Fiction Adaption (Finished Film)

Here is the finished film for my fiction unit, enjoy!

Fiction Adaption (Personal Evaluation)

   Overall, I am happy with my finished film. I feel that I have created a good film that even though it may not be relevant to the subject of war as the poem is, the fact that I have reworked the words of the poem to tell a completely different story. I am happy with the majority of my shots as I feel they were well framed and also my editing too, but I wish I filmed on a DSLR instead of the Sony EX. I think because of the shots where the murder takes place, I initially planned to have it be fast paced and have a more handheld feel. But due to the size of the camera and the fact I couldn't move much in the flat as the rooms and hallways were small I was unable to do this.

   I am happy with the music I have used in my film. I feel they are good pieces of music that accompany my film well for the scenes they are pieced together with. If I could have made any improvements, it would be that I could have hired a composer or musician to score my film. Maybe if I did this the outcome might have been even better music wise.

   Another aspect of my film I did not like was the fact of how far off from the poem it is. I did mention that I was happy with how I made it different from the original piece of work, but at the same time I don't feel that my film is a good adaptation of the poem. The project was to adapt a poem to a film in what ever way you want, but still, I wish I had some elements in my film to at least reference war or World War 1. If I did this I would do something more thought out than just including poppies, for example I could have replaced some sounds suitably with war sounds (e.g. the stabbing could have a gun shot sound).

   I am most happy with my background research and planning as I feel it is the most I've done on an individual unit on this course. Originally it was one of my weak points but I feel that I have improved a lot with it, but there are still parts I can improve on that I will work on in future units.

 

Fiction Adaption (Editing)

   When editing the film, I knew how I wanted to set it out, but I wanted to ensure that the fact the main character is imagining the murder. So to do this I have used bright white flashes to enter and leave her imagination through the Polaroid camera's flash. This won't be clear at first what the flash means but when the second one happens it will be obvious, and I have also added to this by having a flash effect play over it to highlight this fact.

Fiction Adaption (Filming 3)

   On this day of filming I had to film my opening shot of a field of grass. I decided to film this scene with a DSLR camera, instead of the Sony EX I had filmed my other shots with. This decision was made to add to the effect of shock when the rape scenes come up on screen as there will be some difference in detail of the image such as the brightness and bright colours. Also this footage will be slowed down and accompanied with the track by Moby. This is to add to the sense of calmness that will be put across to the audience, which will also add to the shock effect due to the contrast of the images.

Fiction Adaption (Filming 2)

   For my second day of filming, I chose to film at my partners flat. This decision was also made due to convenience of knowing the owner of the property and knowing already what I was able to do within the building and apartment.

   For this day, I was filming the rape scenes as well as the sequence of the victim confronting and murdering the man who assualted her. I asked Elodie (the victim) to bring two different outfits, and I asked the same from David Sandham (my other actor who played the assaulter). This was to make it clear visually that the rape and murder happened on different days. I did purchase some clothing for David to wear, only because of the fact it would be ripped due to his character being stabbed.

   With the rape scenes I did find it difficult to film due to the adult themed nature of the matter. Even with this in mind, I felt I treated filming these scenes with the upmost respect and professionalism, along with the actors too who were also professional. I decided to film these scenes last as I felt it would be easier for the actors to film these scenes after to getting to know each other for a bit before hand during the other shots being filmed. They did click and get on well when they first met but I am still happy with this decision as it was a precaution and boosted the likely hood of the scenes to be more authentic as the actors would be used to each other a bit more than when they initially met.

    I am happy with how this day went as it flowed easily without any serious problems. The only problems I had was with how some shots were either framed or I did not like how they looked all together. One of these shots was where David is sat watching television and how basic the shot was with not a lot happening in it. So to combat this I had him eat something which was a box of malteasers. This does sound silly and pointless but compared to how the shot looked originally with him not doing anything, was more visually interesting and I felt it added to his character as well.

   

Fiction Adaption (Initial Idea - 23 Music)

   I had to change some of my script again. This was due to the fact I found a plot hole with the fact that the main character was going to meet up with the man who assaulted her, which I originally planned to have her pretend to be someone else on the internet. I had to change it as I was unable to find a software (messaging app or site) to perform this on apart from Facebook, and I was also unable to create one either due to time constraints. So consequently, I had to remove my idea of using a sound scape in my film as the laptop element was removed also. So I had to find a backing track to accompany the murder and build up to it.

   I looked online for royalty free music and I came across two different tracks by Kevin Macleod, one called 'Come Play With Me' and the other 'Past the Edge'. Both on their own were okay to use, but I decided to play them together as they both sounded similar. When doing this it created a much more emotive piece of music to accompany my film. Both of these tracks were found on incompetech.com