C2DiálogoSeries3 min
From Page to Screen
Una escritora y un guionista discuten cuánto de su novela puede quedar en la serie.
Una conversación sobre la adaptación y la fidelidad al original. Fíjate en los matices del acuerdo y el desacuerdo, y en quién cede ante quién al final, y por qué.
Before you say anything, I know the first ten pages of the script are not in your book.
That is one way of putting it. The first ten pages of your script are not in any book I have ever written. My novel begins with a woman sitting alone in a kitchen for twelve pages. Yours begins with a car crash.
Your kitchen is the best opening I have read in years. It is also twelve pages of a woman thinking, and a camera cannot film thought. On the page, the reader is inside her head. On screen, we are outside her head, looking at a woman not moving.
So you replaced her thoughts with a crash.
I replaced them with the thing she is thinking about. The crash is in your book; it is simply on page two hundred, as a memory. I moved it to the start so that the audience carries it into the kitchen with them. When we finally see her sitting there, they know what she knows.
Which removes the whole point of the kitchen. The reader is supposed not to know. The novel works because the reader spends two hundred pages getting her wrong.
That is a fair objection, and I do not have a perfect answer. Television audiences are less patient than readers, and the people paying for this want them to still be watching after fifteen minutes.
I understand that very well. I simply would rather the series be honest about what it is changing than claim to be faithful and quietly be something else.
Then here is a compromise. We keep the crash out of the opening. We start in the kitchen, but we keep it to three minutes, and we let the audience see one detail that does not make sense yet: the car keys she cannot stop turning in her hand.
Three minutes and a detail. That I can live with. And the crash?
Stays where you put it. End of the fourth part.
You realise you have just agreed with me.
I realise I have just found a better scene. Whether that counts as agreement is a question for your next novel.
Before you say anything: I know the first ten pages of the script are not in your book.
They are not in any book I have written. My novel begins with a woman sitting alone in a kitchen for twelve pages. Your script begins with a car crash.
Your kitchen is a wonderful beginning. But it is twelve pages of a woman thinking, and a camera cannot film thoughts. In the book, the reader is inside her head. On screen, we only see a woman who does not move.
So you replaced her thoughts with a crash.
The crash is in your book, on page two hundred, as a memory. I moved it to the beginning, so that the audience knows what she knows when they see her in the kitchen.
But then the kitchen has no point. The reader should not know. The novel works because the reader has the wrong idea about her for two hundred pages.
That is fair, and I do not have a perfect answer. But television audiences are less patient than readers. The people who pay want them to keep watching.
I understand that. But I want the series to be honest about what it changes.
Then here is a compromise. No crash at the beginning. We start in the kitchen, but only for three minutes, and we show one strange detail: she keeps turning the car keys in her hand.
Three minutes and a detail. I can accept that. And the crash?
It stays where you put it. End of the fourth part.
So you agree with me.
I have found a better scene. Maybe that means I agree with you.
Al hacer clic en una palabra se busca en el vocabulario de este sitio.
Más frases sobre esto en «El idioma en uso»: Inglés en series y películas
- Palabras
- 364
- Frases
- 32
- Palabras por frase
- 11,4
- en el vocabulario
- 100 %
- nivel medido
- B1
- Tiempo de lectura
- 3 min
Gramática en este texto
Estas formas aparecen en el texto en un uso real. Con «Mostrar gramática», encima del texto, se marcan en color.
would rather the series be honest
Después de would rather + sujeto va aquí el infinitivo sin to (subjuntivo): I would rather the series be honest. El subjuntivo inglés →
we let the audience see
let + objeto + infinitivo sin to: we let the audience see one detail. Dejar y hacer: let, leave, make →
That I can live with
Énfasis por anteposición: That I can live with. en lugar de I can live with that. Énfasis por escrito: I do believe →
Las palabras de C2 en adelante en este texto
No las palabras difíciles en general, sino las de tu nivel: las 2 de las 170 palabras de este texto están en C2 o por encima. Todo lo demás ya lo conoces cuando llegas hasta aquí.
objection
el recurso de reposición
C2series
la serie documental
C2
Las listas de palabras de este texto
Las palabras de este texto están en 33 listas de este sitio; el número de detrás indica cuántas vienen de cada lista. Quien ha leído el texto acaba de necesitar justo estas palabras, y puede repasar exactamente esas.
Preguntas de comprensión
5 preguntas sobre el texto. Con cada respuesta aparece la frase en la que está: una pregunta cuya respuesta no se encuentra en el texto no evalúa nada.
1. ¿Cómo empieza la novela de Clare?
La primera intervención de Clare.
Fíjate en la palabra «kitchen».
My novel begins with a woman sitting alone in a kitchen
2. ¿Por qué cree Owen que la escena de la cocina es difícil de rodar?
Lee la primera intervención larga de Owen.
Fíjate en la palabra «camera».
a camera cannot film thought
3. ¿Por qué es importante para Clare que el lector no conozca el accidente al principio?
Lee la intervención de Clare que empieza con «Which».
Fíjate en «getting her wrong».
the reader spends two hundred pages getting her wrong
4. ¿Qué propone Owen como término medio?
Lee la intervención de Owen con «compromise».
Fíjate en las llaves del coche.
we keep it to three minutes
5. ¿Dónde aparece ahora el accidente?
La respuesta de Owen a «And the crash?».
Fíjate en la palabra «fourth».
End of the fourth part