C2DialogoSerie TV3 min
From Page to Screen
Una scrittrice e uno sceneggiatore discutono su quanto del suo romanzo possa restare nella serie.
Una conversazione sull’adattamento e sulla fedeltà all’originale. Fai attenzione alle sottili sfumature di accordo e disaccordo, e a chi cede a chi alla fine — e perché.
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.
Un clic su una parola la cerca nel lessico di questo sito.
Altre frasi sul tema in «La lingua in azione»: Inglese in serie e film
- Parole
- 364
- Frasi
- 32
- Parole per frase
- 11,4
- nel lessico
- 100 %
- livello misurato
- B1
- Tempo di lettura
- 3 min
Grammatica in questo testo
Queste forme compaiono nel testo in un uso reale. Con «Mostra la grammatica», sopra il testo, vengono evidenziate.
would rather the series be honest
Dopo would rather + soggetto qui c’è la forma base (congiuntivo): I would rather the series be honest. Il congiuntivo inglese →
we let the audience see
let + oggetto + forma base: we let the audience see one detail. Lasciare e fare: let, make →
That I can live with
Enfasi tramite anticipazione: That I can live with. invece di I can live with that. Enfasi con do: I do believe →
Le parole da C2 in su in questo testo
Non le parole difficili in assoluto, ma quelle del tuo livello: tutte le 2 delle 170 parole di questo testo sono di livello C2 o superiore. Tutto il resto lo conosci già, se sei arrivato fin qui.
objection
il ricorso in autotutela
C2series
la serie archivistica
C2
Le liste di parole di questo testo
Le parole di questo testo si trovano in 33 liste di questo sito; il numero accanto dice quante vengono da ciascuna lista. Chi ha letto il testo ha appena avuto bisogno proprio di queste parole — e può ripassare esattamente quelle.
Domande di comprensione
5 domande sul testo. A ogni risposta compare la frase in cui si trova — una domanda la cui risposta non si ritrova nel testo non verifica niente.
1. Come comincia il romanzo di Clare?
Il primo intervento di Clare.
Fai attenzione alla parola «kitchen».
My novel begins with a woman sitting alone in a kitchen
2. Perché Owen ritiene difficile girare la scena della cucina?
Leggi il primo intervento lungo di Owen.
Fai attenzione alla parola «camera».
a camera cannot film thought
3. Perché per Clare è importante che il lettore all’inizio non sappia dell’incidente?
Leggi l’intervento di Clare che comincia con «Which».
Fai attenzione a «getting her wrong».
the reader spends two hundred pages getting her wrong
4. Che cosa propone Owen come compromesso?
Leggi l’intervento di Owen con «compromise».
Fai attenzione alle chiavi della macchina.
we keep it to three minutes
5. Dove compare adesso l’incidente?
La risposta di Owen a «And the crash?».
Fai attenzione alla parola «fourth».
End of the fourth part