Analysis of relevant films/adaptations

 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, 2002:103) The music builds as the film moves forwards and it reflects the tone of the piece; it fits with the sadder segments towards the beginning, as well as the more inspirational and bittersweet moments towards the end of the film. The way that music can completely change the mood of a film  is definitely portrayed here, and is a quality that has inspired my adaptation. I will be using music and after seeing this advert (short film) it made me realise the level of quality that music can add, hence making me deicide to use music whenever I want to make an audience feel something and take them in a certain direction. (in Ondaatje, 2002:103) For moments in which I want an audience to feel sad, I will use a lower paced music that is classical sounding, and for moments where I want them to feel happy and positive towards the end I will be using an upbeat pop song. Hopefully by doing this I will be able to add to the overall tone of the film and captivate the audience, as after all music should provoke an affective response in an audience, especially in adaptation. (Hutcheon, 2012:23)

Another technique that the film uses is showing a characters inner thoughts on the outside. The film does this by showing Tom's 'inner child' self projected onto his stomach. The audience are then able to see the contrast between his feelings now through his facial expressions and actions, compared to what his younger self would think. In the image below Tom is at a Christmas market and his mum is attempting to make him laugh. There is a constant battle between Tom and 'inner Tom' the whole way through the film and I felt that it was a great concept to show how somebody wants to feel and would have felt if they were happier, it also perfectly conveys "meaning, mode, and tone; as imagery should." (Brown, 2016:38) This concept has inspired my adaptation as I will be showing the protagonist when they are unhappy, and then their inner self will be reflected in the mirror looking back at her. I will use different costumes to convey that the character is feeling different emotions; when she is feeling sad she will be wearing a costume looking in the mirror, and her inner happier self will be wearing pyjamas looking back at her. Furthermore when she is feeling happier her inner self will be looking back at her in the reflection in the same pyjamas but will be much happier. I will use the same set up for both shots and then will mask down the middle to blend them together. Using this affect of showing the 'inner self' as they have in this film really accentuates how a character may be feeling one way, but deep down knows they can feel another if they learn to overcome their struggles. Hopefully I can try to create something similar in my film and it will have the same emotional affect on the audience as 'inner child' had on me.

 

Fig. 2 Tom's 'inner child' 

Finally the film shows younger Tom smiling and laughing a lot. I feel there is something more pure and  about laughter and it really adds more to the raw emotion of the film as it is so contagious. As I see Tom's 'inner self' smiling it is hard not to myself and i would love to mimic this with my film to make my audience feel the same. This has influenced me to make the decision to include a short sequence of shots of the protagonist in my film growing up and always smiling. This will relay to my audience that the happier 'inner self' has always been there. 

Black Mirror- Black Museum (2017)

Next I will be looking at a specific part of Black Mirror's Black Museum, which covers the story of Carrie, Jack and their son Parker. To give some context, Carrie and Jack had a son called Parker and when he was a baby Carrie was unfortunately hit by a moving vehicle. She ended up in a coma for a few years and one day Jack was approached by an experimental Medical Technologist who wanted to trial Carrie for a new concept. He took Carries mind and thoughts out of her body and placed them into Jacks brain, hence meaning that all existence of Carrie now lived in Jacks brain. This was so that Carrie could view Parker growing up and could view him through Jacks eyes. We see Carrie seated in an empty space and a massive screen is in front of her which mimic Jacks sight, as shown below. 

Fig. 3 Carrie viewing Jacks sight

As you can see she is viewing everything that Jack views. The sequences feel quit mystic and I feel part of this is down to the colour pallet used; it is all very bright and multi-tonal and brighter colours really contrast the dull ones in every shot. This segment really projects that in "visual storytelling few elements are as effective and as powerful as using colour." (Brown, 2016:69) In this wide shot we see a blue jacket and the colour of it really jumps out as it is contrasted with the tamer colours, and she is made to stand out as she is a threat to Carrie. This has inspired my adaption as I would like to use colour to engage my audience and make important subjects in every frame stand at as they do in 'Black Museum.' 

Fig 4. Carrie in the space

I really enjoy how we see Carrie and then the screen next to her as it not only lights her, but also creates something visually experimental which is very captivating and is something I would like to try out. I do feel that this has the potential to make a shot very busy and overwhelming, however because she is in an empty space and we see just her and the projection I do not feel that it would be overwhelming. This is something that I will have to take into consideration in my adaption as I do not want it to be visually too much therefore when attempting something similar I will film with an empty background behind me. I am planning to have sections in which the weather (lightning) reflects the protagonists mood and this will enhance the scene visually. I will be using a green screen to create the lightning source in the wide shot, however I also need to show the weather being projected onto the character as it would if there was real lighting and someone was looking at it as "lighting is the primary tool to establish mood."(Brown, 2016:109) Watching Black Museum inspired me to have the projector facing the character from the angle of the lightning source and playing flashes of white to mimic the weather. This will be very experimental however after seeing a glimpse of how effective projections can be I really want to try it. 

Fig 5. Projections on Carrie's face

Finally something that fascinated me in Black Museum was the use of projections on Carrie's face. As she looks at the screen projecting Jack's sight, it is reflected along with a high key light back onto Carrie's face. This was visually enticing as is different, experimental, and something not commonly seen in film. I would like to try this in the section of my film where the audience see a sequence of clips of the protagonist smiling and growing up. To make it more experimental I realised that I could project the same sequence onto the protagonists face at the crucial turning point of the film as she is starting to believe in herself. I will use a projector and will display the sequence and then shoot a mid shot of the myself acting in 4K to try and give off a similar effect to the one in Black Museum. When researching something that I realised is that "film projectors can be very noisy" (Brown, 2016:322) therefore I will shoot one version with the projector and one without and will use the audio from whichever works best. 

Project Smile (2015) 

Project smile is an inspirational short film created by Exythium Films. It is sequence of shots with a simple concept that follows individuals carrying out their day to day tasks and exhibits how easy it is to spread a smile. The part of the film that stands out most to me is the fact that there is no dialogue and it is just classical music. Music is vital to film making as it has the potential to take your film in a certain direction. (in Ondaatje, 2002:103) The fact that there is no dialogue allows the film to focus fully visually on the story, without realising the level of tone and emotion that the music can add. This is very experimental and has inspired my adaptation to have no dialogue as I feel it allows me to be more creative with music choices, as well as being experimental visually. It also lets the music fully set the tone of the piece aurally. 

Fig 6. Project Smile

Another technique that Project Smile uses it utilising moments of black screen and just giving the audience a moment to think and take in what they have seen visually. This is something I should take into consideration as I am planning to have quite experimental moments and it is a short film therefore having moments of black screen will give the audience a moment and will keep them from being overloaded. 

Finally, Project Smile uses angles to convey how a character feels about themselves. When a character is feeling slightly negative towards the start of their sequence we see them in a high angle shot and it replicates that they are looking down on themselves, however when they feel more positive and start smiling the angle switches and becomes a low angle as which makes the shot feel ominous (Brown, 2016:65) and as if they are looking up at themselves and feel better. I would like to use angles in this way in my film to reflect how the character is feeling and have the angle gradually change as the film goes on and she becomes happier and her positivity grows. I will be using the tripod to help me get the angle correct as I am creating my film as well as acting in it. 

Fig 7. Very slight low angle

Fig 8. Very slight high angle

List of Illustrations:

Fig. 1 Emmerson, S. (2021) McDonald's Christmas Advert. [Screenshot] In possession of: the author: Kent. 

Fig. 2 Emmerson, S. (2021) Tom's 'inner child' . [Screenshot] In possession of: the author: Kent. 

Fig. 3 Emmerson, S. (2021) Carrie viewing Jacks sight. [Screenshot] In possession of: the author: Kent. 

Fig. 4 Emmerson, S. (2021) Carrie in the space. [Screenshot] In possession of: the author: Kent. 

Fig. 5 Emmerson, S. (2021) Projections on Carrie's face. [Screenshot] In possession of: the author: Kent. 

Fig. 6 Emmerson, S. (2021) Project Smile. [Screenshot] In possession of: the author: Kent. 

Fig. 7 Emmerson, S. (2021) Very slight low angle. [Screenshot] In possession of: the author: Kent. 

Fig. 8 Emmerson, S. (2021) Very slight high angle. [Screenshot] In possession of: the author: Kent. 

Bibliography:

Christmas 2020 inner Child McDonald's UK (2020) [online video]  At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJntbYytPz8 (Accessed on 4.1.2021)

Ondaatje, M (2002) The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film. [online] At: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Conversations-Walter-Murch-Editing-Film-ebook/dp/B00B0CWCPI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=3 (Accessed on 4.1.2021)

Brown, B (2016) Cinematography: theory and practice: imagemaking for cinematographers and directors. [online] At: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/reader.action?docID=720723 (Accessed on 24/12/2021)

Project Smile (2015) [online video]  At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQdvAuxTMDE (Accessed on 4.1.2021)

Hutcheon, L. (2012) A Theory of Adaptation. [online] At: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1016075  (Accessed on 3.1.2021)