Sophie Emmerson TV Production Blog

This project was definitely the biggest learning experience that I have had so far when making films. When starting this unit and learning that I would need to make the entire thing on my own as well as acting I felt very apprehensive. I doubted my abilities and thought that I would really struggle with setting up the shot as well as being in it myself.  However, this has been the best thing that could have happened, in this unit I have learned so much about my abilities, and what I am capable of. I have learned so much from making mistakes and solving problems that occurred, but most of all I have grown a great level of film making confidence.  Creating an Adaptation: When creating my adaptation something that I kept in mind was that an adaptation was "an act of revision in itself." (Sanders, 2016:18) I focussed on the poem and how it can be adapted into anything with little limitations. After analysing the poem I was confident on my idea and this did help as it meant that I...

Adaptation is something commonly used when creating media as "all texts invoke and rework other texts in a rich and ever-evolving cultural mosaic." (Sanders, 2016:17) This suggests that all media forms impact each other and are influenced and inspired by each other. This leads me to believe that a film can be adapted into anything, from anything. This meant that from the start I knew that there were going to be little limitations when it came to adapting a poem into a short film, as it is not just relaying the story in a visual format, it is "an act of revision in itself." (Sanders, 2016:18) At the very start of the unit, we were given a selection of poems to read and choose one to adapt into a short film, and reinterpret the text.(Sanders, 2016:19) After carefully reading and making notes on each poem, the one that stood out to me the most was poet Howard Simon's "I Choose the Mountain." The main element of the poem that jumped out to me was the extre...

The workshops that I completed for Fiction Adaptation, as well as the further research that workshops influenced, heavily impacted my project. I was able to discover new, and exciting creative ways of expressing tone and messages to an audience through use of lighting, camera movement, colour effects, and montaging. This blog will discuss my learning during workshops, as well as my successes and failures, and finally how each workshop has impacted my work for Fiction Adaptation. The workshops for this unit inspired me to take the most risks that I have ever taken when creating a film in order to create a great impact and make it as experimental as possible in order to reflect the key themes that I would like to portray, as well as making it visually captivating and interesting. As Mike Nicholas said "The only safe thing to do is take a chance," which is definitely the approach that I took with this unit.  SOVIET MONTAGE WORKSHOP The first workshop that we completed was learni...

 Analysis of 3 relevant films/adaptations utilising filmic approaches and techniques which can inform your own adaptation Inner Child- McDonald's (2020) The first film that I will be analysing is the McDonald's 2020 animated Christmas advert 'Inner Child.' Even though it may be an advert, this short film is captivating and manages to successfully create a very large emotional tone within ninety seconds. It follows a young boy Tom and his Mum as Christmas time. We see subtle hints that Tom is suffering from grief but is trying to overcome it as his 'inner child' happier self is shown in his stomach and is trying to escape.  Fig. 1 McDonald's Christmas Advert The film is accompanied by a slow and melodic,  piano and voice cover of 'Forever Young.' The music adds so much to the film and makes it very emotionally moving as "when adapting a film, music functions as an emulsifier that allows you to dissolve a certain emotion." (in Ondaatje, 2002:...

Test shoots for this unit were extremely useful to me, especially due to shooting on my own. As I was directing, filming, and acting, I had to make sure that I had planned every shot in detail and made sure that I knew how I wanted it to be executed before filming. As I knew I would have a lot to consider during the shoot days, I tested all shots that I thought would be challenging to complete. As the adaptation that I am creating is going to be quite experimental, there were elements that I felt a bit nervous about shooting. However testing them gave me confidence and knowledge on how to set up the kit successfully to shoot when filming to create the desired effect. I combined research along with my own knowledge to help me during the test shots.  USING A GREEN SCREEN During the planning stages for this unit and idea development I came to the decision that I wanted to be experimental and have the weather reflecting the protagonists mood. At first I did not know how to create this ...

What is an Adaptation?  When researching the first aspect that I looked at is what actually is an adaptation. I have created multiple short films before, but I have never done an adaptation of anything. Adaptations are constantly circling the TV and Film industry as "all texts invoke and rework other texts in a rich and ever-evolving cultural mosaic." (Sanders, 2016:17) Hence meaning that you can adapt any media test into anything and there are little rules or limitations when it comes to adaptation, other than the idea deriving from the media form. Adaptation is "an act of revision in itself." (Sanders, 2016:18)  This was important for me to remember as to begin with I was a little worried about making sure that it perfectly represented the story that the poem tells. However after finding out that adaptations carry little limitations, it was exciting to have creative freedom when developing my idea. I wanted to stick quite closely to the story as a proportion of ad...