Poet - Anthony Anaxagorou
An award winning poet, performer, educator, and has published 8 volumes of poetry. He comes from central London and is of Cypriot origin which is Greek but he was born in England. He was one of the first young poets to win the London Major's Poetry Slam.
Why did I choose him?
His words were very powerful, he works revolve around politics, racism, education, poverty, all of these can be found in his poetry. His writing style almost makes me think that he is talking directly to me and his descriptions are often spiritual but at the same time they have a sense of reality and you can also relate to it which combined can be very powerful.
Poem - Broken Shells
The poem, according to the poet is about trying to capture two diametrically opposed truths. One being more scholastic and the other more sensual.
The poem is fictional with the twist presenting itself in the end when the reader is made aware of the narrators double standards.
The idea of truth being a single egg refers to the oppression of women and the corruption of men (particularly politicians and lofty speakers) in this instance.
All in all it's about the power in which men have and the truth being what they doing with it, too much power can be a bad thing because some men don't know what to do with it.
Actor - John Redding
John is a part time stand up comic as well as well an actor. He has a very passionate and expressive personality which drew me to him. He agreed to be part of my filming and he and I had a couple of meetings and online chats so we knew what we were working on and how we were going to film the production.
As he talked to me for the first time I imagined him reading my poem and when directed the right way he could bring more emotion into the piece. He had the right tone and look to be a powerful character and yet at the same time a sensitive, expressive and somewhat vulnerable character as well.
Locations -
River side Country Park Rainham:
Why did I choose this location?
My research into this location lead me to two things about Riverside Country Park which I liked and could use in the poem.
- The old rusty broken down boat
I wanted this in my film to show symbolism of life which in some terms
is what I thought the poem was all about, especially at the beginning.
The boat is rusty, old and not doing it's job anymore, I had a thought
on what if machines have feelings? This boat (back in the day) I
imagined what it was like back in the day when it was young, brand new
and had a purpose by helping people crossing the water. But now it's
rusted and abandoned and my character comes to this boat and measures
it like as the poem says "You weren't made just to die".
- The Power plant
At Riverside at a distance you can see a massive power plant that I
wanted to represent the power and corruption of men and how it's
destroying our planet as it's described in the poem.
I had planned to do the beginning of the poem with my main character going to a old broken boat on a beach to then look at a power plant in the distance in resemblance to the corruption of power by men and the boat being the symbolism of human life.
Development -
Day one:
- The idea was to shoot at Riverside Country Park first and then record my actor reading the poem so I could start work on the edit immediately.
- The park was nice and empty, there were a couple of pedestrians but they didn't really get in the way.
- It was a nice clean shoot, no accidents, no trouble, and the weather was on my side that day as the sun made some of my shots come out even better then I originally thought.
- Recording the voice was harder than I thought, at first the volume of my actor's voice came out too strong and I had to find a way to turn it down. When I found the right volume the recording went forward. The session lasted for at least an hour and because my actor couldn't stay for long but for some of the lines he nailed them perfectly.
Day 2:
- With voice recorded, and the beginning parts shot all there was to do was the bench scene but this was where one of the main changes occurred. My original plan was to do the second part of the poem at Cossington Park Rainham but since Riverside had everything I needed and because the park was quite empty and quiet I thought I would be better to finish the shoot at Riverside.
- The weather was still nice for the shot but the wind was agin the problem so I could record any nice ambiance for my piece.
- When it came to the journal scene I had to make sure to get as many shots as possible, even though I planned some shots in my head I tried many different angles in order to get as much to work with as possible.
- At the end of it all it was a very nice and uninterrupted shoot, I always liked shooting out doors and I felt that it went better than my director's brief although I did think that next time I should shoot at an indoor location.
Testing my ideas:
- 50 Frames per second - Workshop experiment
Using 50 frames per second and adding slow motion to make the feel of a shot more powerful.
For my workshop experiment I got my camera and then stated recording things with help from a fellow first year, Leo Baruzzo.
This footage I me using my Nikon D5200, filming at 50 Frames Per Second, and slowing down in editing:
Testing the idea in editing:
- As I thought, not a problem and it came out how I envisioned.
- My favorite shot I when John is walking with a tracking close mid shot of his face looking into the distance
25 word pitch -
A man who has lost everything recalls lessons from his unknown father and loving mother as he reflects on his life and describes the truth.
The Script:
Script - Broken Shells
Script development -
- One location was deleted
- The egg shot at the beginning was deleted and replaced with animated text.
Were there any changes?
- Instead of using 2 locations, Cossington Park Rainham being one of them, it was left to just Riverside Country Park as the rest of the film could be done on that location.
- Most shots where changed as I had planned to use the track and dolly but could not be used for filming on location as I did not have the permission from the Kent film office.
- The original ending was changed from having text appearing from my actor's head to just a close up as that was more powerful.
- Many different shots were added such as the flower and close up of the boat. Different shots of my actor writing in his notebook such as the shot focusing on the power plant and then a cut but to my actor.
Prep and Planning for shoot:
Story Boards -
Release Form for Actor - (Confidential information covered)
Kent Film Office Permit -
Evaluation:
What went well:
The chemistry between me and my actor, he knew what I wanted and wasn't afraid to ask what I wanted and helped me to see if I could make any shot better.
The weather was all a stroke of luck. I had the right amount of sunlight and some shots came out better then I expected.
The slow motion went really well, with my last experiment I knew what to do and using the 50 frames per second function on my camera I managed to get the right speed and feel to my piece.
The voice of my actor was exactly as I wanted it, he had the right feel, the right tone, every was to my liking.
Some shots came out really well, I'm glad that I managed to get as many shots as possible so I had more material to work with.
What didn't go so well:
Some recording sessions were a little unprofessional because I had to use my digital recorder. I would have used the studios microphone but since as my actor was only free of a couple of days and had a time frame so I couldn't get into the studio for a proper recording.
The weather had it's bad points as well, dispute it being really sunny the wind was absolutely terrible and because I had a very sensitive microphone the ambience was all muffled and I couldn't hear any birds or anything else, just the wind.
Some aspect of the sound design was a bit of a let down as I didn't have much ambience sound recorded to amp up the feel of my piece. So I had to book out a recorder and microphone from the studio and record some ambiences I could use to see if that would help. Some of the recording came out ok, but most of it were of people, traffic and the noises of the satellites from the studio.
I was planning to have a track and dolly on my shoot but due to complications from the Kent film office I could have the track or dolly on location.
What I could I have changed:
I would have changed my sound a lot depending if I had more time I would have worked more on the sound.
I would changed a few things to the animation of the text to make it more fluent and stand out.
What I would do next time:
- Next time be prepared for weather problems and record ambiance earlier as back up so my sound design would be more professional.
- See if I can get locations that would allow me to use the equipment I wanted to use so my work can look ever better.
- Get down more than just one idea, let the poem inspire you to imagine it in a different way so you can come up with other ideas that could make it stand out more.
Conclusion:
I have truly understood the power of poetry and the spoken word and how it applies to media. The poem I have chosen truly made me think outside the box and if given all the time in the world, I could have adapted this in many different ways. Poetry is still relevant today, and I have also learned that there are still many different people out there who are willing to express themselves throughout the art of poetry and when using the power of media can make their voices heard even louder so that their soul can be heard across the world. Like any project there were some flows that couldn't be helped but like any let down, we learn from, so if I can quote my poet:
'So stand in the present, draw for the future, and shoot with all the ammunition of the past" (Anaxagorou, 2015).
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