The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

• The movie version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe needs to include a set that seems magical to kids and out of the ordinary. The movie needs to have all the characters and animals with human like characterictivs. I also think that some of the scenes with in the set suck as Tumnus' cave and the Beavers dam, need to be realistic and actually look like the inside of the audiences house would look. Another important factor is in order to keep it a movie for children the fighting scenes need to have the same effect but not be too scary or gory. The animals that have human like characteristics need to seem so realistic that its almost weird at first that a twelve year old girl is friends with a lion. With all of these "big ideas" as well as many more, a successful and effective translation will be produced of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
• I think that translating the story very similarly from the book will capture a story that will make the movie entertaing to both children and adults. The special effects and sets will help keep the movie entertaining for the older audience. I also think that the fascination of the realness of the animals will be appealing. All in all, I think that the book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe provides for a great movie that will entertain all audience becuase it has a magical plot that keeps everyone intrigued!

Reaction to Great Expectations

I really liked the radical translation of the book Great Expectations. I think that the screenwriter stayed true the the message and theme of the book but still added in his own ideas and transformed the book into a modern day movie. By doing such a great job on the translation I feel that it attracted a much larger audience than a literal translation would have. I think the movie was more something that people can relate to rather then the book. The movie stayed true to the characters, although changing some of the names still kept their personality, message and purpose in the story. I think that the screenwriter took the main idea of the story, transformed it into a modern day situation and then began putting in details from the text. I think the screenwriter did a very good job with the process and made the book that I found not so interesting and great movie to watch. In my opinion the screenwriter also met the three criteria that are most important in making a successful film.

Evaluating Film Translations

In order for a film to be succesful it must somewhat follow the story line of the book. Many viewers find it very dissapointing to watch a movie or even a show that has been developed from a book and find that they are watching something that is nothing like what they read. Whereas other viewers don't mind and even enjoy when the screenwriter changes around events and story plots. An effective translation is taking the book and making it a movie as the screenwriters perception of what happened. In class we have seen both radical translations as well as translations that are very similar. For example when we watched the Shawshank Redemption after reading the book, I found it very similar and enjoyed watching the movie just I had enjoyed reading the book. As opposed to after reading Great Expectations followed by watching the most recent movie, they were radically different. The screenwriter took an old book and wrote it as he perceived how it would happen in the modern world. I think the three most important things that are important while assessing a film translation are that the film writer stays true to the text as well as adding their own ideas and feelings, that it isn't necessary for the viewer to have read the book before seeing the movie and that the movie sends the same messages and ideas that the book does. All in all I think it takes a great screenwriter to translate the movie adding and leaving out what they feel is right making it either close to the same as the book or a radical translation.

Adaptations

I thought the movie Adaptations was good and well as very interesting. I thought the screenwriter did a very good job taking a book that is percieved as such a simple book about finding a deeper message then turning it into a major motion picture was really accomplishing a lot. I find that a book that many readers wuold find boring and uncapturing was really turned into a movie that many could enjoy. I think that it was a great challenge that teh screenwriter overcame in the way of keeping all the essential parts of the book and turning it into a movie tht had the same message but also had a deeper message. I feel that the end of the movie was too much of a Hollywood ending. The entire movie I felt had such a good meaning to it and in the end was to unreal. It was very action type and I felt like it was a rush to end the movie. All in all, I thought Adaptions was a a fairly good translation from book to screen.