Task 4 - Ernane Oliveira - hi diana, I will edit yours tomorrow (20/06), ok? -- EnglishtextsM

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Date Posted: 19:46:42 06/18/07 Mon
Author: Ernane Oliveira (Written movies)
Subject: Task 4 - Ernane Oliveira - hi diana, I will edit yours tomorrow (20/06), ok?

The poetry of written movies
By Ernane Oliveira

Many people believe that a literary work like a classical novel, for example, should not be translated into another media, like theater, movies, etc, because they loose a lot in the process. They argue that written pieces have some characteristics that cannot be reproduced in the audio-visual world. Another point against movies and visual media is that watching them, the spectator misses those gaps for imagination found in a book. Despite of these, there are some reasons why we definitely affirm that watching a movie can be much richer cognitive experience than reading a novel.
To begin with, let�s analyze how a book adaptation for the cinema is usually done, and see if those two main statements against it are really pertinent. Firstly, movies are meant to be creative works of art, so no serious moviemaker will be satisfied to merely reproduce the book on the screen, nor he would be able to. Every director wants to imprint his trademark on the work he�s presently doing, so he will, at best, keep the essence of the story, and add his own personal and unique view on the movie. Thus, a book adaptation of a famous is likely to retain at least the plot, but don�t expect more than this. In fact, every time a work of art is �translated� into another media, it necessarily passes through modifications, adding or cutting scenes. Usually, the work of script writer follows two main directions: changing a very abstract -or poetic � text into a more dramatic-oriented one or, on the contrary, turning a more concrete and dramatic plot into a more subtle and metaphoric text. We can seldom find readymade prose to put on the screen.
Secondly, no scriptwriter tries nor could ever be able to simulate the formal characteristics of the written piece on the screen. We could think of the use of metaphors, wordplays, ambiguities, intercalation of narrative voices, and so on. But none of those subjective qualities appears on the script. In fact, after the final version of the script is done, it is up to the director to give the movie qualities that equal artistically to the book. The main director, or the art director, is there one, can use several visual strategies to make the movie more poetic. They can, for example, use camera movements to induce the vision of the spectator; soundtrack to induce an infinite number of emotions on the viewers; association of sequences to create meaning, and a lot of other audio-visual resources. That is, a visual work has different and new possibilities other than the written work. In fact, a movie uses more senses than the books, for the spectator can see and listening the story, virtually experiencing realities that are different from the �real� world.
Another point that supports our position is that, although a reader when reading a novel has to imagine every thing in the story � in filmmaking terms: to create the scenario, to characterize physically the characters, to produce his own soundtrack to the mood the scene �asks�, etc - or he has to make full use of his imagination, it is not true that our imagination is not �turned off� when we�re watching a movie. Images are seemingly given ready to us. But recent research on psychology and cognitive sciences shows that in fact we construct the images, rather than receiving them passively. Our brain goes into a complex processing to �see� the image being shown. When we are looking at an image, we are doing two things: choosing the closer instance we have our visual memory of similar scenes, and associating it unconsciously to other countless images and ideas. Oh! Hard work, isn�t it? But how doesn�t our brain melt with this intense work? It�s because we are only conscious of a minimal part of the process. In fact, the visual system does those two tasks in milliseconds, so that we recognize consciously only the result of this intricate process. Therefore, when we are watching a movie, instead of using our imagination, we are using our creative imaginary; in fact we �co-produce� the movie, in the sense that we are attributing meaning to the moving pictures. If this meaning doesn�t match the director�s intention, is not relevant. What is more important is the process.
Thus, as we have seen, there are many reasons why we should consider a movie adaptation not better, but different and much as �artistic� as the book itself, and definitely a richer cognitive experience than reading a book. Think of that next time you see an adaptation of your favorite novel.

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Peer editing to Ernane -- Dina Costa, 10:47:15 06/19/07 Tue