Fiction Adaptation: Poet Research

Deanna Rodger

Bio:

• A very successful and rapidly becoming well-known poet
• A former UK Poetry Slam Champion (2007/2008)
• A trained vocational actress - NYT's REP Company 2012
• Has appeared in spoken word and music videos, short films, plays and voice overs
• One of ELLE magazine's '30 inspirational women under 30'
• Nominated as a Rising Star for Hospital Club's 100 awards
• A workshop facilitator including The Agency BAC and Slambassadors UK. Also teaches the Writing Poetry for Performance module at Brunel University as well as teaching at School of Communication Arts
• Written and performed commissions for BBC: Women Who Spit, Words First & Freespeech
• Also written and performed commissions for Guardian News and National Youth Theatre: 2012 Olympic Team Welcome Ceremonies, Buckingham Palace & Speakers House
• A member of Keats House Poetry Collective
• Co-curates one of London's leading spoken word events: Chill Pill
• Currently writing and producing her own spoken word show called Matter
• Very interested in the universe, quantum physics and human nature

Two poems of hers adapted for film/video:

Landlords (2014)

• Spoken in the first person e.g. "cat flap for my cat, my garden..."
• Asks questions e.g. "how much does the average 24 year old earn now days?"
• "find me an honest landlord" - The poem centres around the thoughts of many that landlords can be someone who will "threaten to take the roof away" and that people just want someone kind that they can trust
• She is heavily featured in the video, as more than just a voice over artist, but on-screen among the London residential areas that she speaks of
• The video consists of many cutaways from the poet, including 'sold' signs, dirty taps and items such as bills resting on a staircase. These visuals connect extremely closely with the words spoken and express the reality of the situation she talks about

iPhone (2014)

• Spoken as if she's telling the tale of another woman and her boyfriend e.g. "her boyfriend hung up on her"
• However, she seems to get very emotional when saying the words, which could be interpreted by the audience that she's telling a story of herself in the third person
• While the video consists of just the poet speaking the poem to the camera, it brings intensity to it as she gives off the impression of anger and says most of the poem with a fast pace
• Similar to the poem of Love Ambitions it focuses on a women starting the fall apart over a man. However in this case, it's due to a woman not being able to trust her boyfriend
• Also very similar to Love Ambitions it has a powerful last line that is almost identical to the first. The first being: "I can't hear you, you're breaking up". The last being: "I can't hear you, we're breaking up"

Deanna's poems are very modern and emotional, focusing on realistic problems that young people face today, including being under the thumb of a landlord, and a smart phone being used to tell the story of a troubled relationship.

Her poems also seem to be very gritty and to the point. The words are blunt and specific, there are practically no metaphors so the poems explain themselves. This allows adaptations to interpret the words with almost whatever visuals they like, as they aren't there to explain her words, but to bring an artistic aspect to the poem.

With inspiration from her style as a poet, being very emotional and intense, I have followed that path of heightening the intensities of her words through dramatic visuals in my adaptation of Love Ambitions. Although a large difference is that while in her other poem adaptations she is heavily featured, saying the poem on screen, there will be no speaking of the poem in my adaptation. As I want the actress's actions and emotions to tell the story.

Bibliography:

Bio: (2015) Deanna: Biography At: http://deannarodger.co.uk/deanna-biography/ (Accessed on 07.12.15)

Landlord [poem adaptation online] The Guardian. YouTube (2014) At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrlxdltPYbo (Accessed on 07.12.15)

iPhone [poem adaptation online] Chill Pill Shorts. YouTube (2014) At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-v5qK9Qb_o (Accessed on 07.12.15)