Screen Adaptations of Classic Literature Should Always Remain True to the Details of the Original Novel.
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There are many issues involved with adapting a classic novel for the small screen, but probably the most important of these is the degree of loyalty the adaptation should make with the original novel.
For a director it is almost impossible to remain perfectly loyal to the novel. For instance,around the time of the first director, David Lean, filmmaking had not advanced to such a stage for it to be possible to, as shown in the book, animate the roots of a tree to look like dead people’s hands.
Another problem in directly adapting the novel is that there is simply not enough time to include all the details of a book into a small length of time. Many directors today find this difficult and have to resort to leave out large, but usually unneeded, parts of the novel.
The first adaptation of Great Expectations was directed by David Lean. Shot in 1946 this adaptation was in glorious black and white. It would have been possible to shoot the adaptation in colour, but possibly budget issues might of occurred as colour filming was a new innovation and still quite expensive.
The adaptation starts with the view of a large, leather-bound book entitled, “Great Expectations”. The book opens and a voice over reads the first few lines describing the character Pip. The voiceover is obviously a grown-up Pip reading. Wind sound effects are heard and the book’s pages are blown over and over until the scene fades to Pip running into the graveyard.
The rest of the scene remains true to the book almost exactly. The lighting is dark, to portray the time of dusk and this gives the scene a mystifying feel because you cannot
quite see all of the set.
Close-up shots and over-the-shoulder shots are used to portray Pip’s and Magwitch’s feelings. Panning shots are also sometimes used, not only to show the surroundings, but to also convey how the graveyard is getting darker.
In conclusion, David Lean took the “faithful to the book” route when he directed the adaptation of Great Expectations.
The next adaptation was drected by Julian Amyes in 1981. Between Lean’s adaptation and Amyes’ adaptation, there had been countless stage performances of Great Expectations. This mean that most of the population knew of the story of Great Expectations. To ensure that Ames’ adaptation went down in history and wasn’t forgotten, Amyes had to make a few changes to the story.
The adaptation is shot in a faded Technicolor, probably to give the audience a sense of the dark atmosphere. In the graveyard scene, the whole place only vaguely resembles a graveyard, with a few random (cardboard looking) graves.
The score is a mixture of dark brooding orchestration and energetic, if somewhat out of place, jolly music.
Just like David Lean’s adaptation, Amyes’ uses over-the-shoulder shots and close-up shots. These let the audience see both characters facial expressions
There are a few main points to note about this adaptation. Firstly, it all starts off with a grown man looking at the gibbets. A voice over reads a part of the book. It is quite obvious to the audience that this man is an older Pip. Then from the right, a small boy runs across the screen