adaptation film&lit

8/14/2019 Adaptation Film&Lit

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A ' CIIAPfERI

The advent of cinema in the lare nineteenth cenhry was preceded byaLnost a .entury of dis.ove.ies, .olabolarions, and riu"t.i"" u,i,o"g urti"t",inventors, ed enheplenurs. The ilventions asso.iaied wirh cinemtog.apny were devdoped sirulianeously in differeni counrJies (prima.ily in rheUrited crares. Irdn,e Flgdnd. dnd Cermanl,. so thec.re co;t,ctingrla,ms dboul wl-o in\ented.nemd A,onvpnieri wd\ ioenler rhe di".u.,,.ni. to beg r q ith thp hve-hon or two e*pnti"t md.hi;e". a r:ne " caodble ofrecoJdins ro oa dnd d pro.ector ..Dablp or .howing no\ n6 ma8p. to dn

- Although there wre imporrani anteedenrs, mey hnto.ids agree that thefr^r dot on-pifim "\stem ha. dpvetoped in $" t;bo?ro,y of l1e nvenrordnd dtrppeneur Tl'ora, Al\d tdison. Ir 1882. Ldi5on had inlorpd thephonggraph md wanled a compoion appdatus{omething rhat wouldre.o'd dnd Tprodu. e doviaS piclres ro dclomprny rc ordpd du. c tortlr6prrpo'e. he hned Willidm K. L DiLk.on. who did au, 1 o. O,e hork n ,-tenFing th cam@. Dickson and Edison spent a fruiiless year hying io devetop arecording m.hine modeled on the cylinder, tre basis for Edison,s phonograph.In 1889, on a trip to Parb, Edison ;aw Etieme-tutes M-"yt

""i.*","-

"r,*d paper fiLn dd a oll mehdism to tate a sries of photographs ar a high,Deed. Upon rd'.on . rcru-. DLlson arquired -ome fle. b e ceuLlo.d ,i,n p;Ftu.ted by Geoe Fa.rndn bLL wort on d ncw \ind of rc(onling dfli.e wbdelayed by other prctefs. By 1891, Dickson tEd comrru.tea a -otion pict oecamera .aled a K"etq7ap,1, which was a huge, mwietdt battery-p;weredma.hine that weighed abour 5m pomds. Dick;d,s co"t iu"tio* L], i, "-,owing the Edtnan filtn by dttinS ii into oneinch srrips (or approximtety3clm. rhe:.anddd toddy, dd rl-4 perfordtug the film wirr rour hote" onea,h side or a trdne -o a ,-.. or ,p-.t"r. .outU oovM,e fie pt-olo8-apt-.brr p*t the ameru reru In ode 'o JIoh p{pte to rc lhp Aorded ind8"s.Dckson developed a viewing bo., called a l:trrroscote, whi.h had a peepholedfli.e ODr credted thp l6ior ot movnS piclr". The 5 gniri.dl tmirarionorLl.a (iarc-copp idq lh". onll ore poo ar a tine coia vieu -he movmg

Edison tmed to other pbjects, ad so it was enirepreneus NoEe Ratrand lranl Gammon who, he ing of the camera istig;ted a parrne$hip thatled to ihe m keting of ihe Kinetoscope. Filns were needed f;r public exhibi-fon. -o D.\on rcok @ the iob ot produLir8 rlr.


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glam of td silent 6l,as at the Grand Caf6 i Palis. This was the fist time in hietory that continuous moving inages were prcjdted on a {l1s for publi.viewing by a paying audin e. Ea.h fiLn .onsjsted of a single mediied shotlasting only one or two minutes. The Lmiare brothers capt@d s.enes ofeveryday life: woikers er.iting a fa.tory a train .oming into a stalion, a babyfeedin8, and laboreF lqocking down a wall. The filns were what the Lmierescalled a.tualitis or dmentary views. The signi{icdt point is that theLmiare a.iralil4 were flol ndatives.Hearing about the LmiCres' succ6s, Edison bdame interested in develoFing a p@jectoi tn 1895, Major Woodvile Laiham invmted the Lathm loop.Previously, filn from 50 ro 100 feei long was likely to bleak be.ause the takeup@l woutd jerk, splitting or tearinS the film. By placinS a loop in the filmstripthat would absorb the jerking action, a much longer piece of filn could be prc-jected- In that sam year, Thomas Armai dd Charles lrd.es Jenkins developed a projector called the Phantascope that had an intermittent motion devi.eparallel to a.mera's. In 1896 the Edison Compdy boughfuights to the Phdtascope and markebed it as the vitdcope uder Edison's nane, even ihough hehad no ptrt in inveniinS it. This protol?e for the nodem prcjector was used inpubli. for the tust time on April 23, 1896, at Koster and Bial's Music Hall inNew York Ciry Edison's Vitdcope filns looked like the Kinetoscope fillB, but

sm after the Blal exhibitim. Edison becme less dependot on filns shot atthe Bta.k Mdia dd sent men with portable .ameras to shoot on location. Thesubjets of these films included streei senes, railway irains, a fire sgine, awatefal, dd other outdoor srges.

'Ihere ae wsal EasoN why m the mid-1890s the fits of Ediso& iheLmiare brcihen, and othd filmmakeF w@ primdily nMative in naturE,consisthg of reproductions of Ealstic smes or of staged iheatlical perfomcs.The most imdiate is ilbt nineteenth century teclhology limited the length of afilm to ihe poht wherc it was difii.dlt to tell a story Edly films were shoitbea@a filn ldting ldgd thd a minute d two would bieal in mo6t projectors- Since itis difficult b tell a complex story h such a shon sbt h, the evolution of mnativecineha was tied to tt developmmt of prcjection technology.

Anothq limit on cinemaric stor)4eling in the mid-1890s was that filrmke6 had a primitive mdeBtdding of the new medium. It simply did noi @curto them to move beyond recording a real or staged event. But evo iI it had,they did not yet lnow how to move the .dera to tell a stor)a WlFther the 1:a-era was as hea\y as ihe 500-pomd Kinet6cope or as light 6 the 16-pomdCin6matog1aphe, it was *t up as a station ry device. The was only one shot,one point of view, md one sige. It was djfficuli to tell a slory wilh a tregiming,middle, dd end using ore short scene dd a single, motionless, usually longshot to fr e the a.tion.

Iurthemor, audiences ftgdded filns differendy than we do toda)r At thispoint in history filn w6 a novelty, a tuiosity, a teclnological miracle. Viewe$

Cinm'sTun toNamti{e . 17

weE excited by the mere ryjstence of moving pi.tures. To ns a train barelinginto a station was uttedy dtonishing. lt wasn't Etil the novelty wore ofi thatvieweN demded something moE ephisdcated.

Pelhaps a more importmt .Liffeme between eally audiences ed today'sis that the edliest vieweF saw films as motion-dimted photographs within aframe. Each soe was viewed 6 a eu-.ontained mit. It was onlv with thedevelopmst or mulb-cm mo iec dd contin h edilinS rhal view;r, hanPdto make comectiotu between one scene ad the next dd to view multiplein.ompleie scenes d adding up to a sro{4

Th is not to say that there w@ not edly ermples oI embryonic Mrativ6.Mey filh historim daim d early Lumiere sholt Ie /ahlinb et le petit *piZgle(1895) (rater entided ,\rrse r A'ost or "The Waterer Watered") dti.ipates ffiative cineFa. This one- to lwo-minute, singleshot filfladapted a well,knoMnsspaper .aibon. tn il a gardene. waters his IaM with a hos. A boy steps onthe hose, deliberately shutting off ihe water supply. Whe the Ij6 lools closlyaf the nozle to ee what is wron& the boy sbeps off the ho6e, casing the lrd iosquirt hirseu in ihe fae. Realizjng the tick, the mm t1m aJter th boy dd

One of the fiImmkre givd .rdit for intrcducing a stor)telting dimedonto filn in the period beiween 1895 dd 1900 is George Melier a fomer mgi.id,who prcduced filns lhat astmished audim@s with then spe.ial efiects- M6[es,ur ike Ediso4 the Lmiares, and other edly fil'a prduers, c e fron emtertaimeit backgroud, and s adapthg theatrical enventioro to the newmedium w6 naiual for him. Whm Mdies tust begd maLing filhs in 1896, heshot every.Iay s.ener travelogues, ad magic tricks, but son he experimetedwith film in wals that look hih outside the d()min of documentary views andstaged perfornances. One leo\nique was stop-morion photogaphy/ a prc.e-dw in which the tmera is siopped duing a shoi, a change is nade in thescer, and thm the camera Esm shooting. In this way/ Mdlils was able tomale m objeci or a hlll]m disappr, nove, nultiply, or be replaed. In Tl'.vdflishi S lidr 0896), fot ex ple, a eated w()lr@ js pla.ed by a skelebon.

M6lies soon began nhhg a se.ies of theaterlike scenes he caled"tableaux." A scene w6 shot the cdda stoppe4 dd thd d entnely 1@scme was shot frcm the sde dgle. He devetoped t.asition doics to con-nect the scenes: the fade'ilr fad*out, and *veral kinds of dissohe. M6lias' fi6tmdtiscene film was Tl,e Dlerfus Afoit (189), based on contempolary events.Howevet, A1llp to the Moon (1902), adaptaiion of Iulesyerc'sE/oft the Eanhto ttu Moor dd H. G. Wells's Fint Mefl in the Maar,becane his most popula.and influential film. This 1+minute, 82sj@t-long filn .mtais 30 separatescoes. The 30 tableau de .omected by a transition device caled the lap dis-solve in which the first scene slowly fades out md the ndt scne slowly fadesin with sohe overlap between the two kdes. The most famous tableau is ananimation scene of a rccket hitthS the "ma in rhe moon." Events in ,{ ?i are


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CHAPfERI

Dre:dted n d seque(e buL a: come rritiLs Porri out a 'totv r' d_eriee of

i,,i'lr-"r,,,a *li- r" 't'"t 5etue '4rnp 6 m;F a theatricr 'Peorlle Dtr d

'_"i. "u." *,i.a u"**" l8oc dnd Lam .jnetu has nol Piimril\ a sloa_

"r""" -ed'*Cqt?inlv rherP heP some tirad\e rdN hoderer' otu

;.-".iiil;";r";-,'-aw 'ioryteuns * d subord:na e irsr' the de\eroP'lli"i-",'

r"li;1', ri". ,r'". *^ i'". "i^"* 'r -"^ dd) riie sd or stdspdenlertaim;r. b,by la08 dcimmdthatLIe ly focused on the devproPden t or.hdacte6 dd stories (Gutmlng 6)

Audiences, Produation, and Distribution

we have looked brle{1v at how the po$ibilities of cinemati' nadation in the

-i:irido' """ r'-r; ut rhe srate of blm rechnorosv film P oduipr omi-i'" *a",t'-a'"g *'t'".ed'um, Mo 'pectdto ' r'whg habi\ Bu' u4 w'sii"* "ii,i -."i*" x'. tnelrm or the centun tron rhe 'N\isren'e ord'r

Lil".#;;;;;;;G a'|drrk' 'omir vdudpvilreacF Lhedbrcd

;'"";.';;; ht";;i:,r;' "n6. 'hort trav.rosuessPortus e\41' Md ear)

Itoaes r'o a meaium Ltra' wd Prmd-rly ndttdti\ el WraL derbr\ ery nppeo rebald.e in favor of cinema as storytelinS?"-*ti"l."i. ,ni* "."r* rtuL one

ari'wer 'o rhe quetio' is Publi inJeF LLdlv nulh'ce.e f ^ih.r establisned

(mdrrit\ morS'hots 'uch d5 Edmi-"'^.1.-" iii. ] ," i-"' L ^ I;r da t.eo\r and

laa cndt t' a 'n RobbPtu( taa3)

";iJ't*r'ri""pil;',r."ldien.e'

Ih? oat fta;a tou&'ry' s rxch Ld'ts dboLL

CiflffisTwn toNtttatire t 73

Robbeu hold rhejr guns on lhe .onduclor in on of dF {ns iiom lhe multisGn l6e Gtui Imtlobbe4l (1903), one of $e liul naFad@ nlms

twelve minules, consists of fourteen shots that, although incomplete scenes inthemelves, are Lnl


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ovq the theaie$. The itiner t exhibito could show the sane proSran ofabout te Iihs to new audiences. Th pemdent iheateN, however had fixedlocal audiences. To keep viewers comin& the theatef had to pd.hase new6lms in order io vary iheir prc$ams. To slve this problen, a new middlelrdslstem evolved wherEby disbibutors bought prints from produ.ds dd rentedthm to c$ibitors, :llowing p(r]lr@dt thale$ io vary then prcgram withless cost because they no longer had to buy prints outight.

One comequene of the new rental system was the movemeni of film exhj'bition ftom vaudevile theaters, where thy costituted oily a p t o{ the per-formance, to storefroni operahons @lled nickelodeN that were devoted solelyto film s$ibition. Nickelodeons derived thet nme frcm the original 5


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release, DVDS, vide(asettes, network d cable TV, soudba.k atbus,video games, dd colmercial tieim.

Despite new rev{ue somes, fildmaking remaiB a big gahble. Holly-wood xedtivs know they cmot prt6t the market befo they mke amovie and they how that they produce far more disasteF ihan hit filhs. Howcd they prdict which prcjd wi]I male back its iniii.] investneni md thnsome? $ith budgets damtingly higt exedtives tend bo green-light prcjersthat minimize risle slch as prequels, sequels/ remakes/ special-effects

exhava,ganz6, ad adaptatiotu.Filh companjs know that litoary texts, whether dssi.s hom the Westem

c on or popdd literatde likely never to eter the .don, are good .ddidaresfor fiihnaLing be.aue thei storis have alrEady prcv{ b be enjoyable to mdypeople. A story's popddity comes in two ways: It cd be popul ovd time tol]my generations-a lilelary dNiq or, it can be widely poprild to a conlempcrary audimc(H best seler the populaiiry of either kind of rexr is L&ety to rrans,late into a box office sucess, d at Least thais the basic asmltion.

The clasi. story has p.oved it cm hokt audience appeai over time, and themarketing of the film will benefit from mme reognition of the author, titte, orstory Thir* of rhe hdy adaptations mde of ShaLspeare's plays or D.kenstnovels. Similarlt the bestseler is "pft kissed," meaning ir has a wide audieneaLady ed one that is likely to follow the story into the theater Reent exam-pl6 of bestsellers thai have drawn huSe film audiences in lude J. K. Rowling,sH4lry Poriq sdies md J. R. R. Tolkien's kilogy I/'e rold d/ rle Rir8i. One ihinksalso of best-sllng novels like Ioln Grishah's Tre ltffi, Mi.hael Crichton'sIutBsi. Pa*, Tom LlNy's The Huht fot Bed Octobd, andRobert lanes Walter,sThe Btidgs of Madisak Coutty. Todat whethe. the work is a classi. stoiy or ab6t seler, it most likely M.hes the screen b


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Lilddtud FilnTm a 79

Literary Telms

Beu* renwrilers often reoider the ev{ts in a story to be adapte4 it is usetul to keep in mind a distinction between story dd Plol The sfory js a successim of evenls invotving characters told in chronologi.al ordei But lloi relbrs tothe sele.tion dd dmgement of events so thai they are interdepodent andcasally elated dd their outcome, Siven tlE chdacteF and initial situatior

*(m ineviiable. The story's happenjngs, the4 d raw mterial Plot sele.tsthe happenings, puis thm i sofre sequetial order (not necessdily .hiono-logical), md eskblishes casaliry

ln Aspects af the NoveI,LM. Foster gives a now famo8 ermple of this dietinction between story md plot. According to lo$te, to say that "the .ing diedand the que{ died" is to tel a story becau* ihe two events m not logicallyrelaled. But to say that "the king died dd then the queen died of grief' js toesrablish a plot- The added thiee wods explain that an evdt haPPened mdlhat it had a coNquence. The causal linl .onverts story into plot.

Plot is a structulal devi.e that embles the author dd s@nwrite to hain_tain ca6al linls while preeniinS events outside ihe corotraints of chronoloSi'cal ordel lor e{mple, m author or a.IaPter need not siart ai the begiming ofthe story bur @n begin it ftedt i /es (in the middle of things) md then fiashback to show p6t events that led up to the Presat, or flash foNard to indicatefuture coEequen es. A screawriter hay atso decide to reddge evsts sothat the sure's ending bcomes the filh's begiming lor exa$'ple, Th IceSioln (1994, direcied by Ang Lee, begiG with the ending of Rick M@dy'snovel of the sde rlm md then back up to the Pdiod before the deady iestom. These chdges in chronoloSical otder are oftd made io elicit emotioMlEac6ons su.h 6 slrprise or suspere or d ihpoding tense of doom.

Plot is Bually dividd into three parts folowing Aristotb's me Poetics: ^begimn& a middle, md m ad. Some ditics se Gustav Frey'tag's exPmdeddelinition of Arisiotle's bipartite structure: exPositioi, rising adioa .limd,Ialling a.tio4 md catastrcphe. (The last event is also caled iBolution ordnouemenl). The exposition or inhoduction esiablishes the place and time ofthe action, inhoducB the character or clEh.tqs, Sives ay dessaiy back-gromd inlormaiior and establishes the mood or tone of the story The risingaction iniiod .es a conJlict, or complicatiorr that inisifies the origiml situ-tion dd mov6 iowards a najor tming point or clind. The downw d orfalinS action shows evdts going f.om bad to wose, leading to some 6nalse6a1 of foftme for the prctagonist.

There a.e othei fohs of ploi one can idendfy that are not domiMted bycase and effdt. A nonhaditional plot may preenl events in nonlnearsequen.e, ue coincidence rather thm causality io linl evenis/ dd leaae theresolution indeteninate or open


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M . CIIAPTER2

Some stories consist of a sdies of episodes that @ loosely related by rhepBen e of a hero, a specific location, a theme, or a histolical event. Ar empleof an episodi( plot is Henry Fieldingt eightemth-.entury rcaelThe History ofTon lafles, d Fo ndli g.The fisr sction of the novel is set at the country home ofTom's Suddid Squire Allworthyj the middle chapters desdibe a complicatedset of adventures that tanes place on the roads to London; and the final rhi.d oftlE novel is et in tondon. t\ahat ties together ihe settings dd senes is ttEPresace of the title he.o.P]ots ar sometimes distinguished by thei. mood md outcome. Comi.plob sGIy end with a happy evmt such d the maniage jn ShakespeaF's ,4,Yo Ltl, it, whereas hagi. plot6 hay end wiih ihe prctagonistt isotarion dddeath as in Shakespeare's MndDet . Subplob @ minor or subordimte acrionsoften used to ontribute interst dd action to the min plor.

Some criti.s identify character rather ihd plot as the defining tuature ofndative. ln ihis view, plot is a ftamework of actiom that fm*s ataqtion onchalactei The charactels dsirs, motives, or goals lead to action. Howevei,when someone claim a slory is more .haacterdriven lhm plot-driven, keepin mind that chara.ter and action are often s inte*wined that ii is diffi.dt todistinguish between the tvo. In sophisn@ted nanaiivs, a.tion grows out ofcharacte md chara.ter grows out of acfion.

Chda.ter is a peFonality on paper oi filn. In literary fiction/ .hdacters areoften dGcribed both olrzrdtdly and inMrdl . We .ofle to know one thioughwhat he or she does, sa)s, and looks like, or thrcugh the opinions md rea.tionsof othrs. we may also get to know a .luEcte inwardiy thrcugh d omi


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22 . CHAqTER2

- ,Thqe L at(o tne obie.6ve or d,Mari. Doin I of v,q. h tuch 6e, rhe L\r,rderon.Md is lihjtpd ro re.ouhns wlDt clldraLtels ,,y .. d.. Th" ;i".;:ednredoe\ nor retdre whjl.hdacle- ri.inI or ret 10;.;;;;r$i;;ineu acho6. TtE srory j5 rotd atnosr cohDterHmmvdy s +on.b.s .",,,. ;i" ill;"#';"Tf: s.*ff"ITn\amptes ot tne obje.rjve pohr of uew

- -l-\,remim8ponrofqs hetpc F uderrandhga


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Of couFe, with this point of view the .amra my sti]I act at tihes as an omni-scient ndatoi by ofiering information outside the view of the main .haractes.

Most fiLm tell sioris using thousands of shots hom different angles. Thesefilbs repeatedly shift mong the thiee main points of view io achieve .tilJeataesthetic effects. The questions to ask aF, "What point of vietu is being used inthis series of shots?" dd, whe the perspective shifis, "t{hy did the directordecide to .hmge the point of ds in this squene?"

Alothe impoiant literary fiEu.e usetul for 6Im mlysis is the symbol As)rbol is somethjng in a text or in a fiin lhat represenis something else, oftenm idea or e atiitude. Slmbols can be objects, pe6ons, pla.es, or evenls. Iorexample, an American flag is a physical objecf cua1]y made of .loth, bur itstands for e dtire nation. The symbol is no simply verbal. It is some elementrepresented as physically present in a work of an but that nonetheless signiJiessomething beyond its literal meming.

Synbols derive thei. assooatios froh long hadition or acquire theiimedings fom their use in a spdific work of art. Ior exanple, through tongass@iahon, a crossroads traditionaly mem a decision, a rc* repre*nis love,dd spring md winter Buggesi birth and death. But authors and filndai


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25 . CHAPTER2 Litetdtu dhAF mTm a 27

Nico e Kidman, mane up a3 Virgh aWoolt in De,9. 6 (2003), illustraleehow an dcto''s natur.lappe ancmlghrbe a rered to suir rhe role he or she i5

Lelt Nkole Kidman, a glamools siir arnving at the Cili.< Choic Awa.d5,l.nuary 1Z 2003, inBftrt Hills, Calilomia. Rrght V rginia Woolf, tE Bdtjsh ndlisr, cditiq and essyisr, c. 1936.

LiShting is the illmimtion of a.tors dd sets in the production of a film. A.inemtosrapher deddes whether the light is natural or anificial, the dirc.timit should take, and its intemity. UghtinS cm dist attmtion rowdd majorareas of interest such as m a.tor's fae. An e)


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contestants standing itride thei spdate, soudprcol booths and the Same-show host stedhg at a podim just below them, th6 establishing the config -ration of the thee pdn ipal d\araclers in the scene. Later in the scene, aclos up shot of one of the coniestants deciding on m mwei to a questionshows the real (or, as revealed evd later in the film, pretend) anguish on the

Cmera angle is the .dera's position in relaiion bo the subject being photographed. There are tltree min gles ihe high dgle, in which the cameralooks down on the subject, the shaight-on or eye-level angle, in which the camera look5 shaight anead at the subjdt, and ihe tow egle, in which the .deralooks up at the subject. Within the contert of the fil&cmela anSles nay addmeminS to the subject being fiImed. lor example a hiSh-a8le shot my diminish a .hdacter md mke him o her eed helplBs md vulnerable. A lokangleshol may make a figure s(*n towering dd powerfd. A sEaighrdgle shor usually sugsests ntuhality toward the subj{t. ln 4ll ,? PBid4t's Ma 11976), ahigh-mgle shot of Ca.] Bemtein dd Bob Woodward sittinS at a desk andseaching thsugh withdrawal slips fron the Library of Cmg1ess diminishes thetwo md within the enotuous space of the room dd ninimizes their signi6_cance as rEportes {rom the W6fiir8tm Port who seek a$wers to the Watergaieaffair Laier in the film, Woodward dd a male frimd of his with close contactswithin the Nixon administration, whom Woodward ni.knmes "DeeP Ttuoat,"met in a parking gdage late at niAhl. The low-angle shots of the two men talk-ing .oNpiacy increde their physicai statde md enlarge the significance oftheir illminating discussiotr.

Camera movement refe6 to dy motion of the 6mera that chdges the.dda's pesp(tive on its subject. Comon .anera movemets jnclude tilt'in& pauin& trac}jn& dd .rde shots. A tilt shot involves the cdera novlngupward or downward, thereby s.ming the scene verti@ny while reminingfted on a hipod or houl. Ior example, a tilt shot may fonow a persm asend-in8 or ddcendjng a night of srns. la Daubb Indennity, after Walter Neff hskilled Mr. Dietri.hsr he leiums to his apartnet by .limbing the back stair-way, so as not to be seen. The cmera tilts uPward as it follows Neff's strepti-tious.limb toward apparenl tedom. A pm shot moves left o riSht scamingthe sene hoizontally yet remininS in a fired position. For exmple/ a panshot may folow a peson crossing a bom or a sbeet. In the credits shot of ft?(illds (1946), afte. the last tiile .dd has been displaye4 the two wotlld'beki]]N apprcach the camera; it pm left to follow thejr movement to a .lo*dgas station whre then inbended victim work, pas right as they move awayhom the station and look acros the st@t at a dine , d pans eve turther toL\e right as they walk toward the diner and thelJ plamed mbush of theji vi._lim. A hrcl.ing shot moves fotrard, backward, or laterally, movinS toward,away, wiih, o around the subje.t. The cahra is nol in a fixed position buttravels on a tra.k of doly foUowhg a moving subject, su.h d a person walLjngdown a sidewalk. At other times, the subjecl remains tued, dd the camera

Litetod afla Fi| T.ffis & 29

hacks toward, awa), or emd ihe subject. In Tn. So;ftrer (1968), Ned MerrillEces a ho$e along a pat@ fen e dd holds his own with the admal, much tohis smilin8 satisfaction. The camera als holds its own as it ba.ks the two ofthem, the spinting Merril dd the loping horse. A crde shot occurs when ihecmera is mounted high on a crae and moves in my diqtion, often with das.eding or des.dding motion. The ode shot offers a bnd's


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30 r CH.4PTER 2

chdacter is l@king is show4 match on action, in which one shot of d a.tion isFpla.ed by dother shot of the same a.tion in the same moment but ftom a dif-ferent focl vis, so there appars 10 be no intenuption to the a.tionj edshovrevebe shot, in which at least iwo shots joined together show first onecharacter and lhs mother character [alhng to each eothei

An erample of continuity editing occus in the fight scene betweo theMa.tm brothe$ in A Rr'@ R rs Tftldg, lr, which we diss in detail inChapler 3. An establishing shot shows ihe brotheE in iheir family kitcheD NoF

rld sitting at the table ready to eat a sddwich dd Parn eteiing dd beginning to advise his oider b@ther on how to make a betler sandwich. Once thefight over ffxing the sedwich begiN, eyelin+mtch shots show ea.h brcihd

Srily confronting his ofbcreen adveFary and sizing up the next opportunityto thrcw a puch. Match-on-action shots show the successful pmches landingard driving ea.h brother eithd agaitut a Ljt hd wal or against the l.itdFnsink. CroscuttinS shols altermte betwe{ the batding broihers dd theirmother's entrd.e into the kit hen ftom dother door, hd alam ar theii fight-in& and he rush to stop it by histalenty getting between them- Shot/everseshots show the brctheF' fuious eaciioro and mme cailing after their motheslips dd fal]s down on the flmr betwen them- A @stablishing shot showstheir mother getiing up without iheir assistance and quietly leaviry while thebroihers std at ea.h other without saying mother word or thJowing one nore

Oppoed to continuity editing is disiunctive editing, which emphasiresthe dt frcm ore shot to mthe. The variecB dong shots ce be in teIm ofspace, time, or visual pattens, md the goals may be to distub the viewer or tointenpi or mdercut the slory's velisimilitude. After the conchsion of thesc@ des.ribed in the previos paragnpn, at the ed of the shot showing Mrs.Maclean leaving he kitchen and her two boys staring at de dothd, theft is acur b a doMward filte4 extreme long shot thai show6 the brolhere ad theirfathr fly fishing together The vdidces between the two shots ar in te]G ofspace time, and visual pattem. The viewer is t.ansported from the c.ampedkitchen/boxing arena in the early moming to the spacios/ s'my outdoo$where, accoldi^g to the voiceover mrraled by the elderly Noman, the b.othe.s

hale gone ba.k to being gra.ioc to on dotheias

their faith prompted thm o behave. Tne goal of this disjunctive editing is to interrupt the antagonisnbetween the brothers dd to sugggt a sdden hd steadfast re.mciliarionbetwen them, expressed through then comon lore of fly fishing dd respe.tfor reliSious teaching.

The term montage cd be sed in a Seneral eNe to indicate my kind ofediting, blt it hd come to refer to an editinS technique that jutaposes dissimi-lar shots, .alls attention to their discontinuiry dd thus leads the viewer tomke .oRious .om.tions among the images. The assmblage of .onhastingmd conflicting imges achieves a signifi.an e that g@s beyond the medingimpuciiin y of the individEl Ehots.

Litettry and Fitn TTns $ 37

The opning sequence of A RiM Rans Thtwgh It is a^ exampte of a hon,tage. This series ofjuxtaposed dissimild shots, flmed by philippe Rousselot, ishade up of fouJieen sti[, black, d,white, mostly archiva] phorographs of lifein Mont2na during the iime pedod in which the fiIm is sei. Ea.h shot is srraightm, tuis from between fou dd eight seondt rracks forwdd in order to .airythe viewer nearer to ob*rve the deiail in the .hdacreristicalty extreme long,shot pholographs/ dd then disolvs inro the nexr sritl tife.

The tust two shots are of still phoiographs featuling, in a fohal pose,Nornan and Paul as children by thmselves, d then, in another fomalpose, Nolfun and Paul, again as childre[ a.companied by their parenrs.These two phoiographs aie followed by a series of photographs presentingMontana life in the fi6t qudter of the twentieth .entury. These are comprisedof a dver flowjng thiough a countryside, a dirt srreet rming $rough a rown,doiher dirt street, a hoFe ad wagon on a diri sheet rlming rhrough a sertlement, a setilement l@ated at rhe bonom of a mounhin range, a bunch oIloggers posed aroud a pile of logs, dorher bunch of loggers stdding in a.dmp, d \hucn \bndint nedr " b.d8e.pdnrnB a nver people po-ed 1afield more people stdding d trorr of d ciry hau hho:e fd\adp F .overedwith huge U.S. flags, a woman with two boys standing on a rree lined srreet,dd, lasdy, mother.hurch. Takd together, these conhasting and conftictingimages suggest this

filmis

rhe siory ofa

small family living in a place that is acivic- and reliSious-minded comnuity whose way of living is inrimarety

There e four t}?s of soud head in films: spech, music, soud ef{e.ts, dsildce. Speech is di.to8ue, or chda.td dis.ourse, spold by the actoFoscre{ or spokd by the aclors offs@rr as in voi.eovei tunarion. Some-tih6 a .haracter is seen alone on s.en but is not spealjng, while rhe voi.e ofthe ch acter is he.rd on rhe sohd ha.k thinkinS abour somethinS, as in rhebla.k-dd white sequences in n4efledo (2001). Dialogue conveys backgroundinJomatioo expresses the tholghts dd feelinSs of the chdacter abouta.nons, the behavioi of other.haracie6, oi fear@s of the seting; md distin,guishes each chara.ter by l \guage idiom.

M ic refes 1o the s.or composed to establish sku*ural pattehsthrouShout a scde, a sequoce, or the entie film, and to evoke emorional reac,tions h the audience- Structual pattens assist in establishing the atmosphereof a sprtin8:tl'ey 5uppl) bdclgromd ror dn orn(ryse rurddne{.ne otirF\.itin8 visual contenl or to tu1611 h indslry st aregy of having msi. in everyscene fsm start to finjsh; they prcvide conrjnuirt or sm@th haNitions mdflow, from shol to shot dd s.ene to *ene, ad they undeFcore the.limai and.onclusion of scenes. The {ore influ{ces the audience s emotional reactions tothe action d chaa.ters in a particuld scde, a sequence, or the entiF film. tn


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32 . CIIAPfER 2

nasft6nd (1950), nusic phnss de linled to mjor chalactef in the filn forviewer identification md ehotional association.

Soud effects @ noises made by people dd obj4ts siruated within rhes.ene shoM. The* consist of dbient sound, or backgomd nojses in a kene,such as people opmlng or closing a door, water ming in a stm, o autemobile homs blaring in .ig' tiaffi.. Ambient somd als .oroists of noiesnade by people or objects pelforming significdt actions such as soneone cry,ing o. laughing, a

gm tuing,or a

b.idge collapsing. Somd efiects c be usedfoi.oni. purposs. Ior eMmple, in Itu SinprorJ adapiation of Edgar AllanPoe's "The Ravd" (1989), Honer the speaker of the poem, sals:

Ba, t i tto tb tlhbd t Jt n,rg. dtt w a,l r ithia m bufr t a8S@/ agdin I hutd o taryinS enethitg ladq thin lEkE.SureL ,said I,stftly tet k enethin* at .4 indtu lattice;Irt ne se, thd, uhtt thmt is, afla tub nystery e,plaft. (31 34)

The "tapping something loude ihan before" is repres.nted in the film as a loudbdging wh6e force shales the f1afre and disturbs the delicate dsolmce in

The total abence of somd in a s.ene is alled a dead track. The absd.ebrea16 the expected somd pattem of dialogue, musi., md etrects established inthe film up to that point, $r.priss the audience; maks the audience concen-trale on the image; dd @ates aNiety and mticipation in rhe audidce as itwaits for soud to reue. That resmption my be in the fom of m unJoe

tn Drd&12? (193i), directed by Tod Browning, Renfiei4 who has fahted, isappr@ched by the of Da.ula's wivs in an apartrndt within Dracda's .astle. Dracula himelf appea in the window waves then oq and thenappr@ches Renlield for the fist drin of his blood. This brief scene is silmtfrom ihe time RenJield feels the room is siuffy, Soes to the window to ope it, isaccosted by a bat (which d@s squeal for a nonent), dd faints, until the fade,ou with Dracula bading over Rdfield's limp body. The first shot of the nextk@ shows a storm-tossed sailjng ship with the soed of whistlinS wind onthe

soudtia.k. The suddm abseue

of sound in ihe faintjng s(qe interruptsthe patten established up to thn, supdsB the viewer dd makes the viewerconentrate on the bizarely costme4 edacia[ed figures of the wives. It alsoheightG Draculat sudderny hctile behavior iowdd RenneH, whod up untiinow he has treated with busiGslike couteqa

Somd is either diegeti. or nondiegetic. Diegetic sohd is produced withina s.reen space. For example, character talk, male noise, or pl.ay a musicaiir,strument in a r@m. Nondiegetic somd des not occur within the s(en6pace. An offstage voiceover dd musi. kore are examples. One way to distin-Suish between diegeti. dd nondiegetic sound is to ask whether the charactesafld the audience are meant to hear the somds (&egeti.) or whether the sohdsare intended so/ely for the audid.e (nondiegeti.). ln the exdple of .aheE

Literary annF nTetus . 33

trr}ing Ircn me SuifttuL mentioned edtier, Ned Meril and ihe hose he isracint do not hed the music we hed on the soud h.ack, yet the rcDsing musicei?r4es m excibement about thei race that rhe mm &d the hor* mighr acru,ally be feeling; th8, the nondiegeti. dusic hetps the viewer b experience iheemotiom of the characterc on screen.

Literature ad 6lm slEre mmy tems. Analrsis of boL\ forms invotves alk,in8 about character, seitin& actio4 theme, md slhbolism. But filh requires itsown specizl vocabulary to describe how imases d sodds tell stodes. Bothsets of tms wil be useful in the following .hapie.s where we explore iheways fiLi@kers adapt lireraiure to film.


16/20

E5 t CHAPTERIA

WTLUAM SHAKESPEARi. Ttu ?frtfls o/the sh@ (1s93).

GtLIuNcEk n mings I Hote AbtutYo \1999).

IANE SMrLEy. a Tldsa d ,4cles (1991).locELYN MooRJ]ousE. a fi'o,s4'd

406 \r99n.BRAM SroKEi. D/rdr, (1897).FRnNcrs FoRD CoPPoLA. Brdfr Sloturt

Dnc lt (7992).

HUNTER S. THoN{,soN. F@/ 4rdLoathing in ks vegas (197r).

'lFlJ.y GtLu|,]n. Fdt and ltathiflg iflL,as vegas (1998).

H. G. wFt-Ls. The bbfld oJ Dt Mdenu(1896).

JOHN TR}NKINHEhfER AND RICHARDs'r.iN,.L\. The Istdfld ol Dr Moreau

11996).ToM\No:.fE- Thz BMlrc of ttu Vanities

legn.BPl,',rr DE Pat.}"ia. The Bonfrc of the

vanities O9m).

GLOSSARY

a


17/20

G-2 a GlOSs,4nY

rcund, PosinS d mdtidimssional qualities of actul People, or ir,pMinA , onedurrfuioDl qualtyand b(m V a tinsle Ldea ChiracLe6cd also t divided inlo static chdcre6,whodo tut.h Ee, ed develoP-iry .haractd, who dodneni sPace Film sPace is diffe6tlrod the actul s?a@ m obseredsd s in dDt d @lda allows sb w the sm subj{t ntheetuPla.eliom diffe6t Points of viw The (d-sacm$long, mediun andd6e Pshots ) vary dE views's distarue; it6 E eYelwel, hiEhdgle, or low-.nsle shots to.hdge the viewer's PGiti6; md it @ w tilting Pding,EaveLin8, or cr e shols to nove theviPwn in rlation to rlE acborcinda time Filn time is dilfeFrfiom the actual tjme we exPeri$ce inthat the camera can slow down timeusing slow rotion, sPed it P usingfast motion, or even stoP it 6ing aIreeze fiee. Editing can also s eduP action by cutting qui.lly frcn oneshot to eothei The dit


18/20

G-4 r CIOSSARY

in whi.h ore shot is repla.ed abropdywith @ths shot ihat i5 minatchedin a way that calls atldtid to the dt

epbodic plot S@ ploLtablishin8 shois See .ontinuity

eyelevelSee

cden angle.eyeliftMt.h Se @ntinuity edidag.

fade-out See editing,falling action Se plolidetity The de8ree to which the 6lm is

"faithtul" to the text.fflm hisrory Tates d its subject the teh-

nologi.al, @nooic, sooal, dd arnsricdevelopndt of the cinena over time,

fI /ot The lEnch words for "blackfilm." The e m refeB to a speificsqle of 6lm mde in Holfood du-ing the 1940s 6d '50s- Thb style fea'tl$ a sinister, vi.ious, dd violdturba wodd of vice dd crime, popu'lated by base dd nuotic dwactersand empn4izinS dEary settin8s,ddk shadows, dd high contrasts of

6Er-peMn poi ol view 5e poinr

flatcharacrer Se.hara.teaframcd ndative A filh ttDt begitu in

a mrranve Pesen stoPs, d thenbacls up fo a p6t nafative ihat even-iuatly @tci up to the nmative prest dd moves beyond it.

glaphic mat h Se .ontinuity editinE,high angle See @neM angle.hid-key lighting See lighting.historical6lm Seedoodrda.intera.rion stEreEy Ii order to corre

lale the aclu,l d the E{reated indocudr@ filns, filbmakeF pr-soade the viwr of th film's .omec-

tioN to actuality though one of several po$ib1e links betwen rhli actu-aiity dd its rrcation, One link isfor the actul md the recated 10aPPed simultdeously on sdem, aswhen an :.tnr is fflmed while w:lk-ing at the actual place where the evst

intemediat adaptation Sone Mna-tive elmmls 6om tre worl of literatuF are kepi, othe6 ae drcpped, mdstil othss d added to the filn Aninremediate adaptation neithe closelyco orft to the liteftry text no. dtirly

intdtdiulity The view that t*ts ealways reiated ho md depod{t uponother texts. trtdtextuality calls atts-tion to lhe fact that texts refd to oi .iteother terl6. liln adaptatioro e bydefinitid intertextual sifte they refdto leBlst tat.

inteMeaving 3bategy An appech inwhich m6t of tire elemots of dativetuom the shori story @ eiaFed, dis-persl thEuShmt dE film althouEhnot n4esrlly in dEir onSinal order,dd new elmmts or exp@im ofisting elddts e inteMeaved.

,ump cul S editin&kepr elemenb Th6e elemnrs of E

rative in a wor of llterat@ includedin a filn rdaptrtion,

ldguage of fidelity Any words @dto indicate whettur a 61m adaptationis "faithful" or "unfaittuul" to the lext.

lshrins The illlmimtion of actorsand sels in rh production of a iln. Alightrg dietor decides whether thel*ht is natukl or aitificial, the direc-tion it shodd tale, dd its intensity.Lighting .m direct attetion towardmaFr m6 of interest. Li8hting .dbe hi8h key, in which a scene is

brightly lit with shadows kept at aminimm in ordr ro create a buoyantand joytul mood ofto used in.ome-dies d musicals, or low key, inwhich a sme is dimly ljt with a g@ddeal of shadow in order to create a.tark, htrsb and somber m@d often

ued inserious drama, mystery and

limited-omiscient point of view S@

loose adaptation Wle most if not allof the naratlve elements in the workof litdatft e dftpped frcm d 6ln,

d most elemis in the filrn @added, A loo* adaptation us the lit-daly tat as a point of departE.

loudnd The volume of sound in afiLn.

low an8re Se camen an8l,low-key lighting See lighting.natucosmic application A fom of

adaPradon srudy in which the wholelitera.y text ed ttu whole frlh deinvestigated. It weighs the unevenadapted pa$ages dd sequences dddetmines if the general tMd of ttuadaptation is close/ toose/ or inreme

nagic rcafbm A literaty style that*an{*ly bldds omonpla.e evdtsof daily lift with fanrastic el66l3oftd derired hdl (Lum, fairy talet

makeup The @ of cosmetics toenlEce or chd8e actor's natu.alaPPearance in a way aPProPriate tothe rcLe she o. he is playlng. Makopdphasias the hobilknd thusmeain8tul md represmtativ*lemmts ol dre actor's face.

mrtch on action See continuity edit-

Gldsary r G-5

hedilm shor See shotmiciocosmi. application A forh of

adaptation study in whi.h a passagefrcm the literary tert dd the cocsponding sequd.e fiom th film areinvetigaled. lt detemines il theadaptation is .lose, loose, or inlme-

misca8ting In the conteal of ada?ta-tion, this mem $F 61m actors chosendo not fit the charactes in the text tothe point of disturbing the story'splausibility dcohereme.

mise-en3cne Basi.aly refds to allelemmts placed befoF the (mE.Th* elements include srs, cGtms,lightin& makeup, props, plachent ofobjecrs and people, d actors' g6'tu6 ud movements.

model sbategy h i\is do.udrestraiegy, a liln's cometio$ to actual-ity is establshed by lDving a.to.sresemble closely actual p6ple, subsli-tuted pLaces and things reenbleactual places d thin8s, anl sta8edevots re*nble actual events.

montaSe A scene wh@ visual Pattmdd dotidral eff{t is attaind mainlythrcu8h the editinS of s@eral brief

multihack nedim The olmhica-tion of infotutim in 6nn thrcu8h *venl Faths: (1) tlEahical ped(manc(live or dinated), (2) wordr (spokdmd Mittm), {3) msic, (4) somdetrects (noi* ed ,ilee), and (5) pho-togaphic ima8es (moving md stil).

mui. Refe6 to the sco comp@d toestabLish sttuctural pattems thrcugh@ta sMe, a *quen@, o. the eti fi1ftmd to evole emotion l reactim in the

nondigetic sound Refers to soudthat dearly does not @cu within the


19/20

G-6 * GIOSS,4-4Y

sqo sPace such as a voi.eover orad&tional edds of nusic.

nontraditional plol See plot.novell. A short novel or a long short

story, but whatever reference point isrrad, thee is Seneral a8reemmt dutits length lalb sonewhee in betws.

objective or d.daii. point of viewomiscient nadator See point of

opening up Refe6 to a nunbd of te n-nigB developed by adapteE to tlaeI@ d s6ory from stage ro si:]g@v6tios, such 6 filnin8 *ttiigs,k(rc, dd


20/20

G-8 r GLOSS, 8Y

3hor The basi. hit of inm. Th shot is asingle continuous Iu of the ctuathat @rds mintetupted a.timttdt vieweF e on the s(lts Shots

e gl)Maly divided inio four typea..ordin8 to how muh of the hmanfi8 rc is shom: long shol a ehot tharsnows dE furl h1lll@ 6E@ of a chaacter oi cnaa.teF within d dvnon-men medirn shot, a shot dEr showsa characte. fM1 the kte up wilhinp..t of the slting, clce-up, a shorthat shows the ful had and shouldeBof a .hdactq or d obj

adaptation film&lit

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