fiction adaption

I have been doing some trawling of the net, and so far I have been unable to find a film adaptation of the poem The Listeners by Walter De la Mare, apart from amateur videos that have been posted on YouTube, there doesn't appear to be anything. More digging is probably required, so I will be spending my snow day off researching..
After watching the video for Hurt by Johnny Cash last week at campus, I decided that I wanted to give my adaptation a similar feel to it. I don't want a literal translation of the poem, but I do want to convey the feeling. 

AS LIVE Research

I have been thinking about what kind of shows I normally watch that have live audience, or are filmed as live. One of my favourites is BBC show, QI (quite interesting), it is a panel show featuring Stephen Fry as the host, who asks his guests a variety of questions. 

The guests are usually comedians and the show has quite a casual approach to the point system.  The show started in 2003 and usually consists of 3 rotating guests and one regular (Alan Davis) who's running gag is to loose by the most points each week.. Interesting and funny it has been perfectly aimed at its target audience the BBC viewer.

Another favourite is Top Gear, this is a chat show with a audience, and three hosts, James May, Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson all of whom seem hell bent on destroying every caravan in the UK. 

They have a guest on every week, for star in a reasonably priced car, this usually involves a informal chat about the guest and their current activities and the VT of the guest's track time in the reasonably priced car. The audience are an active audience, laughing and clapping when appropriate as well as occasionally answering host questions. This is yet again another BBC production and is very successful. I love this show because it is fresh and interesting, I enjoy the challenges they are set, and when there is a special episode for example when they had to race against each other to the North pole, Jeremy and James in Toyota and Richard on a dog sledge not only is it a unique element that puts the viewing numbers up but it adds an extra interest to what might be considered a relatively normal chat show.

I remember the shows I used to watch as a kid, like Going Live, Fun House, Live and Kicking, The Big Breakfast.

I remember although they were quite low budget, they were exciting and different, the hosts were usually put under a fair bit of pressure to perform, and the audience was usually very active, giving you the feeling of being a part of it all. I don't quite know just yet what I want to put together but I want to do something that combines all of the elements of being fresh, and different, but keeping that feeling of being a part of it all.

I want the viewer to not only enjoy watching, but also wish they were there in the audience, or on the show as a contestant, I want the viewer to love the host.  I know I'm thinking big and that's not quite possible with the facilities and zero budget that we have, but if I can recreate something close, I will be happy.

fiction adaption

So its not long now until we return to uni, and I am looking forward to it. I have already decided on the poem I wish to adapt, Walter de la Mares, The listeners. I like the feel of this poem, and feel I could do something quite moody and dark with it. Walter also wrote psychological horror stories, such as" Seaton's Aunt" and "Out of the deep". Walter was originally from Kent, and was educated at St Paul's Cathedral school. He was known for writing ghost stories, and despite earning a pittance working at Standard Oil in London, he still managed to find time to write over a hundred children's stories. His novel Memoirs of a Midget received the James Tait Black memorial prize for fiction.
I have already considered locations for filming and found somebody to do the v/o for me, a friend with the deepest voice I have ever heard.
I cant wait..

Documentary update

Im almost there,the documentary is nearly finished, its been lots of fun, but very stressful too.. Working with other people has been one of the hardest things to do, and although there have been some big bumps along the way, we all seemed to have manged to overcome these, and now get along fine. I wont pretend this has been easy, because its far from that, but it has been a huge learning experience, i have discovered a lot more about Final Cut Pro and my editing skills are better than before. I have also learnt a lot about how to put together and develop a documentary..I have thoroughly enjoyed this module, and look forward to the viewings on Thursday..

narrative and genre

My essay is finsihed and handed in.. 2500 words to the letter, this essay required a lot of researching, and unfortunately i have incurred some library fines as a result of borrowing 7 day loan only books for longer than i should have. I am quite pleased with the work i produced and the chosen production "smallville" was fun to write about, seeing as its one of my favorite shows. lets just hope the mark reflects the work i put into it..

Take me out

I was running for Take me out on Sun the 13thNov. To begin with I was in the office helping Kelly with some shredding of confidential waste, and laminating. However I spent the rest of the day with Paul Brice the studio sound man, lovely guy who was very helpful and introduced me to the rest of the sound team. I was given the opportunity to mic up the lads and girls and see what goes on during rehearsals, helping with tea runs, and general stuff, I had an excellent day and finished it off watching the live show, finally finishing at 10;30pm.. Brilliant

Narrative and Genre

I have received the feedback from my essay from Helen, and she is happy with the work I have produced so far. I have been asked to expand some of my ideas, and also to explain a few of the theories that I have talked about within the essay, also I don't have to discuss just the one production, I can explore others so that I can reference or compare them to my preferred one. Overall though it has been good feedback and I am happy.