CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES: Implications

Translation of texts and information
- moving image media, such as TV, are in the business of translation
- converting thought, feeling, information and stories into moving pictures
- process is more complex and layered than appears
- images & sounds communicate in different way to written word

Both news and fiction adaptors must negotiate and interpret information they acquire

Differences in storytelling: page -> screen
- truncated storytelling is consequence of telling news story or adapting text to screen

Film and television = collaborative process which involves a cast and crew of many
- costume, makeup, set and props
- actors, reporters, presenters
- director
- producer
- writers
- camera and sound crew
- financiers and distributors / tv networks

Understanding different processes involved in realising vision
- on paper and on screen there are considerations and influences which are not necessarily better or worse than each other, but are simply inherently different

Interpretation
- filmmakers need to look to the source material or text for clues which can assist the visualisation process
- however, in keeping an audience interested, there is a tension between accuracy and the demands of good storytelling (e.g. impose dramatic tension on something)

Practical considerations:
- bringing a story to a screen has to overcome hurdles which do not occur in print
- locations
- cast
- visualisations
- whether it is the challenge of visiting different parts of the world, recreating a long since gone period of history etc...

Commercial pressure can mean that contentious subject matters less likely to be commissioned - nervous of the negative publicity or lawsuits

Consequently - filmmakers can end up watering down the content to something deemed more palatable in order to gain the funding necessary

What is fiction adaptation?
- process of translating a written text to the screen, big or small

Using a text - clues

Who's the author?

What do we mean by an unfaithful adaptation?
- original text not sufficiently honoured - lacks what's most appreciated in original
- significant salient features need recognition in the adaptation to satisfy the fans

Is fidelity really desirable?
- it has been argued that fidelity is something which can limit the filmic potential
- restrictive and unachievable?
- intrinsically collaborative and ....

Fidelity to the fans??

Why choose a classic?
- popularity - many classic novels are part of our collective consciousness
- taught in school
- adapted for tv
- inspiration for parodies
- familiarity

Adaptors's ideology:
- adaptor's personal take, wider implications, prevailing ideology

Director's influence:
- shape the written script into a visual form and to direct actors on their delivery

Changing the era
....
- contemporary music
- storytelling - explore new layer of plots - either adding to or taking on a story to another level
- provides new spin and thus removes the feeling that this is just yet another version of a story  re told many times before

Classics revisited: Jekyll and Hyde