  I also want to ensure that my sound design is on point to ensure that I build tension to bring out the feeling of isolation that my character is going through.

Fiction Adaptation | Montage, Animation and Timelapse (14th November 2017)

Soviet Montage:

• Origins from Bolshevik revolution - the government recognised film as a useful way to influence the people
• Kuleshov Effect:
• The audience creating meaning from the intersection of shots without context - juxtaposing two images together to create meaning
• Discontinuity editing
• Intellectual montage
• Two unrelated things coming together to create meaning
• Kuleshov conceptualised this idea by cutting a shot with a face between food (to create hunger), a corpse (to create a sense of mourning) and a lady reclining on a sofa (to create desire)
• Eye + water = crying
• Door + ear = eavesdropping
• Knife + heart = anxiety
• Tonal montage
• Combining shots with similar themes to reinforce tone and meaning
• Developed in the 1925 film 'The Battleship Potemkin' to highlight the innocence of the civilians contrasted with the brutality of the Tsarist soldiers

• Metric montage
• The pace/duration of the cuts affecting tone and tension
• Rhythmic montage
• Cutting to music and beats
• Overtonal montage
• A mix of tonal, metric and rhythmic

I would like to incorporate montage into my film as I feel it is a useful tool in conveying emotion and thought without being explicit.  Montage allows the audience to piece together themes and motifs in their head rather than relying on traditional exposition.

We also looked at animation and timelapse and I was particularly interested in the Johnny Cash Project, in which a Johnny Cash music video was transformed into a timelapse masterpiece by asking fans to draw over each frame which, when put together in sequence, formed an animated version of the music video:

By limiting people to the same tool, but allowing them to interpret the frame in any way they wanted to, they were able to create a very moving homage to the artist and his legions of fans.

Later on, I attempted attempt at a contrazoom effect using timelapse on a DSLR camera.  It did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but for my first attempt, I am pleased with it.  I aimed to enter the subject's psychological space whilst manipulating the background at the same time to give the impression of time passing much faster than it actually was.  I do not feel this would necessarily work in my piece, but this is something I would like to try in the future.  This would allow me to take a new and interesting approach to traditional camerawork, in which I would need to consider how each frame differs from the previous one with much greater appreciation.

My interpretation of the sonnet focuses on the isolation of the central character, therefore, I feel I can integrate the idea of entering their psychological space to enhance this.  I could achieve this with the use of close up and extreme close up shots.

Here is what I came up with [note: you may need to leave time for the .gif to load, it is quite a large image]:

Fiction Adaptation | Chosen Sonnet and Research

I have chosen to adapt John Clare's Trespass for my film, for a number of reasons.  Firstly, I feel I was able to draw the most varied interpretations from the source material, which has allowed my ideas to flourish into more succinct concepts for the narrative.  I was also drawn to the theme of isolation that I found in the sonnet which could be expressed by the new camera movements we have been learning.

Trespass

By John Clare

I dreaded walking where there was no path

And pressed with cautious tread the meadow swath

And always turned to look with wary eye

And always feared the owner coming by;

Yet everything about where I had gone

Appeared so beautiful I ventured on

And when I gained the road where all are free

I fancied every stranger frowned at me

And every kinder look appeared to say

"You've been on trespass in your walk today."

I've often thought, the day appeared so fine,

How beautiful if such a place were mine;

But, having naught, I never feel alone

And cannot use another's as my own.

The sonnet seems to follow a journey, which would compliment adapting into a moving picture.  The main themes of 'isolation' and 'otherness' could relate to  somebody travelling somewhere they should not be or even two people in a relationship that is frowned upon.  My favourite interpretation of this, however, is that this follows the story of a refugee who has arrived at a new country, only to be persecuted further, emphasising the sense of isolation found in the poem.

This was my first interpretation, and so I have looked further into the background of the sonnet and the poet, John Clare:

John Clare was an English poet, born in 1793 into a peasant family - his memorial labels him as the "Northamptonshire Peasant Poet".  Whilst still a child, he worked as an agricultural labourer and attended school at a local church despite his parents being illiterate.  In an attempt to save his parents from eviction, Clare offered some of his poems to a local bookseller, who passed them on to John Taylor of Taylor & Hessey (a publishing firm that had published for John Keats).

Clare grew up around the time of the Industrial Revolution, which saw many agricultural workers moving to cities to work in factories as work became more reliant on machinery.  The Agricultural Revolution also saw pastures plowed up, trees uprooted and common land enclosed.

In his later life, Clare was admitted to an insane asylum, where he would spend the final 20 years of his life.  He would rewrite poems by Byron and take credit for his work as well as claiming he wrote plays by Shakespeare, seeming to believe that he used to be these poets as well as several other personalities.

From my research, I can see the sense of isolation in Clare's work present in his life.  From being a successful and wealthy labourer to living in an insane asylum, Clare seems to have been ostracised throughout his life.  Therefore, I feel that I should pursue this idea of isolation and also a sense of 'otherness' in my poem.  I feel that my idea about a refugee who is persecuted in his new home would be a good route to take my adaptation.  I aim to diverge from the poem in its subject, but I will remain faithful to the original text by sticking to the basic narrative of a journey and by maintaining the themes of the poem.

Fiction Adaptation | The Brief (17th October 2017)

Before finishing our news project, we were briefed one of the options for our next project: fiction adaptation.  I had already decided that I would be choosing this option as I wanted to expand my creative and technical skills further before looking for work in the industry, and because this module offers a lot of creative freedom - I also could not commit time to the work experience on the professional practice unit with my job (and I miss poetry from my English A Levels).  For this module, we would be taking a sonnet and adapting it into a visual film using our own interpretation of it.

As an exercise to see how broad our interpretations could be, we looked at some haiku poems, analysed the imagery and the writers' possible intentions before creating a short piece from stock footage:

After killing
a spider, how lonely I feel 
in the cold of night!

Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)

• Imagery
• Killing / death
• Spider
• Cold / Winter?
• Nighttime / Darkness
• What is the writer's intention / what are they trying to communicate?
• For me, this is a poem about removing a person with a negative influence on your life - e.g. a romantic relationship gone wrong, or a former friend
• I feel the spider represents this person, and the narrative voice feels an empty void in their place now that they are gone, even though they were a 'spider'
• How might this be achieved visually?
• I want to show my interpretation by portraying a couple in a romantic relationship before cutting to one of the two waking up in the night ("in the cold of night") after breaking up, to reflect on the emptiness felt afterwards
• Does it need to be literal?
• I think this poem is very open to interpretation, so I do not feel it needs to be literal, however I am going to depict the loneliness through one character waking up alone as I feel this is an effective way to portray this visually.

Here is the finished result after about an hour of searching for footage and editing:

I liked that I was able to find two clips in the same place; one with two people enjoying each others' company, the other with just one person in the rain, which has worked effectively to show a change in their relationship.  I also feel my choice to match the beats of the music to the different shots worked well to create a rhythm which is then disturbed by the alarm as the change in relationship occurs.

Upon receiving feedback, I would agree that maybe this did not need the titles to show the actual poem, as we can see enough of what has happened through the visuals - the audience does not need to be spoon-fed the source material.

Overall, I think that I managed to capture my interpretation of the haiku reasonably well and I found the whole exercise quite fun as I had so much creative freedom despite working from a specific piece of source material.