Sunday, December 4, 2011

Books vs movie scripts

Who has ever mentioned a movie and had a bystander reply: "The book was better." ?  Annoying right? On Thanksgiving my brothers and I were discussing books that were turned into movies and the pros and cons of the outcome.  One book I read and watched the movie of was "1984." This was my example of a movie that followed the book almost line for line, and the outcome was...TERRIBLE! (The book was GREAT) One of my brothers read the "Watchmen" graphic novel series and said a similar thing; the movie was so similar to the graphic novel frame-for-frame that you didn't even need to see it if you've read the book.
This is the distinct difference between books and movies... size. Books can be as long as they need to be in order to tell a story, but movies have to be condensed into 2hours or less.  This shows the format difference between the two mediums, and is why movie scripts have to be adjusted for the "big screen."  What works for one type of media doesn't directly transfer to another.  Drama and action have to be much more controlled and formulated to grab an audience's attention in film.  I feel this is an important point to tell book snobs. On that note, I'd really like to see a remake of "1984" with an actual movie script and today's technology!

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