Fictional Adaptation Briefing

The Brief
 • This unit demands a developed application of production skills from planning through to completion, using an advanced creative methodology.
 • Research, plan and produce a short video for transmission that is a work of adaption derived from a literary source.

The Literary Source Sonnet • Traditionally, the Sonnet is a fourteen-line poem, which employs one of several rhyme schemes and adheres to a slightly structured thematic organization.

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.”  

Sonnet 100 By Lord Brooke Fulke Greville

 In night when colors all to black are cast, Dis;nc;on lost, or gone down with the light; The eye a watch to inward senses placed, Not seeing, yet still having powers of sight, Gives vain alarums to the inward sense, Where fear stirred up with witty tyranny, Confounds all powers, and thorough self-offense, Doth forge and raise impossibility: Such as in thick depriving darknesses, Proper reflections of the error be, And images of self-confused nesses, Which hurt imaginations only see; And from this nothing seen, tells news of devils, Which but expressions be of inward evils. 

Sonnets that we can use: https://myuca.ucreative.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-836344-dt-content-rid-891568_1/courses/RTVP5007_17/Sonnets%20for%20Adaptation.pdf 



Project Brief
“If it can be written or thought, it can be filmed” Stanley Kubrick

The challenge of literary adaptation is often about translating interior thoughts into action. Take the novel, for example: the author is able to tell you what the central character is thinking. This may translate into voiceover, but voicing over an entire film is unlikely to be a successful adaptation. It is only by turning these words into images that your story will deserve expression in a visual medium. 

Poems, however, can often focus on external description, revealing a moment in time with little story. In this instance, your challenge is to use this vignette as a starting point from which a story develops. Both the novel and the poem will have grown from a central, controlling idea that will guide you as you work.
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What? For this project you will be given a selection of poems from which to choose one for adaptation into a creative short film of no more than 5 minutes.
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How? The poem provides your inspiration and connects you to an author, an intention, an imagined/observed world, a character, a theme, a central idea, and a tone. You will identify and expand these properties, turning thoughts into behaviours, and behaviours into images and symbolic representations.

You should research and experiment to find the most creative expression of your given text.

Who is your poet? What world are they describing, and what is their perspective on that world?

Be creative, be bold and be original.

Record the production journey in your R&D Blog.
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When? Tuesday 14th November

Submit project proposals (Treatment/ Draft Script/ Mood board) for feedback. Include details of cast and locations.

Thursday 14th December (9am – 11am)

Final Submission of finished project to course hard drive and Youtube, followed by afternoon screening (details to follow).

Requirements

· All cast and locations to be sourced outside of the course unless discussed and approved by Tutor.

· Words from the poem must not be used for ‘exposition’ (ie. to tell the story. Adaptation requires you to exploit the power of visual narrative)

· Max 5 minutes in length, including opening titles and end credits.

· Music (if used) must be original or rights free.

· Each film MUST start with the same series title, designed by the group.

· Upload film to course hard drive and to YouTube channel.

Research & Development Blog

Your online R&D Blog will be assessed as part of the project.

You must engage with your Blog throughout the Unit, demonstrating the evolution of your thinking, visual research, experimentation, and production journey. Conclude with a project evaluation.

What to include:
 Contextual Research 
 Source material – poet, poem and background research

Edited outcomes from workshop exercises

 Camera movement and montage/time-lapse/ stop-motion

 Project Research

 Visual reference material/ mood board/ Location stills

 Any other research that you completed to aid the development of your project

 Development

 Initial ideas and how these developed

 Notes from Ideas Development Workshop

 What changes you made to script and storyboard, and why

 Production Notes
 Evidence of preparation and planning for your shoot, including:

 Shot listing, storyboarding, casting, location recces.

 Project Evaluation
 Critical reflections on the project (what worked, what didn’t, what did I learn? What could I develop?)