Ever wonder why some books are so good as movies? I sure have.
This year I am taking a Film and Society class and we've been discussing and viewing early films from names like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. These movies have been enjoyable and I have began to look at the big screen with a more critical eye: how music affects a scene, different camera angles and lighting effects, and even things as simple as costumes all contribute to the ambiance of a movie. I've even had a chance to consider a movie in school outside of film class.
In English class, we have been reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and have kept up to date with the 1995 mini-series during class. While watching the installments of this series I've thought about how books can effectively come to the big screen and believe that one issue of books as movies is their ability to be true to the text while remaining enjoyable. The production team of this film battled this issue through installments in a series, a logical and effective approach. Through spaced out clips, the series can remain accurate to the book as it is spread over a period of time and maintains interest through shorter episodes. Because the whole plot is not presented at one time, the viewer is left in suspense and continues to view the accurate depiction of the story. This doesn't seem to be such a bad idea.
Another movie that is using such an approach is hitting theaters in November: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released in two separate movies to remain as accurate to the final book in Rowling's series as possible. This is a logical decision for this movie as well; as this book is rather long it makes sense to deliver as much information as possible in the movie to be accurate. The desired accuracy would create a lengthy film to view and cutting it into two parts is a perfect compromise.
Although there are specific directorial decisions which make all the difference in big screen entertainment, simply releasing content in installments may be a feasible solution for this issue in longer novels.
I agree that releasing a movie-novel in installments might be a way to remain as true to the text as possible. It's definitely a challenge to produce a movie that does justice to the book, but there are some successes out there--Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter being 2 of my favorites!
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