Fiction Adaptation: Prop Update

Below is an update of the props I need for a film. I'm slightly concerned about getting what I want as I am a student meaning I have a very minimal budget. Nonetheless, I will continue to search to find the cheapest yet effective props which I need.

White, Red & Black Roses

For this, I decided to get fake flowers instead of real ones. This is mainly because I wouldn't have to worry about the real plants dying as they could do whilst I'm in the process of filming. They are generally just much easier and it isn't too much of a problem as long as they don't look so fake they the audience will be able to recognise straight away. Nonetheless, I found a seller on Ebay who sells a singular rose for £1.29 (exc. P&P) which is reasonably cheap. I can also get one free when i buy three therefore will order another red rose so I can use the other one to show that it is dying (see script/prop post). You can see which ones I bought in the images below:

    

Silk Photo Frame

Photoframe I will be using.

After looking online for silk photo frames (needed for a graphic match, see my 'script' post), it seemed that they all seemed reasonably expensive and it was proving difficult to find a vintage looking one (most of them were quite modern looking). Therefore, I've now decided to find a photo frame which mainly looks quite vintage and as if it is around the time era of the first world war. As well as this, the photo frame could give some intentions that it may be made of silk, however this will be emphasised by the editing which I plan to do for this part of the narrative - the 'flashback' scenes will be in either sepia or monochrome which will then turn into colour once the graphic match is apparent. This therefore means that the sepia/monochrome may hint to this 'silken' material as it would be more complex to work out what material it actually is (due to the lack of colour).

Nonetheless, I have an old photo frame at my house which I feel would be perfect for the film. It is a reasonable size and is made of real silver, which could furthermore hint towards the wealth of my characters in the film. It also has a simplistic pattern which looks out-dated, making it fit the right time era as well. You can see an image of the photo frame to the right:

WW1 Newspaper

See my 'Newspaper' post. Below is my edited newspaper which I have created to suit my film:

Outfits

My female actor and
her nurse outfit

Nurse Outfit: Fortunately, my female character has a nurse outfit already due to her playing as a nurse for the first world war in the past (which is also a bonus as she has done adaptation before!) Therefore this outfit is sorted - I won't have to worry about any additions (minus the crucifix necklace) and I know it suits her considering its been worn before. You can see an image of the nurse outfit to the right, as well as my actor for the female character role herself.

Soldier Outfit: For this outfit however I am a bit stuck as it is quite complex to find an outfit which is accessible let alone affordable. I begun searching online to find one for hire however this costed around £90 a week (exc. VAT) for hiring - a bit too much out of my budget! I did also look online for fancy dress costumes however these looked too tacky and would definitely provoke the realism in terms of the outfits and theme of my poem.

Luckily, someone in my group knows someone whom works with world war one plays therefore would have access with decent-looking soldier outfits. Therefore, I will be asking her if I could contact them to ask to borrow an outfit, which should hopefully be ok. This will be updated on this blog post once I have heard back from them.

Crucifix Necklace

I also used Ebay to search for the cross necklace. Below is an image of the cross which I bought. You can see it's simplistic design which works well with the setting of my film as the purpose of this is mainly to hint to the audience that my female character is religious, thus relating to the last line of the poem.

Crucifix necklace which I bought for my female character

Old Fashioned Pen/Pencil

As I wasn't sure what the pens/pencils in the first world war looked like, I decided to do a bit of research before purchasing. I came across a website which spoke about the pens/pencils in the era. It said that ballpoint pencils weren't invented until 1946, and that they often used ink fountain pens however pencils were mainly used. Therefore, I've decided to use a pencil instead of a pen due to it likely to be easier to purchase a pencil which looks old fashioned.

As this is only a pencil, it shouldn't be too worrying if the pencil doesn't look antique as it only plays a small role in my film. However I need to make sure that it doesn't look modern and must look like it could be from this time 100 years ago. Therefore, I've decided to go with a standard brown pencil as its simplistic look cannot be criticised for not suiting the era.