#multimedia adaptation

My adaptation of The Gift of the Magi is titled The Exchange which is a family sitcom about two stepbrothers whose parents divorced and now live in separate homes, who after getting word that they will celebrate their first holiday together at their grandmother’s house, seek to go through drastic measures to reunite their parents. After reading the original story and then crafted my own, I was able to create an entirely different storyline that still maintained the essential elements that brought the original story to life. For example, I utilized siblings as oppose to husband and wife to draw on a different type of relationship dynamic. The age differences from the original characters also allowed for a more youthful tone and energy that could translate to a younger crowd and still be enjoyed by an older audience. The act of giving a gift in my adaptation was still present, however, the act of giving regarded a more selfish ambition from the protagonists compared to that of the Gift of the Magi. Additionally, neither one of my characters had to indeed sacrifice anything themselves but sacrificed the very items that were held dear to their parents instead.

Completing the adaptation piece was an eye opener which allowed me to see that I could draw on inspiration from an original work and still make it my own. My goal as a writer is not to only write authentic pieces, but to gather inspiration from others and always provide a unique experience with the story adaptation that can be appreciated across generations. I believe this is a big part of brand building and carving out your exclusive lane in the world of creative writing. I thought the process would be much more complicated, but I actually found it very easy to create the adaptation, whereas creating something from scratch seems a bit more challenging.

One adaptation I would love to tackle in the future is the play called For Colored Girls. This play translates themes of strength, unity, and women empowerment across cultural lines, social, economic statuses, and generations. It presents a riveting message that can be understood by all women, in my opinion.  No matter what adaptation I choose to do in the future, I learned that adaptations can deviate from the original story as much as you want as long as you maintain critical themes of the unique piece that drew in audiences in the first place. I am truly grateful for all that I have learned throughout the Multimedia Adaptation course and can’t wait for what lies ahead.

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Photo retrieved from

As I was introduced to the adaptation process, I understood that in essence, adaptation is a very difficult process that we unconsciously perform when writing. For my adaptation, I chose, “The Gift of the Magi” which I thought would be an easy adaptation. However, I noticed that the process demanded a lot of creativity to successfully keep the essence of the original plot. I wanted to take the story to the next level by having different points of view as compared to the original which just shows one. By doing that I had to eliminate the element of surprise. The exchange was obvious from the moment the items were purchased. Therefore, I focused on the delivery and made it unique by adding the element of surprise to the characters, not the audience. The main difference of my adaptation is the plot being plot driven as to the original being character driven.

An excerpt from an article I wrote for the promotional plan summarizes the adaptation:

“The story is set into motion when Tom, a high school student, is told that he will be moving to another state with his parents. Upon telling his best friend, Katy, they agree to get each other a parting gift.  They soon find out that sacrifices need to be made to cover the expense of a gift that represents their time together. Once Tom sells all of his games and Katy her charm bracelet, they find themselves not having access to the item. The story then takes the viewer to the last day of school where Tom sneaks his gift into Katy’s jacket and Katy sneaks her gift into Tom’s backpack. Once they say goodbye and away from each other, they find the gifts with a note and during they read the note, flashbacks show the viewer how they seemed to get the gift that appeared out of reach.”

My experience in adapting O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” was possibly one of the hardest yet most fun achievements I’ve had so far. I’m not familiar with O. Henry or his works, but after finishing Professor McKain’s Multimedia Adaptation course, I’d love to do more research on him and his other short stories. I might even adapt a few into scripts too.

I had to read “The Gift of the Magi” a few times because I kept obsessing over certain details, such as Anna’s “flashbacks” and thoughts, then stressing over how to implement those parts visually in a script. Thankfully, since this was an adaptation and not just retelling the story in script format, I had many ideas I wanted to try out. So far, two had piqued my interest.

My first idea was a version where my main cast were animals rather than humans. The setting took place in a humble, modern-day town. Della was Astoria, a long-furred cat from a rich family. Jim was an old mixed breed named Colby, who was nearing the end of his life. Despite their obvious differences, the two were the closest of friends.

My second idea, which I’ve chosen for my adaptation, was another modernized take of the story. The setting didn’t change much, but I did put much more research into my characters. Della is a teenage girl named Kaia who has [somewhat] high-functioning Asperger’s syndrome. Both versions are kind and devoted characters who’d do anything to give their significant other anything they deserve even at their own expense. However, Kaia acts a bit more cooly compared to Della’s warm personality. Jim is a teenage boy named Andrew who, as it turns out, is deaf (by about 95% if anyone’s curious). Both versions aren’t seen as much, but it’s undeniable that they adore the women they love. In this case, Andrew and Kaia aren’t in an established relationship (or have jobs), but they do become a couple by the end of the film.

In addition, Kaia also loves music (mainly oldies rock), which helps her cope with stressful situations. As a music lover myself, I wrote my script and beat sheet while listening to songs that translate how Kaia and/or Andrew felt during each Act (Act 1, Act 2, Act 3). Even my adaptation was named after a song; “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie, which pretty much summarizes how Kaia (and Andrew) feels in a world that doesn’t care enough to understand her.

In this adaptation, Andrew defends Kaia from two women who heckled her from afar. He confesses his love to her, but Kaia retreated out of shyness and stress, much to Andrew’s worry. Kaia decides to apologize by buying him a gift and a love letter, but after losing most of her cash (now has $1.87), she doesn’t have many options. Kaia visits seven stores in town (though only two are shown), but the workers have kicked her out for her tendency to mumble to herself and overexplain under stress. Her Walkman breaks after someone pushes her and Kaia retreats to the bridge outside of town. Andrew finds Kaia and tries to ease her. They exchange their gifts - Andrew has a mixtape and Kaia has her headphones (since she couldn’t buy anything) - but they’re useless since Kaia’s Walkman was crushed and Andrew, unbeknownst to Kaia, is deaf. They laugh and cuddle for warmth as Andrew hums a song that soothes Kaia.

As a creative writer with Asperger’s, it would be beneficial to write characters who are on the autistic spectrum, as it could help break stereotypes and misconceptions. My protagonists are usually lowkey Aspergians anyway, so presenting/representing their differences deliberately would be an interesting change of pace for me.

Photo Source: shuttershock.com.

Act 1 Song Source: Overwhelming by Jon Bellion [YouTube]

Act 2 Song Source: Just a Girl by No Doubt [YouTube]

My retelling of “The Gift of the Magi” differs a bit from the original. I chose to change the setting, characters, and situation. I wrote about two teenagers, who are neighbors, best friends, and fall in love. They each make a great sacrifice, per the original story. 

I learned that it is ok as a creative to change elements, but have to ultimately stay true to the story with adaptations. If there is no element that has a shadow of the original, it is not an adaptation. 

This project meshes with my goals as a writer in that I wanted to experience and try my hand at various writing skills/formats. I love reading comics because they are different from novels but still allow to get sucked in like novels. Writing comics is different from writing a screenplay in that you are limited with what action you can show, but you are limited even more with comics. Panel descriptions are your way of showing action and the image you want to create. Each panel can only show one action, so again limitations. The dialogue parameters are limited as well with comics. I enjoyed forcing myself to stay within the limits that I had because it forced me to tell the story concisely with the images that I saw in my head. I cannot think of any other projects that I would like to adapt, but I would like to write more comics. 

Image credits: 

Regenwolke0. (2014, October 31). Weeping Willow, Pasture, Baumm. Retrieved May 27, 2018, from https://pixabay.com/en/weeping-willow-pasture-baumm-509886/

www.quora.com

Also -- if I ever get the chance too, I would love to take a stab at adapting the tale, “One flew over the cuckoo's nest”. Just a random thought I just had.

For Multimedia Adaptation, I took an original flash fiction story called “Madness” and I turned it into the first chapter of a graphic novel. In the graphic novel, we follow a two-man research submarine crew during their newest adventure through the Baltic Sea, but as they come across the discovery of a lifetime, they’re sucked inside of the massive structure and trapped. 

This was a challenging-yet-fun process because I’ve always focused on script writing for film and television. Comics were a relatively new medium to me, which is why I chose to do a comic adaptation rather than a short film based on The Gift of the Magi. Not only did this allow me to do an original story, it allowed me to explore the depths of writing a graphic novel and what sort of pleasure I may find from it. It opened up my eyes to the unique possibilities offered by the medium. I can literally write whatever I want without fear of budget getting in the way. I don’t need special effects, sets, or actors to bring my story to life, just a talented artist and a good, effective story. 

Writing an adaptation of my own story was a unique experience, one that I wholeheartedly enjoyed and learned a lot from. Writing comics wasn’t entirely new to me, but it was new enough that I felt like I learned a significant amount from the process of creating this chapter. I wasn’t confident in my abilities to write an effective graphic novel before this class, but now, I think that I could.

Although I did not create a promotional image myself, I did find a lot of inspiration from the Internet of what I wanted my submarine and the surrounding sea to look like. This was one such image: