Garden of Shadows

Olivia Foxworth stood in front of the window gazing out into the darkness as it poured down raining outside. One long slender hand rests against the cool windowpane while the other hand carelessly caressed the broach she wore every day. A flash of lightening illuminates the room and we see Olivia’s face with cold grey eyes staring blankly out the window. Her eyes are hard and stern with a hint of sadness. What have those eyes seen? What do they know? What has happened to Olivia to make her so damn evil? The novel Garden of Shadows, copyright 1989, is the prequel to the Flowers in the Attic novel written by V.C Andrews. ‘’The most successful adaptations originate as stories that already have clearly defined story concepts(storymaster.com)’’.

I was first introduced to the character Olivia Foxworth when I was a little girl in the 80’s in the movie Flowers in the Attic. When I was a teenager I snuck and read the V.C Andrews books about the Dollanganger children which include Flowers in the Attic, Petals on the Wind, If there be Thorns, and Seeds of Yesterday. The book Garden of Shadows tells the story of grandmother Foxworth and how she came to be so cruel. I thought that since Flowers and the other books are now Lifetime movies as well it would be interesting to watch the story of the grandmother come to life in a movie.

An exceptional story in a novel often leads to that story becoming a movie. It is so exciting when your favorite novel becomes a film on the big screen, but a filmmaker faces several challenges when deciding to take on adapting a novel to film. A major challenge when adapting a book into a film is getting it right and meeting the expectations of the fans. How often have we had to wait in anticipation for our favorite novel to be made into a film only to be disappointed when we see that key elements of the story have been left out? Often times when a filmmaker decides to eliminate parts of the story from the book it is to replace it with new plot lines and twists. It is extremely important that the filmmaker know all aspects of the story he/she is adapting. A filmmaker should have the ability to make cuts and additions to the story and convey the story to the audience as closely to the writer as possible. When adapting a novel to film the filmmaker has to decide what parts to cut from the story and what parts to keep in to condense the story and not make it too long. Another challenge a filmmaker may face when adapting a film is the rights to the story. Typically, the author of the novel to be adapted is the copyright holder and has a say over

whether or not the film can be made. In order to get the film made a person would need to buy or option the rights to the story.

The genre of this film would be gothic horror. The story would be told in a nonlinear structure and use flashback sequences. Filmmakers use camera movement and angles, lighting, color contrasts, editing, and other devices to reveal character (Desmond,Hawkes.2014 Pg.25). We will flashback to the earliest days of Olivia’s life and various other points of her life to get a sense of who she is. The film adaptation would use voice over narration from Olivia Foxworth as she chronicles her life at Foxworth Hall. Voiceover can be used as a way to recount events of the past and create an ambiance(tasteofcinema.com). "Through narration or voiceover, in which a character’s or omniscient narrator’s voice is heard over an image, a character can speak directly to the viewer (criticalcommons.org)”. Olivia’s narration will be able to show the audience how she evolves over time.

Garden of Shadows is set in the 1920’s in an affluent town in Virginia. In my adaptation of Garden of Shadows, low key lighting is used. “Low key lighting in which a scene is dimly lit with a good deal of shadow in order to create a dark, harsh, and somber mood often used in serious drama, mystery, and horror films (Desmond, Hawkes, 2014)’. The dark lighting is meant to be ominous and represent sadness and dread. Dark gray clouds always hang over the home of Olivia Foxworth. The dark gray clouds are meant to represent Olivia’s sadness and also the evil person she is to become from living in this home. Foxworth Hall is a huge foreboding home that sits looming on acres and acres of lush sprawling grounds. This house is not warm and inviting it is rather intimidating. The house is filled with dark wood antique furnishings and thick dark draperies. The black velvet drapes are always drawn making the house gloomy and eerie. The floors creak when you walk across them sounding like screams beneath your feet. Olivia Foxworth dresses in dark clothing with the exception of the broach that belonged to her mother that she wears every day. She carries a bible wherever she goes quoting bible scripture and exacting punishments throughout the home as if it were Gods will for her to do so. Foxworth Hall is filled with servants that have been forbidden to speak at all while inside of the home. This only adds to the spooky vibes within the house. The