Fiction Adaptation: Film - Cinematography Ideas

As I will be filming in the next week or two (dates still to be confirmed), I have begun planning on what camera I am going to film on, as well as beginning to look at post-production: the effects I am going to add to my film and its cinematography.

Flashbacks

Example of the colour I plan to use

As I've previously mentioned, I aim to use flashbacks to enable the audience to learn and understand the strong relationship of my two characters. To show that this is a flashback, I plan to use the sepia colour tone instead of normal. This indicates not only the sort of colour you would expect to see in the first world war era (e.g. as most newspapers were brown) as well as being a clear change from the normal colour which I will be using. 

As well as this, I also plan to use subtle sound effects to exaggerate that a flashback is apparent. Below is a similar example of what I plan to use for the noise. It needs to be very quick and not too loud that it may cause confusion on what the noise is - it has to be clear on what it is.

I could also use a subtle soft focus to show that it is the past, however cannot be blurred to much otherwise it may distort the image and become too distracting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3tl4Wh7vD4

Exaggeration on Symbolism

As I plan to use the symbolism of roses to explore the emotions of the female character, I need to make sure that I portray this symbolism to an extent which is noticeable however not distracting. This is where I came up with the idea of slightly adapting the tone and lighting dependent on which rose is evident at the point in the narrative.

For example, the red rose signifies romance. This is a much more positive and enthusiastic tone therefore I could make the image seem sharper and much more vibrant - relating to the emotions of the couple and the strength of their relationship. Additionally, I could even add a red tint to the film which works very ambiguously in terms of its signification - it could either signify the love of the couple or even the upcoming danger which is apparent within the narrative. Nonetheless, I will discuss this further once I begin editing.

In terms of the white rose, the tone would become less enthusiastic and positive as the female is now becoming vulnerable. This could then lead to a slightly darker (yet noticeable) lighting as well as the tone becoming less sharp and potentially normal.

This will then lead into the ending starting from when the female realises that her husband has been killed. The whole mood needs to look alot less positive and instead become very emotive and create a cold and lonely feeling which the female character can relate to. This could be done by making the lighting very dull and slightly dark, not forgetting using any effects which can desaturate the colours to make the whole image look much more bland.

Establishing Time-lapse of Sunset

As the beginning of the poem starts with "On London fell a clearer light, caressing pencils of the sun", I thought that I would open the film with an establishing shot looking at a village, giving hints as to where my poem will be set. As well as this, I thought that a shot showing the sunlight drop would be significant, as it reinforces this idea of "a clearer light" falling on London.

Example shot of the sun setting at my location

Therefore, the use of a time-lapse will be able to show this sunset thus linking to the poem. I need to make sure firstly that you can see the sunset from the location I am filming, otherwise I'll need to find a different location which has a similar view.

To my right is an image of the sun set where I plan to get mine, showing that it is doable. However, as we are coming to winter the sunset will be alot earlier and quicker, as well as the weather likely to have an effect on it (the shot won't look as good if it rains).

Montage of Female Character

In one of my scenes, I also aim to show a small montage of the female character as she becomes angry because she hasn't heard back from her husband. The main reasons why I've decided to use this montage is purely to intensify the drama for my film - it should begin to start to make the audience feel slightly uncomfortable which additionally will make the audience create sympathy for the female character, thus gaining this connection with the character.

Nonetheless, this montage will intervene with archive footage of the war to show why she is angry, as she misses her husband. As I am undecided with the living room location, I will only list the shots which won't be involved with the living room. Some of the shots of the montage will include:

    - M/S of her "pulling" her hair
    - L/S of her throwing her nurse headpiece off
    - L/S sitting down with elbows on knees and hands covering face
    - M/S kicking/punching a wall