Word Crafting and Movie Adaptation

By crafting your words correctly you can show a new world in all its vivid sensations to readers. The reason that I even thought about this is I watched a movie the other night. The movie based on a book. The movie had the same characters names, although the descriptions from the book to the screen were partially lost. The plot was similar although key pieces of the story line were incorrect and jumbled.

On behalf of the screenwriter, I started to think of what is lost when a book goes to the big screen. One of the things would be the senses. Think for just a minute about movies, though they tell a story and make you feel certain ways they do not make you smell or taste things, they cannot leave things to the imagination to the degree that a book does. Movies, show, tell or at the very least allude to things in the story line. A well-written movie will leave wondering about its characters. While a well-written book will leave, you feeling like you experienced the story with the characters, using vivid descriptions and employing all five senses.

For example, you could say; the dress soft dress fit her well, or the soft blue dress fell like a clinging cloud, shaped like a magnificent second skin, flaring slightly from the hips to the knees where it ended in a layer of silken lace.

In the first, you know only that it is a soft dress. You do not know if the soft material of the dress is thick or thin. Your reader might think of velvet, which is a soft material, but this is not anything like the dress you have envisioned on your character.

In the second sentence, however you describe the color fit and style of the dress leaving enough to the imagination that the reader can fill in the blanks using a little imagination. You have described the basics of the dress, enough for the reader to know that it is a thinner material, more than likely silk or satin. You did not give sleeve l length or neckline that is something that the reader can fill in. This gives the character, the reader’s personal preferences and adding to your characters from their own imagination.

So now, the question is how would you show either one of the dresses in a movie? The set designer and the costume designer may not even be able to imagine the same dress. So, now what? The writer may have to determine if it is important enough to keep in the story. Is the blue dress key to the story in some way? When constructing a story you lead your readers into an experience where every sensation is touched. Where, movies show the viewer and little to no imagination is needed.

When constructing a setting think about the things that you know you notice when you go somewhere. Within your stories setting, you have to tell time of day, weather and if the character is tired or vibrant when viewing the place. In a story, setting you can describe the apple pie sitting on the windows ledge. That shows them. Then the fragrance of applies and cinnamon wafting up from the top of the pie. This tells the reader that it fresh from the oven, giving them a sense of smell and some idea of the taste of the pie.

So can a movie ever be as good as the book? Well, I think it can be close. The set for a movie is what brings you to the place. Using backdrops and props correctly as well as accurate dialogue and following the storyline of a book are also important when a movie is adapted from a book. The hardest part that the screenwriter has is what to what to cut. Movies are only about ½ of what you have in a book. The question becomes what can be left out? If the screenwriter and author have seen different things in the story; then the movie is usually lacking in a beginning, or base story. Movies have to keep people entertained so they tend to skip what they consider dry portions and go straight for the action. While it makes the movie more interesting, it often leads to the movie being very different from the book.