Research and Development Journal 02/10/15 (Fiction Adaptation Breif part 1)

With this brief the first thing to address is, what exactly is Fiction Adaptation?

By definition it is a genre of creative literature, film, drama or any other aspects of articular media that is imagined, and not entirely based upon fact.

It's the workings of adapting written text and applying it to the screen weather it be big or small. That is why we were asked to choose a poem and using this method create a short film (3 - 5 minutes) based on that particular poem.

As a film maker I have to look at the text for clues and use my imagination to visualize what I can do with the poem and create something original.

when it came to turning a piece of written poetic text into a piece of film, I remember doing something similar when I was in college. We where told to choose any poem and make a short film on it, although I may ad been very inexperienced when it came to adapting text and interpreting it but this was part of my earlier work.

The poem was called sunshine and I filmed it with my sister Kaye and I read the poem out loud and did not use text in the video:

Knowing I did this I decided to take notes after watching my old piece of work to mark down what I was going to do differently in my new brief:

• Use Text to show more of the poem being used in the film
• Maybe use of animation?
• Using the art of moving picture to tell more of the story surrounding the poem 
• Maybe use one location that best describes the whole poem

Next came choosing my new poem to adapt, and there was so many to choices and some were really power, funny, creative sometimes it was hard to choose between 2 of them.
But finally I decided to choose a poem written by Anthony Anaxagorou titled "Broken Shells" the poem (as I can intemperate from it)  is about this man writing about his childhood within a poem his writing about the truth and resembling it as a single egg.  A boiled egg is like the truth as it is described in the poem, "The Contents is soft and sensitive some can handle it" (Anaxagorou, 2011) to me it's saying that the truth can be quite hamful when telling it the wrong way. Treat it softly and the tuth or (the egg) will be in tact and enjoyable to eat. But when approached the wrong way egg can be damaged and the tuth would be broken and possibly turned into a lie.

As the poem develops he comes across a young boy who sit beside him and is asked to finish his poem for him but as the boy is writing the man sees that the handwriting is in fact similar to his own. Saying that the man remembers his previous love partner and she would always boil him an egg every Sunday, the boy uses the egg metaphor and then finishes the poem by saying that his mum always boiled him an egg and that he never knew his father. So I believe there is a twist, the man writing the poem is in fact the farther of the young boy.

Here is the full poem "Broken Shells":

bibliography:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86wENeDr8u8
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fictional
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giGGPypnN-0

Research and Development Journal 27/09/2015 (Digital News Production Part 2 - More Ideas)

What has developed?


The name:
Our new name after our first team meeting is now "Scriptline" with our motto, "Keeping Actors Connected".

Our brand colours,  green and black were still the same but our angle was still the same.

Figure 1. Green Pulse (2014) [Image] At:http://www.cartoontreasure.com/green-pulse-free-desktop-wallpaper.html (Accessed on 27/09/2015).




From our meeting with Helen (our tutor for this brief), we came to a realisation that when it came to our pre recorded package news segment about the acting course of UCA, we determined that it was not news as much it is more promotional which was not what we were going for so in time we had to think of something else.


Until we did we then decided to give each other other roles in the group.

Plamen was going to help us with connections and calls so we get our filming dates set.


Alex was going to help with equipment booking and possibly transportation.


Myself, I'm doing the designing our logo intro and constructing the website for our online news program.


With our roles in the group now given it was now time to get a move on and make some news.

Research and Development Journal 23/09/2015 (Digital News Production Part 1 - The Idea)

Group:
Lawrence Sedgwick (Picture1), Plamen Dimitrov (Picture 2), and Alex Barker (Picture 3).

As part of this new brief we were put into groups that will work together to produce a two and a half minute news program which will contain:

• A unique animation intro with the name of our news company
• An OB (Outside Broadcast)
• A pre recorded story

The concept/ brand: 

Our name (so far) is Lime Light News, our edge, to help and interview upcoming actors from University courses and how to help them get into the industry of acting, film, and tellevission.

When making our website it will consist of Lime Green colors and have a techno feel to it, to symbolize electricity going through a light bulb and them the light shines upon the actor, hence the term spotlight.




Our locations:
(OB) This idea of ours is still in the possess of finalizing as we are planning to get into the London Film Festival and record the event and interview actors or directors.

Figure 1. BFI London Film Festival (2014) [Image] At: http://www.theperfectman.me/premiere-steve-jobs-to-close-59th-bfi-london-film-festival/ (Accessed on 23.09.15)








Why this location?
With the help of one of our peers, Plamen Dimitrov, he has been granted special access into the festival itself. Plus with this wide space we can easily plant a camera and quickly get set up. The only concern I have so for is the level of noise as there will be a large audience attending this event. So sound might be a little bit of an issue but if we book a boom mic with a wind shield the quality of our sound might improve. 

Figure 2. 48 Hour Film Challenge (2015) At: http://sci-fi-london.com/48-hour-film-challenge (Accessed on 23.09.15)

Figure 3. The Closing Night Gala of the festival will be taking place on Sunday October 18th at the ODEON Leicester Square (2005) [Image] At:http://www.theperfectman.me/premiere-steve-jobs-to-close-59th-bfi-london-film-festival/ (Accessed on 23.09.15)




What will take place while we shoot?

Hopefully interviews with actors and directors, the questions shall consist of advice for actors and how the actors themselves got into the industry. With the directors (if we choose to film them)  the question will consist of how actors approach them and how directors work with actors in curtain ways to bring out their full potential.



Our pre recorded package:

There's a University for the Creative Arts in Farnham with a course that has opened specially for acting. With this we will film the course in action and show some of the actors participating within their course criteria. Interviews with some of the student will be included to help other people who are interested in acting to not only take part in the course but to also help increase to popularity of the University. With one of us as the presenter, we will interview the students with their opinions and thoughts on the course and dive in deeper with an interview with the course head tutor.

Figure 4. UCA BA (Hons) Acting & Performance page (2015) At:http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/ba-acting-performance (Accessed on 23.09.15)





The location itself will be easily accessible as well are UCA Students although I would imagine we  may need a  permeate or a contact at the University so they know we're coming.


Although we haven't seen the inside of the facility itself, I imagine it will be an inside job so sound might not be such an issue unlike our OB. Knowing it's acting there must be plenty of space for actors to express themselves whist being on the course so I'm confident that we can set the camera in respectable places.


How are we going to get to these locations?
We a going by car as it is cheaper and in some cases easier to get to the University and the festival plus it will help us when carrying heavy equipment such as Lights, Cameras, Tripods ect.


So far our idea is coming together and we are already setting tasks to ourselves which is good so all there is now is to see how our New Production develops.

One Year of Photography

Over the past year I have used my Nikon D5200 to take pictures and I have decided to do a photo year recap of my best photography moments of my life as well as my friends as well.

Using Final Cut Pro X I made separate folders to create a picture sideshow showing an entire 365 days of my photography while also putting filming footage to amp up the entertainment. The result was this...

Calm Before The Con - Reflection

Initial Ideas and Testing:
When I thought of comic con as part of my documentary piece I thought it wouldn't have worked as comic con was going to held in May when the documentary was due in.
But then it hit me… If I couldn't go to comic con, I could go behind the scenes of comic con to show the people and fans that the famous convention brings in every year around the world. Which made me think of an edge in which to tackle the documentary….

My first Idea was to shows three aspects of comic con...

• The fandom
• The gaming community 
• The cosplayers 

With these topics in mind, I thought of finding three characters to represent those topics to get the best out of characters as well as the segments they felt most passionately about.


When me and my partner Plamen showed our first rough cut of our documentary to our tutor, she told us that we needed to concentrate more on the characters. So I had to rethink my idea and new idea was to show more of a passional side of my characters which Plamen and myself managed to get from our interviews with them. We had a puzzle but just all the pieces were in the wrong place, all we had to do was find the right pieces and put them in the right order.



Written Pitch and Synopsis:

THE CALM BEFORE THE CON

Tag Line:

A survival guide explained through 3 teenaged individuals about what it's like to be at one of the biggest pop cultural events in the world, comic con.

Because when comic con starts the place where it is held will be packed full of people estimated to be around up to 100,000 people. Because when you get incise the centre of where it's held, it is like a battle ground to get to where you want to go.






Research and Development:


What Really helped with my research was the fact that our documentary had the aspects of fantasy and fiction to it.


I found a documentary about one of my favourite concepts... Dragons!!!
The Last Dragon (2004)


























This Documentary (although it was fake) showed what historians thought dragons looked like and what they did to serve. This also showed a story where a young explorer comes across a dragon specimen and by analysing it do covers it's nature and it's origin.

The techniques in this production was more like a film when it comes back to the story of this explorer. Close ups, still wide shot of his surrounding with the dragon and the places he goes to, it feel like we are following this man though out his journey but then becomes more of a documentary when the footage of the dragon as humans thought where like in the past comes on and like documentaries such as the blue planet, a narrator comes on and explains in detail what dragons prodigally did to service.

But yet due to it's infirmity and music, I was hooked to see if this dragon really was for real because being a dragon fanatic I was glued to the screen, hearing how the dragons served, how the DNA mutated, and how their bodies could produce fire.




Comic Con was also about creativity and the art of making and constructing costumes. I found a documentary on Netflix showing that similar proses called Being Elmo (2011).

Showing the life of puppeteer Kevin Klash, the documentary showed how he became fascinated by puppets and how he makes them come to life by constructing colourful characters that are loved by many children.


This shows the same passion for people who like to make cossplay costumes as well as what they do with their talent by being a totally different person.


Using lots of images from his past this documentary showed a progression from childhood to adulthood pursuing a dream. The quality was quite higher then I anticipated and showed behind the scenes on how Seseme Street was made, some information I didn't even know which got me surprised and once again due to it's infirmity I was hooked to watch more and more.





My 3rd Documentary I came across from Netflix, Video Games: The Movie (2014)


The Movie, a feature length documentary, aims to educate & entertain audiences about how video games are made, marketed, and consumed by looking back at gaming history and culture through the eyes of game developers, publishers, and consumers. The film is not just another film about the games industry, but attempts something much more ambitious; the question of what it means to be a 'gamer'.

This documentary had a lots of interviews from game makers and developers but I admit what got me hooked on this documentary was in fact the celebrities who are interviewed on this production. Because in some cases (especially for me) it's something you don't see very often, popular celebrities playing computer games.


Using a lot of fond footage from games and plenty of commentary this film showed me what it was like to be a gamer. For some including our interviewer Liam, they did feel like they were isolated and anti social but to them video games are a way of seeing the world in a whole new way. Seeing it from a more exciting, less stressful, and magical kind of way that lets their imagination take hand as they go on an adventure into their computer screens.




Visual References from shooting:

Production Prep:


Early Stages of The Script (First Draft)

Public Release Forms:






Refection Overall:

What went well -
The cooperation of my interviewers who helped us out so much and thanks to them we managed to get the project done before the deadline.

The way they represented their each of the segments as well as other question to the best of their abilities and it even went to the point where they were telling person things about themselves and how that tied into their passions and interests.


What didn't go so well - 
The organisation for this very stressful at first after the previous muck up that me and Plamen did when it came to our first documentary idea which didn't go so well in terms of people not cooperating to be interviewed. Therefor in came to a point where me and Plamen had to drop the idea and go straight to the comic con idea.

Our teamwork was lacking as well. Since me and Plamen are lone film makers it was hard for us to put faith in each other. But slowly but shorley we admitted we needed to spend more time together making the project instead of keep our distances and leaving the other guy in the dark.

Continuity for another thing. With the interview with Rhiannon our cossplayer, we forgot the clip mic had to go under her shirt so the wire couldn't be seen. When we saw that mistake it was so embarrassing but we took it as a side of learning as this really was our first time making a documentary.

The sound was all over the place. The sound from where we interviewed Liam Terry had an annoying background noise which came from our clip mics and we couldn't get rid of it. Rhiannon Was too loud as well which was really uncomfortable as well.

What to do next time - 

• Be better prepared for the worst so you can move on to another idea if one goes wrong.
• Better teamwork and to have faith in your partner/ team.
• Make sure to get to grips with more of the documentary terminology and make sure that the mice are set up correctly.
• Better Setting up the shots in terms of lighting, and shot types. (e.g. Mid shot showing head to shoulders)
• Make sure sounds levels are 100% smooth for each shot

Conclusion:

This was a very fun project to make and was an experience that has strengthened the bond between me and my Bulgarian friend Plamen and taught us lone film makers the meaning of the word team work. From a serious idea termed into something weird and fun, showing real teen lives and the spirit of their passions and fandom when it comes to this special event.

The New Idea - THE CALM BEFORE THE CON

The therapy idea had to be put down due to complications but me and Plamen decided to do something a lot easier. With all of these creative students around the Rochester campus I knew just the idea. COMIC CON, I remember seeing one of the 3rd years student's work on comic con but I thought I would take a different approach.

In this student's work she interviewed people dressed up as fictional characters and they were pretending to be them though out the rest of the interview, which was a really cool twist on it.
I thought I could do a behind the scenes take on the event by showing teenagers who have went or have always gone to this convention and show what they do to prepare themselves for it, but also to share what they get out of this event.

I thought of the title:
THE CALM BEFORE THE CON

Because when comic con starts the place where it is held will be packed full of people estimated to be around up to 100,000 people. Because when you get incise the centre of where it's held, it is like a battle ground to get to where you want to go.

Tag Line:
A survival guide explained through 3 teenaged individuals about what it's like to be at one of the biggest pop cultural events in the world, comic con.


I have three people to help me in this project in terms of the interviews:


Francesca:

































Liam:



































Rhiannon:

Documentary Update

Some Ideas Don't Go Right:


From our previous idea, me and Plamen decided to do a documentary on Bulgarian immigration with a sense of finding your true home.


We had an idea of placing Plamen in the centre of this production by telling his story as well as other Bulgerians around Kent... If we could find any.

We found a school in Rochester which had Bulgarians coming to class every Saturday to learn English. Me and Plamen set to work on this production.

What went well:
We thought the location and getting our idea down went well. We knew what we wanted and knew how to get it but then came the hardest part.

What didn't go so well:
Our pitch to our tutors didn't go well as Plamen decided to change the documentary title at the last minute without telling me.

What we wanted was teenaged Bulgarians but they were not so easily found and to be gotten held of.

Our idea was put out for other parents at the school to see if they had any teenaged sons or daughters who could have been interested to participate in our documentary. But none of them have responded.


What this has led up to:

Me and Plamen's idea can not work as there has been a major issue.

Nobody was interested obviously in this because we didnt receive any e-mail. Iuliana (Our friend from the school) said that she gave out the leaflets to promote our film idea to the parents on Saturday (the 28th of March.......) but there is no guarantee that she was not lying but there were no responses and Plamen very, very disappointed and we had to think of another idea. (THE GOOD NEWS) We then had one other idea...

Equine Therapy!

Plamern's mum first introduced me to this quite interesting way of treating people with mental issues. I think it is really current (depression, mental illness etc.) it can be under the category of health and we can interview a teenager with some sort of disability as well as a teenager who is a son/daughter of parents with disability - the possibilites are endless, as long as there are young people involved somehow which I think won't be a problem.

There are a 4 or 5 places that practice this in Kent, there may be even more. You can write "equine therapy Kent" in google to find out.

So, the plan is we will swing by 1 or 2 of these places to get some information and permissions to film in these practice places and I will update you immediately on what has happened there.

We really have to get a move on.