Fiction Adaptation: Poem Choice // First idea generation

Reason for chosen poem

I have chosen to adapt the poem "For you, My Dear friend" by Anthony Anaxogorou. The reason I have chosen this is because I instantly felt a connection to it and saw the possibilities for visuals.

One of the things I first noticed about the poem was that the speaker seemed to be addressing someone in particular, someone close to him. "This is for you dear friend" it challenged me to think well what exactly is "this" and how could i present "this"? The strong connection between the speaker and who they are addressing instantly made me think about how many different ways I could show this. Another thing that I loved was the way he spoke about the person's depression. It is a very dark poem in itself but also gives room for plenty "light". I really need to think of creative ways to illustrate someone's mental state, connection between another person, the freedom they feel when they think of happier times, all within a comprehensive and poetic way. I do not want to be too literal with the words and visuals but I want the visuals to explain the words. 

My interpretation

Immediately I thought of a letter as this is something that you usually present to someone you care about if you can't say it physically, especially when it is something as emotive as this. Below are the key lines and key points that gave me some clues of things that I may need to include;

"fighting the darkness for a moment of peace" 

"sleepless in your troubles"

"your drowning depression" 

"only death understands" 

- The person he is describing is troubled and conflicted. They seem to feel trapped so possible ways I could show this would be to somehow incorporate chains and illustrate how someone could feel tied down? 



The poem then takes a turn in a sense that the speaker now addresses himself within the poem. 

"I know what it's like"

" I came close, to the closet part"

"I refused to be the mud"

This made me think that there are opportunities to show a second character and maybe illustrate the darkness he felt. could repeat the same illustrations as her?

The speaker then addresses both of them;

"and we put on a song to dance to" 

"our bodies were so full of music"

"we went to sleep that night in a melody"

The musical references between them makes me think that visually they should be together interacting somehow, perhaps in an embrace whilst the camera moves around them? maybe even a dance?

The poem then goes onto illustrating a more visual appearance on the woman;

"I will never know what it feels like to be black, to be a woman"

"to be poor"

So again we get a greater understanding on the woman he is talking about. I want the visuals to relate so that confirms that I would need to feature a black woman.

The poem shifts to a happier, optimistic tone;

"Think of yourself smiling..."

"See the child opening her presents on christmas day" 

As the speaker talks about happier memories, I think it would be a good idea to have the woman smiling, more open body movements to illustrate something lighter. Maybe even a flash back of her elsewhere?

"You whisper goodbye"

"saying the words I love you"

For these parts I think it would be a good idea to have only the lips say "goodbye" and "i love you". you won't hear the actor say it but instead the voice narrating will be the audio for the words. This would make an interesting change to all the imagery. 

"...When I come in crashing"

"reeking of mud and covered in earth's shoe prints"

I think for this part, the male character should now be running towards her or joining her in a warm embrace of some. covered in dirt to further illustrate the words. This is as literal as I would like to get because I want it to be quite artistic.

Visual inspiration and Ideas

Since I want the piece to be artistic and not literal, I took myself over to Vimeo where I knew I would be able to get further inspiration. Here are a few videos and stills that I found that inspired me.

When reading the poem I immediately thought that it would be cool to create a set that could seem quite claustrophobic in order to illustrate her mental state. 

I thought it would be interesting to incorporate the use of chains to show how trapped she may feel. Maybe have it run along bare skin for visuals. and in the end she has broken free from these restraints.



Video Inspiration This video below was a great find because it almost put all of my ideas into one. I loved the movements the dancers created and it also incorporated the idea I had about the fabric. I think the effect that they created by pressing up against it can really be useful to me as it can further show the suffocation effect that I am going for. 

Another thing that I loved about this video was when it was dark, the fabric was dark and it was almost like the person was fighting through, the fabric then lifted and it was bright. It was almost as if she was liberated and free. This is exactly what I want to create.  


Video 2
Here Is another video that I really enjoyed. What I liked about this is how you are able to tell a story by body movement.It opened my eyes to how I could incorporate similar movements within my video.  

 

The main thing that I loved about this video is the connection these two have between each other. The body movements that intertwine is something wonderful to watch and I can't help but feel as though I could somehow incorporate this within my piece. I would use this to illustrate the parts where the speaker addresses how both of them feel. 


Ideas so far

• I am unsure whether I want to show my character confined within a bedroom with the fabric design or whether I create a blank studio in our living room and create the fabric installation in there. 
• but what I do know is I want to illustrate the contrast between the feeling of being trapped and the feeling of being free. 
• I also want to show the seriousness in the feeling of death as it is brought up within the poem a lot. I feel as though the chains can show this if I have a play around with the body positions and placement.
•  I also want to illustrate the connection between the two people but also show how alone they both are.

Next steps

• present this to the class and get feedback
• narrow down my ideas and see which direction is best
• Try to source some dancers who may be interested in this production from now
• Test out shots and ideas to know how feasible it really is.