Thirteenth or fourteenth mentorship session. Visual concept work for documentary plus scene boards for my own short film adaptations.
Lydia’s photo-art background transformative here. She sees narrative cinematically. How lighting creates mood. How camera angles suggest power dynamics. How editing rhythm controls emotional impact.
We developed visual style guide for documentary. Naturalistic lighting. Handheld camera suggesting intimacy rather than polished distance. Long takes allowing subjects to develop thoughts completely. Minimal intervention editing.
For my short film concepts, she sketched scene boards showing shot composition. Temporary Access adapted to screen needs visual interest beyond chat messages. Show physical environments. Use framing to suggest isolation or connection. Let silence work.
Her visual literacy helping me think differently about prose structure. What reads well versus what plays well. Different logics, both valid. Fiction can sustain internal monologue indefinitely. Film needs external action, visible behavior, physical environment.
We discussed adaptation philosophy. Some stories belong to page. Trying to film them diminishes rather than enhances. Need to identify which narratives gain from visual treatment.
Lydia suggested starting small. One short adaptation before considering feature length. Test whether my writing translates to screen or loses essential qualities in translation.
Scene boards for three possible shorts now complete. Temporary Access, excerpt from Omnichannel Hearts, and standalone vignette. Each presents different adaptation challenge.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
