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FarFromHome
Valinor
Jun 15 2009, 10:04am
Views: 7245
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This scene isn't so much a paragraph as a very important moment in the story, a turning point. I should think screenwriter/adapters would be on the lookout for those. That's what I was trying to say. You can't look at this paragraph as just a paragraph, in isolation. Not if you're a screenwriter. This is indeed a very important moment, and in the dramatic form a turning point such as this reaches backwards and forwards into the development of the characters, and the building of drama, so that everything turns, precisely, on the turning-point. So with a good screenplay, I'd say, you wouldn't be able to look at the one moment that corresponds to the action in the source "paragraph" and expect to find all the subtext of that paragraph right there. But you should expect to find that subtext underlying the characterizations and interactions of the protagonists throughout the scene - and perhaps also reaching forward to later changes in those protagonists and their fates. Peter Jackson liked to say that LotR was like a "jigsaw puzzle" that had to be taken apart and then put back together. I think he was talking about this kind of process - forget about the paragraphs, and reassemble the story on its turning-points and other "iconic moments". You can recreate the impressions and emotions of the book, but not by literally following the paragraphs - even the important paragraphs - of the book. Something that might have been rich and vibrant in its own medium may not survive a direct transplant to another medium that has different needs, and you risk ending up with a pale and lifeless copy of the original instead.
They went in, and Sam shut the door. But even as he did so, he heard suddenly, deep and unstilled, the sigh and murmur of the Sea upon the shores of Middle-earth. From the unpublished Epilogue to the Lord of the Rings
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Another unfilmable paragraph?
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Voronwë_the_Faithful
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Jun 14 2009, 2:53am
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How about this?
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Finding Frodo
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Jun 14 2009, 3:45am
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That's better than anything I can think of
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Voronwë_the_Faithful
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Jun 14 2009, 4:03am
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well, if they had an actor as good as Jimmy Stewart . . .
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Annael
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Jun 17 2009, 3:27pm
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Great example!
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Darkstone
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Jun 17 2009, 4:10pm
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Well done!
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sador
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Jun 14 2009, 6:00am
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Think of it from another perspective.
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Silverlode
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Jun 14 2009, 7:43am
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Yes - if the actor can show
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dernwyn
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Jun 14 2009, 4:41pm
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The thing that really makes it possible
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Silverlode
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Jun 14 2009, 7:50pm
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You don't film paragraphs.
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FarFromHome
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Jun 14 2009, 9:02pm
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You don't film books either.
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N.E. Brigand
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Jun 14 2009, 9:55pm
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Oh, I thought that was the issue...
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FarFromHome
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Jun 15 2009, 10:31am
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But you might film "moments"
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squire
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Jun 14 2009, 10:32pm
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Yes indeed.
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FarFromHome
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Jun 15 2009, 10:04am
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Film is a visual medium. A filmmaker should not, I judge,
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Curious
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Jun 15 2009, 5:48am
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The darkness is a serious problem.
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FarFromHome
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Jun 15 2009, 10:26am
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interesting question
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Jettorex
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Jun 15 2009, 3:12pm
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It depends on the actor.
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Darkstone
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Jun 15 2009, 4:52pm
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Well Said
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Voronwë_the_Faithful
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Jun 15 2009, 5:24pm
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Lots of hammers in "The Hobbit", none proverbial.
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N.E. Brigand
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Jun 15 2009, 5:52pm
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It took me a while to figure out what you were referring to
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Voronwë_the_Faithful
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Jun 15 2009, 9:06pm
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How were the clothes in the troll-cave hanging from the walls?
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sador
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Jun 16 2009, 6:36am
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Snails, too.
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N.E. Brigand
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Jun 16 2009, 1:03pm
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And trails. Lots of trails
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Voronwë_the_Faithful
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Jun 16 2009, 1:17pm
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"Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world, but for...?" //
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N.E. Brigand
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Jun 16 2009, 3:48pm
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That's way beyond my pail.
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sador
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Jun 16 2009, 1:18pm
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And quite a tale.
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N.E. Brigand
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Jun 16 2009, 3:35pm
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and a Jail
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Jettorex
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Jun 16 2009, 1:56pm
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Yes, but not by that name. //
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N.E. Brigand
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Jun 16 2009, 4:03pm
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Only one?
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FarFromHome
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Jun 16 2009, 4:27pm
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try's to think of a rhyme
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cameragod
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Jun 17 2009, 10:20am
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But aren't you begging the question?
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FarFromHome
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Jun 17 2009, 1:29pm
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The answer is "no".
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Darkstone
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Jun 17 2009, 3:16pm
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Okay.
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FarFromHome
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Jun 17 2009, 3:57pm
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