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[CCBC-Net] Having a book made into a movie
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From: caravette at comcast.net <caravette>
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:00:27 +0000 (UTC)
I am new to this wonderful group. I have read with interest this discussion on book to film adaptation.
I just graduated with my MFA from Hamline University in Writing for Children and Young Adults. My critical thesis was on the book to film transition. In my research I found the books that made the transition to film best had a main emotion that could be visualized. You named a few: Because of Winn-Dixie and The Bridge to Terabithia.
The experience in a movie theatre is very difference from a television experience. Film is about action, it likes a strong plot. Symbolism works very well in film. Television, however, is more intimate and character driven. Sarah Plain and Tall worked very well on television, for example.
Many times producers, studios, jump on the book success wagon but don't spend the time finding these visual emotions. Finding the visual emotion is not an easy task. I talked with Kate DiCamillo about her experience working on the script for Because of Winn-Dixie. The Director, Wayne Wang, understood her book. Kate and Wayne worked very hard with the script to bring the book to the screen. They took out scenes that didn't enhance the emotional message and enhanced minor characters to help the film.
As Kate said, "Reading a book is a very personal experience. Film is more communal...I don't go back to a movie. I go back to a book." I agree but then we both are writers.
I am still researching this topic and am enjoying your insights.
Loretta Caravette
----- Original Message ----- From: mdanebauer at aol.com To: ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 3:59:28 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: [CCBC-Net] Having a book made into a movie
I've had the experience of having two books made into films, not for the big screen, but for TV.? What the experience taught me is that the book is the book and that the movie is an entirely separate vehicle and--at least in my two different experiences--those creating the film aren't likely to have either much respect for or interest in the book.
One was my first novel, Shelter from the Wind, which was made into an NBC After School Treat called Rodeo Red and the Runaway.? Rodeo Red was a horse, and there is no horse in the book, which pretty well sums up the experience.? NBC had optioned the book themselves--not the usual route--and turned it over to a company to make the film.? However, those making the film soon decided that the pivotal scene in the book could not be translated to children's television, a scene when the young girl drowned a newly born cleft-pallet puppy to keep it from starving, the girl's first act of responsibility and compassion.? After that they considered the scene when the pups were born, another pivotal scene, and decided filming the birth of puppies would be complicated.? Then someone suggested,?"Well, we've been wanting a girl horse story for a long time," and the discussion moved on from there.
The second was On My Honor which was, again, filmed for television.? Unfortunately, the title was kept this time.? The director ordinarily did sit coms, and the film started off like a sit com and progressed to . . . well, I'm not sure what it progressed to.? Not only was I not involved on any level, but I wasn't even told that it was going to be shown.? A director friend in NYC let me know he'd seen it and I managed, eventually, to get a copy.? I watched it once and have never been able to look at it again.
Quite beyond those experiences, though, I find I usually regret seeing any film based on a book for children.? It becomes something so different, usually so action based and superficial, and the more nuanced the story was to start with the less well it does on the screen.? (Bridge to Terabithia was a notable exception, but then Catherine's own son was the producer.)? In fact, I usually come out of children's films feeling quite embarrassed to be a children's writer.? And that has been true even in those situations where I know the author was involved with the development and production of the film and was, presumably, happy with the product.? I think the fact that the audience is perceived to be children?turns on some really basic assumptions, assumptions that are different in the world of film than they are in the world of books.??
Marion
Marion Dane Bauer
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at lists.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://lists.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Mon 24 Aug 2009 01:00:27 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:00:27 +0000 (UTC)
I am new to this wonderful group. I have read with interest this discussion on book to film adaptation.
I just graduated with my MFA from Hamline University in Writing for Children and Young Adults. My critical thesis was on the book to film transition. In my research I found the books that made the transition to film best had a main emotion that could be visualized. You named a few: Because of Winn-Dixie and The Bridge to Terabithia.
The experience in a movie theatre is very difference from a television experience. Film is about action, it likes a strong plot. Symbolism works very well in film. Television, however, is more intimate and character driven. Sarah Plain and Tall worked very well on television, for example.
Many times producers, studios, jump on the book success wagon but don't spend the time finding these visual emotions. Finding the visual emotion is not an easy task. I talked with Kate DiCamillo about her experience working on the script for Because of Winn-Dixie. The Director, Wayne Wang, understood her book. Kate and Wayne worked very hard with the script to bring the book to the screen. They took out scenes that didn't enhance the emotional message and enhanced minor characters to help the film.
As Kate said, "Reading a book is a very personal experience. Film is more communal...I don't go back to a movie. I go back to a book." I agree but then we both are writers.
I am still researching this topic and am enjoying your insights.
Loretta Caravette
----- Original Message ----- From: mdanebauer at aol.com To: ccbc-net at lists.education.wisc.edu Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 3:59:28 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: [CCBC-Net] Having a book made into a movie
I've had the experience of having two books made into films, not for the big screen, but for TV.? What the experience taught me is that the book is the book and that the movie is an entirely separate vehicle and--at least in my two different experiences--those creating the film aren't likely to have either much respect for or interest in the book.
One was my first novel, Shelter from the Wind, which was made into an NBC After School Treat called Rodeo Red and the Runaway.? Rodeo Red was a horse, and there is no horse in the book, which pretty well sums up the experience.? NBC had optioned the book themselves--not the usual route--and turned it over to a company to make the film.? However, those making the film soon decided that the pivotal scene in the book could not be translated to children's television, a scene when the young girl drowned a newly born cleft-pallet puppy to keep it from starving, the girl's first act of responsibility and compassion.? After that they considered the scene when the pups were born, another pivotal scene, and decided filming the birth of puppies would be complicated.? Then someone suggested,?"Well, we've been wanting a girl horse story for a long time," and the discussion moved on from there.
The second was On My Honor which was, again, filmed for television.? Unfortunately, the title was kept this time.? The director ordinarily did sit coms, and the film started off like a sit com and progressed to . . . well, I'm not sure what it progressed to.? Not only was I not involved on any level, but I wasn't even told that it was going to be shown.? A director friend in NYC let me know he'd seen it and I managed, eventually, to get a copy.? I watched it once and have never been able to look at it again.
Quite beyond those experiences, though, I find I usually regret seeing any film based on a book for children.? It becomes something so different, usually so action based and superficial, and the more nuanced the story was to start with the less well it does on the screen.? (Bridge to Terabithia was a notable exception, but then Catherine's own son was the producer.)? In fact, I usually come out of children's films feeling quite embarrassed to be a children's writer.? And that has been true even in those situations where I know the author was involved with the development and production of the film and was, presumably, happy with the product.? I think the fact that the audience is perceived to be children?turns on some really basic assumptions, assumptions that are different in the world of film than they are in the world of books.??
Marion
Marion Dane Bauer
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at lists.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://lists.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Mon 24 Aug 2009 01:00:27 PM CDT
