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Writer's Craft

Southwood's EWC4UI Writer's Craft Course 2010
 
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 Movies v.s. Film

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theShicken
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PostSubject: Movies v.s. Film   Movies v.s. Film EmptyWed Nov 10, 2010 11:14 am

So, as some of you know, I'm currently enrolled in both Writers' Craft and Screen Studies this semester. There are certain drawbacks to this, such as time-consuming assignments that are fighting for my limited time to work on them, but there are also benefits. The most prominent benefit, I think, is the fact that I can compare written literature to visual media. For instance, in Screen Studies, our ISU is to read a novel and then compare it to a film made about it. I'm doing Fight Club, which should be fun to compare. The ISU assigment just got me thinking: what does film have to offer that written media does not? What does written literature have to offer that film does not?

I put some thought into it, and here's what I've come up with:

Film (well, good film) has the ability to condense an entire novel into the space of about two hours. If done well, this allows for they story to remain intact while still being captivating for an audience. As a film, it's also accessible to more than one person at once, making it more of a social thing.

Film also has the ability to provide audio as well as visuals. While some may argue (and in some cases I agree) that the provided visuals of film are disappointing compared to those imagined while reading a novel, the fact remains that these visuals, regardless of similarity to those imagined while reading, are infinitely more effective when coupled with music. Music can heighten emotion or be an extension of a character. For instance, think of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Remember when some character (say...Elmer Fudd) was sneaking around? The music would accompany each tiptoed step with a pluck of a cello string or some other instrument. This adds to the sense of sneaking for the audience and is something that written words simply cannot offer.

Written literature, while lacking in provided visuals and audio, presents the reader with the option of creating his or her own visuals (and perhaps even audio to some degree). This is customized; it is different from person to person. Perhaps this is why written literature is still so appealing to so many people (myself included).

Anyway, that's my take on things. What are your thoughts?
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Ocean Seven
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PostSubject: Re: Movies v.s. Film   Movies v.s. Film EmptyWed Nov 10, 2010 11:43 am

(First: Movies vs Film? Isn't that the same thing? xD)

Writing has the ability to appeal to a larger audience then movies. This is because everyone imagines differently, and a book leaves room for imagination. With a book, even if you're given a description of someone, you can imagine them as something else. Movies on the other hand, when adapted from books, force a director's image of a character on you. For Harry Potter, I had always called Hermione "Her-me-on", not knowing it was "Her-my-on-ee" and so the movie really shot her down.

Books also give you an aera of action, and leaves out some parts, left for your active imagination to fill in. Dale Brown's Megafortress books almost always end up with the plane in question getting hit or suffering some kind of critical stealth loss, but it never describes exactly how it happens, like how this or that part ripped off the wing, where it came off exactly, how the missle came in, etc. And it always describes maneuvers in pretty vague detail, so you can imagine for yourself the turning radius of an EB-52 Megafortress at high speed, or an EB-1B slowing to cornering velocity and pulling a 180 degree turn at 90 degrees of bank. A movie would just pick what it looks like, removing that aspect. Explosions are especially dicey- some of us imagine thme to be much larger then they really are, but on screen they always seem too small, or too quiet. And movies commonly ignore the laws of the speed of sound, making far off explosions audible instantly. Frankly, I like the lull before the sockwave. The strangely peaceful feeling of witnessing a silent explosion.

With writing, it is your universe, your characters, even if someone else wrote it. In movies, its someone else's universe, someone else's characters.

Tom Hanks may have a good soldier voice, but his face isn't quite right. It's too round, and so he can't pull off a good Thousand-Yard-Stare.


The main reason why adaptions aren't as good most of the time is because someone else wrote/directed them. If the writer/director does the adaption, you get to witness the same technique throught both mediums, as well as a book-to-movie adaption would be much better because the director would know for sure what is important and what is not, because he/she wrote the damn thing in the first place. xD

Directors also make movies for profit, which means a 'competitive' length. Frankly, if you make a good movie, I don't care if it's five hours long I will sit there for the whole five hours. There is a movie about Howard Huges making the Spruce Goose. It's over three hours long, and mostly about life for the first half. And yet, I loved it because it felt as if it were someone writing a story for the sake of someone reading about it, not for money or prestige.

Another cause of this rift is because humans are naturally resistant to change (although we adapt pretty damn well after force xD) so when someone reads a book, that is their image of the story. When they see the movie, it isn't the book's universe anymore, and they reject it. Same thing goes in reverse. (With the obvious exception to the open-minded people who got us to where we are now, i.e. no longer living in caves.)

I could tie this in with religion too, but I'll avoid that. xD (Frankly I'd rather say it to the church's FACE then just any old place.)
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quenelafeld
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PostSubject: Re: Movies v.s. Film   Movies v.s. Film EmptyWed Nov 10, 2010 2:10 pm

these are both excellent posts, and raise intelligent and thoughtful points.

and i'm too burned out to offer my own thoughts right now. king
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Ocean Seven
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PostSubject: Re: Movies v.s. Film   Movies v.s. Film EmptyWed Nov 10, 2010 3:15 pm

quenelafeld wrote:
these are both excellent posts, and raise intelligent and thoughtful points.

and i'm too burned out to offer my own thoughts right now. king

Which is why Bill Gates gave us Notepad and Microsoft Office. xD I usually read something or come up with an idea, and write it out on Notepad/MO if its in responce to someone online, so I can save it somewhere and get to it the next chance I have.

The only downside is you know that you can put it off 'cuz it aint going nowhere, so you forget about them after some time. xD I went on my USB Stick and found five Journal Memes I had been doing three months ago. XD
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Phemonix
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PostSubject: Rawr   Movies v.s. Film EmptyTue Nov 16, 2010 3:23 pm

Compairing them is not what is possible. They are two different things, even if they share the same subject. While watching a movie, you are viewing the interpretation of the director on a certain subject with defined characters.

However, while reading a book, you are interpreting the information presented to you. What you want to see is there, in your mind, and what is given to you is only basic information.

The differences between them are to vast to compair them. Personally...
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PostSubject: Re: Movies v.s. Film   Movies v.s. Film EmptyTue Nov 16, 2010 9:08 pm

Phemonix wrote:
Compairing them is not what is possible. They are two different things, even if they share the same subject. While watching a movie, you are viewing the interpretation of the director on a certain subject with defined characters.

Trust me, if I could pick the right words to describe what I mean, you'd get how I can compare them.


It's just part of my rant against what english teachers preach about reading books. They expect you to say its for a multitude of deeper meanings, and they shun 'to escape' even though that couldn't be more true in my case. I don't read Dale Brown's Dreamland series to discover myself, I read it to ignore reality for a few fleeting hours, getting my blood pumping and the adrenalin flowing while sitting inert, and just to generally escape the daily truckload of crap that gets shoveled on me. As well, for a much more sinister interpretation of escaping reality, but that's another story, one only for myself, for four years in the future. *profound sigh*
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