Blue Bliss Production adapts Carol Duffy's poem "Havisham

Blue Bliss Production
Havisham Short Drama Adaptation Film
Chandra Khan, Producer
Blue Bliss Production
DD: 07701066507 E: chandrakhan26@gmail.com

Blue Bliss Production | 2
CONTENTS
Production Work Summary 3
Brainstorm 4
5Class Feedback
Meeting(s) 8
81
st
Meeting
161
st
Treatment
1st Schedule 22
25Feedback from meeting with McCaffrey
25Feedback from meeting with Heinemann
Developing Script 27
Script 2 (& notes) 28
Script 3 (& notes) 35
Script 4 & 5 (& notes) 40
Script 6, 7 & 8 (& notes) 47
Reception from peers 60
61Feedback from meeting with Heinemann
Final Treatment 66
Final Schedule 77
79Link to gdrive (for team’s work and audition videos)
80Director’s Work
83Chosen Actors Profile
87Risk Assessment
Call Sheet (with shooting schedule) 89
Pictures from the day of the shoot (Sunday 13
th
December 2015) 97
Legal Forms 99

Havisham Short Film 107
Production Work Summary
Principle four team members are as follows:
Producer: Chandra Nahar Khan
Director: Ousama Rachid Seghir
Cinematographer/colourist: Katrina Ytteborg
Sound/editor: Carla Martins
The following is our brief for short drama:
 Needs to be based on an existing play, story, poem or novel
 Needs to be filmed on one day
 Needs to involve at least two actors
 Needs some kind of dialogue
 Must be no longer than 3 minutes (plus titles)
 Can use copyrighted music
 Must not be published on a public platform, e.g. YouTube
 Must have all relevant Director/Producer/Technical paperwork
Both assignments will be deemed successful by presenting:
 A dramatic and engaging story, suitable for the screen
 An ‘achievable’ scene, given your time, skills and resources
 Believable performances by actors who are appropriate for the roles
 An expressive and consistent visual style, suited to the content
 Technical competence in cinematography, sound and editing
 Appropriate art direction and location(s)

Brainstorm
Before proceeding to our final chosen idea, I would like to discuss the source materials and concepts we brainstormed
together as a group on Sunday 15
th
November from 11am-2pm.
1. The Last of Us, Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog (video game)
We had an idea where we would take a specific scene from the story and change the scene while keeping the
essential ingredients such as the theme, characteristic of central protagonist, etc. However although this was an
intriguing prospect, we disregarded this concept as it does not meet the criteria of the brief or will hold form for
our film, as it may not add a depth to the story as it may end up being a replica of the original video game.
2. Havisham, Carol Ann Duffy, Faber & Faber, 1
st
edition, April 9
th
2001 (poem)
The idea we had was to reveal a side to Havisham where she has been through the heartache and torment from
being left on her wedding day by her one true love. This will be staying true to the poem as in Charles Dicken’s
Great Expectation novel; Havisham is a manipulative and evil figure. We envisioned dark halls, rotten food and
dirty walls, and seeing her overcome her depressive state and including her and her environment will transform
and become new and fresh again after a ‘situation’ occurs. This will be almost giving Havisham a way out of her
depressive state and letting her grasp onto her freedom.
3. Peter Pan or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up / Peter & Wendy, J.M. Barrie, (play/novel)
The following notes were our idea; an old man stuck in the mindset of a child, disillusioned, does not want to take
up responsibilities of being an adult. A scenario, he is at work in his usual place in the office, he is bored and makes
funny faces at his co-worker, and the co-worker dismisses him with a strange expression. He goes to a park at
lunch time and he is playing on a roundabout, swing and slider and parents with their children in the park and
others passing by looks at him strangely. He comes home and makes dinner for himself and places the food on
many plates, to his dolls, the ‘lost boys’ and talks to them. We then track back and a stack of unopened envelops
and bills and other adult chores/ responsibilities are revealed.
4. Children stories e.g. Hansel & Gretel, Brothers Grimm (novel).
The idea we had was to modernize the story and to paraphrase my cinematographer, instead of both siblings
following the ‘bread crumbs’, they followed a life into crime/drug world and had a rough idea of both siblings
desiring power and wanting to dominate in their world but they get stuck in a ‘bad situation’.
5. The Ugly Duckling, Hans Christian Anderson, publisher C.A. Reitzel (novel)
We had an idea where a school kid with self-esteem issues, ‘odd one out’, comes out of his introvert and timid
state and becomes confident ‘beautiful swan’. With this concept we would aim to represent an image where all
school children are equal and may have certain issue that makes them be or feel like an ‘odd one out’ and do this
we would create a school environment and a ‘situation’ that would perfectly signify what a child with self-esteem
issues may be like and have an ending that brings the child out of his quiet and reserved self, a ‘beautiful swan’.
6. Game of Thrones/ Fire & Ice, Davis Benioff & D.B Weiss/ George R. R. Martin- Chaos is a Ladder
The idea for this was to have our own take on the scene from the story by representing the dramatic scene and
relationship of two characters.
7. The Guy That Stole My Heart, Angela Gutierrez (poem; http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/to-the-guy-
that-stole-my-heart)
Originally we had the concept before the adaptation; it will be called ‘Dead Man’s Eye’. A man and a woman are in
love but she slowly draws away from him, he becomes suspicious and comes home one day to see her in bed with
another man. These scenes reveals to be a flashback as the camera tracks out of the ‘dead man’s eye’, inspiration

notes on the buildup of tension; Kara’s scene from Heavy Rain
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EvqiGm0wz8)
8. Another concept was to take a favorite children story e.g. Cinderella, Brothers Grimm (novel) and we take an
intense scene from the story and create funny scenario instead, influences from Lego Movie.
From our group meeting and in preparation for class (Monday 16
th
November), we were informed to select an idea
and although I intended to discuss more concepts we came up with, I went with the idea the director would feel
most comfortable to pitch in class, which was the Dead Man’s Eye concept. As the producer I emailed our source
material and summarized the scene for our module leader, David Heinemann, and in class, my director “should be
prepared to summarize the scene, identify the theme (relating this to complete work), and discuss clearly and
succinctly the directional approach and visual/ aural style”.
Email sent to module leader, Heinemann
Class Feedback
The outcome of our class, we discussed The Guy That Stole My Heart, Peter Pan and Hansel & Gretel
The feedback for the concept of The Guy That Stole My Heart was not keeping in tune with poem’s meaning and
intention and Hansel & Gretel and Peter Pan concepts was more of an inspired by than an adaptation. We were
informed we could search for another poem for the Dead Man’s Eye concept, such as Tomas Hardy of 1912-14,
regarding the story of his first wife; Emma Gifford may be more suitable for the concept. And the feedback on
Peter Pan was it sounds nice “interesting subject”, lost boys being other characters in the story as dolls might be
“enough to create drama”. The audience mind may question if the man’s “mentally unhinged”, may be a
psychosis as the writer J.M. Barrie never got over the death of his brother from a young age. We were told to
decide on the perceptive on Peter Pan’s concept.

Overall we had to think more clearly about our ideas and be careful of a concept being an inspired by instead of
being an adaptation. Therefore after class we had another discussion of which concept to go with and we debated
new concept such Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (novel), The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling (novel),
Road Dahl novels and Shakespeare poems. I then deliberated about Havisham poem and consequently as a group
we chose this concept as the themes would not be too problematic to tap on as Duffy’s use of strong oxymorons
throughout the poem will create the drama and tension for us.
Additionally having the perceptive of what Havisham has gone through gives an interesting viewpoint and the
themes are strong enough to touch on, it is about conflict, juxtaposition, tensions of love and hate, frozen in time,
refusal to move on, and emotional journey. We changed the concept as written above; we would use the poem
stanza as the template for our short film and create a story where Havisham goes through the mental, physical
and emotional pain. She would recollect memories of her and her ex-fiancé through little reminders in the great
dining hall and feel affection towards him but then she turns aggressive when she remembers what he has done
to her.
When we pitched this concept to Heinemann, he suggested giving a reason why on this particular day she goes
through the trauma and the concept of her ex-fiancé returning came about and was a perfect anecdote to trigger
her behavior. This could almost be a daily ritual for her as she has been though the heartache of being left by her
one true love and explains the mental, physical and emotional state she is in.
*Send source material to Heinemann, provide a brief story via email and arrange a meeting. Replay we arranged a
meeting on Wednesday 25
th
November at 11:30.

Email sent to Heinemann

Meeting(s)
1st
Meeting
After this we arranged another meeting on Wednesday 18
th
November from 12pm-2pm and as a group we collectively
formed the story of Havisham. I also found an analysis of the poem online to help my group understand the poem better
and is also attached to this document too.
The Story (& camera notes)
Havisham is sitting on a grand chair; dark figure, we do not see who it is, she mutters in her sleep, camera tracks
backwards and doorbell rings, the dark figure moves and twitches in her sleep. The doorbell rings again, the dark
figure, moves wakes up and moves forward, Havisham is revealed. She shouts out a servant’s name, doorbell
continues to ring; Havisham angrily gets up from her grand chair, sharp tilt up and sharp pan left as she leaves the
grand dining hall. The halls are dimly lit, camera tracks with Havisham with the doorbell still ringing, she opens
the door violently. Camera is over the shoulder as a young man says “good evening” (but his voice is not distinct),
her face is frozen, she grasps, she is in shock, her eyebrows twitches and she references the first lone of the poem
“beloved sweetheart bastard”, she moves backwards to allow the young gentleman though the door and he
closes the door behind him. They walk silently towards the grand dining hall room, side by side and camera tracks
along with them.
They enter through the great dining hall door, he speaks as they both walk beside a grand table, and they almost
past a long standing mirror and she lingers there while the young gentleman walks ahead. We see a flashback of
her in her wedding dress and she is happy and vibrant. She receives a letter and as she reads it she is in shock and
turns bitter and crushes the papers. We go back to the present; she is in front of the long standing mirror and with
anger walks towards the grand fireplace where the young gentleman is. He is starting the fire, while he is talking
in a muffled sound effect; he says something that changes her face expression from anger to delight. She looks at
him in more detail; his eyes, his cheeks, his lips and his neck. His neck is beaming with sweat and she clutches her
chair as we go into a flashback of both of them. Havisham recollects a sensual flashback, reference detail from the
sensual dream she has in the poem, they are in bed; she is younger while he is unchanged from the present day.
We go back to present and flashback of the sensual memory of them until in the present she bites her lip,
reference “til I suddenly bite awake”. When she bites her lips in the present she opens her eyes wide open and sits
down on her grand chair from having the dream. She touches her lip, there’s blood on her lips and while she thinks
about the pain on her bleed, we follow her eyes on the mantel fireplace and stares at a crushed piece of envelope
and letter. The young gentleman sits on the opposite chair and while he speaks, she smiles and as he gestures
with his hands, she follows his hand and looks on the table and sees a rotten wedding cake. She has a flashback
where she is in her wedding dress and going back from present to the flashback we track into her as her face
changes from a loving expression to anger. We hear ‘bang’ (reference the only onomatopoeia from the poem)
each time she stabs the wedding cake and in the present she then reaches for something on the table, close-up of
photo frame for example and from her either a medium close-up up or a point of view shot, she throws an object
towards him while she screams. He disappears as the object smashes against the grand chair.

It is revealed that he was not there, we cut back to her and she sits back on her grand chair and as she moves
further back into her grand chair, she says “don’t think it’s only the heart that breaks”. She messages her head and
rests her head on her head, she closes her eyes and as she’s about to fall asleep, we hear three knocks from the
front door and she opens her eyes wide open.
What is needed for the story?
 The young gentleman dialogue
 And perhaps his actions too, but mainly focus on Havisham
I gave the task for Seghir to start writing a script for the story, Ytteborg was to practice using camera and lights
and practice colour grading. Martins was to set up meetings with technicians; Anna Barsukova (post-production)
and/or John Cox (post- production) to start practicing on premiere pro cc for editing and setup additional
meetings with Peter Williams (sound) or Patrick Wladyka (sound) or to practice using ProTools 12 for sound. And
as the producer I was to setup meeting with module tutor Eddie McCaffrey and prepare a schedule and treatment
for the meeting.
My director later informed me that he wants to work on another concept, based on Charles Dicken’s Great
Expectation, where aimed to modernize the scene in which Pip confronts Havisham about Estella. He informed
that he imagined Pip in his 30s and dressed in a business suite while Havisham in a traditional wedding dress as in
the novel.

Email sent to module tutor, McCaffrey

Analysis of Havisham (from online source)

1st
Treatment

1st Schedule

Feedback from meeting with McCaffrey
The following are notes from meeting with McCaffrey on Monday 23
rd
November at 5pm
 Include contact number in header
 Specify which parts you are planning to adapt
 Binary values
 Refection of ourselves- empathy
 Pain and rejection and spite of herself and revenge
 Story before the space
 Reconsider the way you tell the story e.g. set it in modern day age?
Feedback from meeting with Heinemann
The following are notes from meeting with Heinemann on Wednesday 25
th
November at 11:30
 Synopsis- summarize everything that happens, outline (including the ending) and reference theme
 Film explores/ illustrates curse of love, she is condemned
 Split action
 1 minute per page

 Very few big paragraphs
 Haunting her (the man figure)
 Intimate gestures can indicate their relationship, reaches his face

Developing Script
The following are scripts that we have developed over the course of the weeks and some notes exchanged between my
director and I and I should note that due to my lack of knowledge of the process of screenwriting I was unaware of how to
write a script and the devices used to produce one, therefore the notes I have made in some areas are irrelevant.

Script 2 (& notes)

Script 3 (& notes)

Script 4 & 5 (& notes)

Script 6, 7 & 8 (& notes)

Reception from peers

Feedback from meeting with Heinemann
The meeting with Heinemann regarding our final script on Monday 7th December at 12pm

Final Treatment
The following is the final treatment that I had completed.

Final Schedule

Link to gdrive (for team’s work and audition videos)
Audition Videos Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8gZUXGRBK9MOE5qTE5FdGY3ZjA
Producer’s Work Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8gZUXGRBK9Malpyd2UyY3JWYUE
Director’s Work Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B0w9EC_QU7udb08wcDNtUDlyNGM

Director’s Work
Moodboard

Floorplan (producer)
Storyboard

Auditions
Overall for the audition process, I have contacted over 30 actors on StarNow for all four roles and on Casting
Call Pro I have contacted approximately 20 actors for the role of Havisham (present), over 15 actors for the
role of Havisham (past) and Bridesmaid and I have contacted over 25 actors for the role of Ex-fiancé. And once
I had received confirmation from some actors to attend auditions, we had two days for auditions and on the
third day we had rehearsals with our chosen actors.
Chosen Actors Profile
Havisham (present): Bronwen Price ( )http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/actor/profile/bronwen-price
Havisham (past): Charoltte Dunnico ( )http://www.starnow.co.uk/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=1788349
Ex-finace: Michael Billington ( )http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/actor/profile/michael-billington
Bridesmaid: Hannah Tarrington ( )http://www.starnow.co.uk/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=3751212

Risk Assessment

Call Sheet (with shooting schedule)

Pictures from the day of the shoot (Sunday 13th
December 2015)

Legal Forms
Location Form

Actors Release Form: Havisham (present), Bronwen Price

Actors Release Form: Havisham (past), Charlotte Dunnico

Actors Release Form: Ex-fiancé, Michael Billington

Havisham Short Film
Havisham Film Link: ( )https://vimeo.com/151236349
The feedback on the day of screening was relatively good and the following are notes taken during the reception of our
short film:
 Make-up is good, aged Havisham, time has changed
 Nice attention to detail, they know the story they had adpated
 Mise-en-scene is nice
 Lighting and mise0en-scene – too bright and too much white space on walls
 The letter, mordern vs. Victorian times- didn’t question the time period
 Unified sense of style
 Didn’t get the sense of time in the location
Overall on socrative we were graded as follows (out od 25 people):
A: 13%
B: 50%
C: 38%
D: 4%
E: 0%

Blue Bliss Production adapts Carol Duffy's poem "Havisham

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