This evening I had the pleasure of viewing the work of two friends in short film and flash fiction formats. Both of these pieces had started out in short story form, but both writers looked beyond the text to enter the realm of multimedia to enhance the narrative and take advantage of sound and sight sensory perception opportunities.
Some works just lend themselves better to one format over another. In the case of "Stoning Field", a story told by a father as his son prepares for fighting games, I see that even with the exquisite writing and powerful drama of the piece, it has perhaps found its niche in flash fiction. The audio and visual effects underscored the tone and action as the father recalls his own childhood war games. In fact, as read aloud by the author, Steve Ersinghaus, it gained an additional dimension above the text displayed on the screen.
In the short film, "The Long Weekend," which will be shown November 12th at the New York Independent Film and Video Festival, the author, Patrice Hamilton, has adapted the original story to what film offers in a way that words cannot. Two people look at each other in a way that tells us much about what they’re thinking, how they’re feeling, just by our own visual perception without conversation. This would not do in text; a half-page of white space to indicate silent eye contact instead has us trained to flip the page to the next chapter. so while there are some limitations, there are many more tools to use to provide emphasis without unburdening the "reader" from his own job of interpretation.
And here I sit, still trying to dribble words onto page.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology