writing workshop comparing a play and a film
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Writing Workshop Comparing a Play and a Film. Feature Menu. Assignment Prewriting Choose a Film Focus on One Scene Compare the Film with the Play Write Your Thesis Statement Organize Your Essay Practice and Apply. Comparing a Play and a Film. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Writing WorkshopComparing a Play and a Film
Assignment
Prewriting
Choose a Film
Focus on One Scene
Compare the Film with the Play
Write Your Thesis Statement
Organize Your Essay
Practice and Apply
Feature Menu
Assignment: Write an essay in which you compare a scene from a film with the play from which it was adapted and evaluate the film techniques the director uses.
Comparing a Play and a Film
Have you ever seen a movie based on a play? If so, you may have noticed many differences between the two—changes to the dialogue, characters, or setting. Did the two versions of the play affect you differently even though they told the same story?
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• check movie reviews in newspapers and magazines and on the Internet
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Choose a Film
To find a film adaptation of a play
• ask friends, teachers, or relatives for suggestions
• look in video stores and libraries
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• Take notes on your responses to each scene.
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Focus on One Scene
Choose one important scene to analyze.
• Review your notes and choose the scene you had the strongest reactions to.
• Watch a video of the film.
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Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Compare the Film with the Play
Now, read the same scene in the play and note any differences between the film version and written version. Pay attention to
• narrative techniques—plot, characters, setting, dialogue, and theme
• film techniques—lighting, camera angles and shots, sound, and special effects
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Compare the Film with the Play
Narrative Techniques
Filmmakers often make changes to the written play. For example, they might change a setting, eliminate a character, or create a different ending.
To analyze the film’s narrative techniques, ask yourself the following questions.
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Compare the Film with the Play
Identifying Narrative Techniques in a Film
Plot, Characters, and Setting: Did the filmmaker make changes to the characters, plot, or settings? For example, have characters, plot events, or settings been added or eliminated? If so, how do these changes affect the story?
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Compare the Film with the Play
Identifying Narrative Techniques in a Film
Dialogue: Did the filmmaker cut or add lines of dialogue? Do cuts make the story simpler? Do additions help make ideas from the play clearer?
Theme: Did the filmmaker keep the original theme, or message, of the story? How does a change in theme change a viewer’s reaction to the story?
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Compare the Film with the Play
Narrative TechniquesThe Miracle Worker (final scene)
Play Film
Plot• James and Aunt Ev stay in
dining room. • Helen stays outside with
Annie, and the parents go inside.
Plot• James and Aunt Ev stand
on the porch watching.• Keller carries Helen inside,
and the family follows. Annie is left outside alone.
Theme• Focus on bond between
Helen and Annie
Theme• Focus on Helen’s
accomplishment and on the family’s happiness.
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Compare the Film with the Play
Film Techniques
Filmmakers also use lighting, camera angles, sound, special effects, and so on to create reactions in viewers—reactions that might be very different from those of a person reading the play.
To analyze the film techniques used in the scene you’ve chosen, ask yourself the following questions.
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Compare the Film with the Play
Identifying Film Techniques
Camera Shots and Angles: What types of camera shots are used—close-ups, long shots? From what angle does the camera shoot the characters and action? What effects do the shots and angles create?
Lighting: How is lighting used in the scene? Does the lighting affect the mood of the scene?
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Compare the Film with the Play
Identifying Film Techniques
Sound: What music or sound effects are present in the scene? How do they affect your reactions to the scene?
Special Effects: What special effects are included that you would not expect to see in a stage production of the play? Are the special effects distracting? Are they helpful to your understanding of the story?
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Compare the Film with the Play
Film TechniquesThe Miracle Worker (final scene)
Camera Shots• Sequence of close-up shots—Helen’s face, Helen’s hand
under the pump, Annie’s face—shows sudden revelation going on in Helen’s mind.
• Long shot at end, with Annie in foreground and James looking back at her, makes Annie seem isolated.
Sound• Stirring music begins as Helen first makes her realization.
Music builds and becomes more dramatic.
Hint [End of Section]
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Write Your Thesis Statement
Filmmakers use narrative and film techniques to create intellectual and emotional responses, known as aesthetic effects, in viewers.
The thesis, or main idea, of your essay identifies these aesthetic effects.
To write your thesis statement, ask yourself:
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Write Your Thesis Statement
• What response was the filmmaker trying to create?
• How did the techniques affect me as a viewer?
Arthur Penn uses narrative and film techniques to portray a child’s miraculous breakthrough, a teacher’s moment of triumph, and a family’s long-awaited joy all in one of the final scenes.
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Comparing a Play and a Film Prewriting: Organize Your Essay
Your essay will look something like this:
Introduction
Narrative Techniques
Film Techniques
• Film, play, creators• Thesis statement
• Characters• Setting
• Dialogue • Theme
Conclusion
• Camera shots and angles
• Lighting• Sound
• Restatement of thesis• Concluding thought
Your essay really has two parts—one comparing the narrative techniques and one discussing the film techniques.
Comparing a Play and a Film Prewriting: Organize Your Essay
Comparing Narrative Techniques
First, use point-by-point order to compare each narrative technique from the film with the corresponding one from the play.
Plotfilm comparedto play
Dialoguefilm comparedto play
Settingfilm compared to play
Example
Comparing a Play and a Film Prewriting: Organize Your Essay
Discussing Film Techniques
Then, use order of importance to discuss the film techniques. Discuss the most important film technique first and the least important one last (or vice versa).
LightingMost important
Camera ShotsLeast Important
SoundSecond most important
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Example
Comparing a Play and a FilmPrewriting: Practice and Apply
Compare a film adaptation of a play with the original play by analyzing the filmmaker’s use of narrative and film techniques. Then, write your thesis statement and organize your ideas.
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The End