Fiction Adaptation: Cast, Script and Locations

I have developed my ideas further for "Being British" and have decided to abandon the idea of going back in time to different ages as I think this would be confusing for the audience as well as the logistics of many different locations as being difficult. 

I have chosen to do quite a lot with toys as I think it will help me get across subtly the idea of something being bigger than themselves. What I mean by this is, the poem is an expression of self discovery and how the voice feels compressed by other forces surrounding her, so if I use toys in a natural environment then it will make the surroundings look a lot more vast. 

For the scenes that talk about the war; I plan on having toy soldiers relaying the scenes of Dunkirk where soldiers were ship wrecked and washed up along shores where many died. On Minster Beach, there is a real shipwreck that has been on the beach for many years. I plan on making the toys line up in a march along the beam of the shipwreck. I will go to the beach and do a recce so that I know of the risks that will be involved with the shoot. As I am using toys, there shouldn't be a risk of injury other than for crew. I am unsure yet of whether or not to have the cast member in the scene or if she will necessarily be needed. 

I have also chosen to use a dolls house and make the characters inside come to life to portray the more difficult parts of the poem.  I've decided to use this to create a twist at the end with the protagonist leaving her house but it actually being the dolls house that she leaves. I've created the dolls house out of cardboard to show how she is missing her sense of identity on the outside but used brightly coloured fabrics for the inside to show how passionate she is about where she is from and her beliefs. 

I plan on doing stop motion filmmaking for this section as it will look really good to have the dolls moving on their own around the house to tell the story. With the help of some sound design I think it will really help to make the film exciting and interesting to watch. I need to consider how to light the dolls house to ensure that each room will be nice and clear on camera. As its a dolls house, I think lighting such as an Arri or the LED's will be too big and too harsh with the lighting therefore I think a simple spot lamp for a bedside table or desk will work better. 

To end the poem, I plan to have the protagonist getting ready for work, and using the bathroom mirror to have a piece to camera of the final paragraph. This is because it's quite an explanatory part of the poem and I think it would help make sense if she spoke to the audience directly. 

The character will then leave the house to go to work but will actually leave the Dolls house, making it representative to how she feels about her identity. 

The script I have written helps to identify the transitions between each paragraph of the poem. I also think it allows the reader to visualise each section:

The locations that I have chosen to shoot at are stated in my script however I will list them below as well. 

1. School Classroom. 

This will be at Rochester Grammar School as I have good access there with lots of school aged actors as I teach them at PQA on a Saturday 

2. The War Memorial in Sittingbourne

This is located on the outskirts of Sittingbourne Town Centre and will be perfect for my poem

3. Minster Beach

This is where I will be using the toy soldiers to represent a war time. There is a shipwreck on this beach as well allowing some creative film making to be made

4. Living Room

I am going to book out one of the lecture rooms at the Studios and use the sofas from the base room and then use some Arri lights to create a shadow effect on the walls around the sofa where I will have two people dancing as the shadows

5. Dolls House

I have made the dolls house out of Cardboard and will be using dolls to create the cast

6. My House and Bedroom

This will be where the last part of the poem takes place and it is more practical to film at mine as I have good access 

The cast that I will be having will be fairly small (minus the 30 school children). PQA have allowed me to use one of their classes and they are all keen and eager to be involved. I am holding an audition process next weekend however because of child protection, I cannot give their full names or post their audition tape online. I am auditioning 10 students that want to play the speaking roles. 

Looking on casting call pro, I have struggled to find the right person to play Mrs Rodgers. I spoke to Patricia who recommended someone who she has worked with before on other projects. She is called Kike Brimah.

 I am going to contact Kike and send her the script as well as the poem so that she can see whether she would like to be a part of the film. If not then I will look for back up options on other casting sites. 

When booking out equipment there was only one DSLR camera free and that was for December 3rd. This is cutting it very fine to the deadline however I am going to use this time to its best and make sure that all my shot lists and story boards are to the best and clearest they can be so that when it comes to the shoot days there won't be any dithering about what I want.