Forums » General Forum

Advice Needed! Autumn Short Film About A Poem

    • 47 posts
    September 23, 2022 5:22 AM PDT

    I saw a suggestion on the forums about Short Film ideas that could be shot during this Autumn. One idea in particular vibed with me and I was thinking to give it a try. 
    The idea is to create a short film using a poem. As I was thinking more on how to actually do this, I stumbled upon a few obstacles:
    Problem No. 1: I am not a writer, therefore, I do not know how to write poems. Could I use a poem that is available on the internet? I was thinking about "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. Could I use his poem without having copyright issues?
    Problem No. 2: I am not a good actor and I do not have any friend or mate that wishes to help me out with this. I am camera shy, too. I was thinking of shooting videos of nature and birds and such for the short film. I am not a good director either, as I am a student and I am still learning. Any suggestion would help me on how to shoot this short film.

    And Problem No. 3: What advice would you have for me regarding the audio track? Should I use a dramatic voice on a slow pace?

    • 82 posts
    September 27, 2022 7:31 AM PDT

    I am not the best person to give such an advice but I'll do my best!

    I have made a bit of research using our friend, Google. It seems that your chosen poem (which I just read by the way) is part of the public domain so you could use it without having any problems.

    The idea to make use of the nature is very good but you have to see how to make it work because this poem seems a bit difficult to shoot. You will need a raven. The good part is that you do live in England and you can find ravens in the Lake District. Again, just information I found on the internet. You could film most of your short film by making a trip to one off those Lake Districts maybe? 

    As for the voice, it seems to me this is a very serious poem so I don't think a cheesy voice would work. Maybe a dramatic one as you suggested.

    • 56 posts
    September 29, 2022 11:40 AM PDT

    I will try to answer each of your problems, one by one. For the first problem, there is a thing called "Public Domain" and most old poems are a part of it. So, the great news is that you can use that poem and do not worry about the copyright laws because they do not apply to anything which is in the Public Domain. For the second problem, I would now know what to recommend you. I can only suggest you to think it carefully and try to imagine the end result. How would you imagine the final edit? Maybe ask the advice of one of your teachers. For the third problem, try the voice that you hear in your head when you read that poem. We all read it with a voice in our head. That could work for this project. Good luck Julia!

    • 47 posts
    September 29, 2022 12:59 PM PDT

    Thank you for your advice, Anong and Fjolla!