Adapting Your Book

          

           Adapting a book such as “The Hunger Games” to a big screen is not as easy as it may seem. To get the movie to the state of perfection a lot of challenges must be overcome. What are the typical complaints of the audiences after a popular book has been screened? What are the typical reasons for the audience to feel befouled by the film which puts the book onto the screen? First, people may feel angry at the changes within the plot. Second, they may be dissatisfied with the actors’ interpretations of characters’ personalities. Finally, they may be unhappy with the visual effects in the film which do not coincide with the images that emerged in their imagination after reading the book. So, if ever the filmmaker wants to be successful with the book adaptation, he needs to introduce decent changes that would not destroy the atmosphere of the book. The filmmaker needs to be himself/herself a respectful and an attentive to detail reader, who will use his expertise in turning the book into the  greatest visual experience possible. All in all, there must be a balance between the things changed and the things kept.

            What exact changes can be made and what things should be done in order to perfectly adopt the book into a movie?  A question rather bold, but still answerable. There are a couple of quite obvious things that apply to every book adaptation that must be kept in mind to make the film successful. The most palpable things to keep in a movie are the main characters, the plot, the setting and the mood of the book which is typically created by the background music and by dialogues.  These four things are the root of the book adaptation. The setting of the book and the film include the social and cultural environment in which the characters live, so the filmmaker must not underestimate this aspect of the book/ the film.  The characters should be in the focus of the filmmaker’s attention, as everything depends on their ability to properly express the ideas and values that each of the characters incarnate. The main events of the plot should be preserved in the adaptation if it really considers the book in a respectful fashion. And, finally, the mood of the book can be construed through music, visual effects created by the cameramen, pace rhythm of dialogues.  

Book One Project

            “Hello, lovely reader! Would you like to experience the extraordinary feeling of living in the ‘Room’? But listen up, it’s not just a room, it’s the Room, that’s right, the one and only! Our fantastic management board allied with several writers and artists to create a fun and interactive way to get involved with popular books on a whole new level. Our new project "Room Hotels" speaks for itself, we have created 20 replicas of the famous dorm from the book "Room" by Emma Donoghue. The place can vary from Original (Small) and Medium to Large and Extra-Large sizes. Contact our ‘Room Hotels" customer service at (311-333-1357) or visit our site at www.DonoghueH.com  to sign up for the stay. Your occupation of a single room can vary between a day and two weeks, during that time, you will be provided with the same exact supplies given to Jack and his Ma (Amount of supply differs based on the number of people per Room). Visit any time of the year! Because the room is always near!"  Now this is how I would advertise my new project.

            Basically the idea is rather simple and ... weird. Imagine reading a book, the plot is intense, feels like something new and you are so thrilled about it, you wish you just were in the book! What could be better than actually experiencing what the characters feel to actually understand their position? The idea of "Room Hotel" was a smart choice of investment from the start. A large portion of nowadays readers is very impulsive and just love their experiences with good books, they want a piece of it. Something an object as small as a scarf, or some "artifact" from the book doesn’t satisfy the fandom. Actually getting the experience would be the right choice if someone wants to go big, and truly comprehend the pressure of being in the characters position. Also because this is such a brand new idea it is bound to get some attention, thus bringing a larger audience to the project and the book itself. After all, if the book really sells well, you can always expect at least some costumers.

            Financially speaking, the idea is pure gold. At start, a little investment in the idea is the best way to go, observe how popular the project goes, and the benefits earned from it. The fact that the room is rather well described in the book itself can very much be beneficial for the readers’ total experience and a simpler way for the designers to manage the rooms. The main events take place in the first half of the book, the rest is what follows up the events. During Jack’s and his mother’s stay in the room, they have experienced a lot, and had so many little things even though they lived in a small eleven square feet room. Jack often described the room, allowing the reader to visualize and feel the story better. He uses a lot of "child" language, but still manages to explain everything perfectly. These are a couple of examples of how he describes the room: "Wardrobe is wood, so I have to push the pin an extra lot. I shut her silly doors, they always squeak, even after we put corn oil on the hinges."(P.6) this quote has a perfect example of imagery, you can almost see the stains of corn oil on the hinges of an old wooden wardrobe. In the “Room Hotel” the designers should place such a huge wardrobe, to make the visitors experience the same feelings as Jack did. “We try to fill Bath but after the first bit the water comes out all icy so we just wash with cloths. It gets brighter throughout Skylight only not very. TV Doesn't work too, I miss my friends."(P.94) This quote is a perfect example of how Jack and his Ma had felt during the time Old Nick turned off their power supply and tortured them, the quote also possesses good examples of imagery. So, the Room in the “ Room Hotel” deserves an old and non-working TV. Another great example "We stand beside Table and look up, there's the most  hugest round silver face of God. So bright, shining all of Room, the faucets and Mirror and the pots and Door and Ma's cheeks even", here Jack and his Ma are up at night before the "Great Escape" and she is showing him the beauty of the moon. So, the  room in the “Hotel Room” could have different illumination at different periods of time, to make the fans feel the atmosphere of the room in the book. All of the examples shown from the book possess the attraction of this feeling of being captive, but still able to live the life at most possible, this is the feeling that the reader is most attracted to.

In a book where half the events are happening in a room there isn't much else to create for the fans than experience, the experience of being in the situation alike to that of the characters, so that’s where the idea of "Room Hotels" came from. We hope you enjoyed our all new and thrilling idea and decide to come visit sometime! Thank you for your time.

What is a book?

            To some a book is nothing, to some, it’s all they have. To me a book an essence of the writers true nature. When reading a book we don’t really notice how much it is about not just the inner meaning of the whole text, but also the outer appearance of the cover. It’s obvious that you’d rather take a book that relates to you more, it’s like talking to a person, you have to have similar ideas and/or interests, or otherwise it’s simply tedious. But why is it that we try to grip for the feeling of the book, and not just the text? The true answer to that is that the book is the writer. The writer chooses how it looks, sounds, even feels, it’s like their clothes and voice. But now imagine not having any cover, simply a text, rough and dull.

            Reading. If all of us try to deeply analyze what we actually do when we read, it’s not just the way that we see and read the text, it’s also our body feels it. If you never even thought about it, think of this; what would you do if you had a small paperback book, or a large hardcover book, different feel, different approach. Now imagine always reading on the same exact metallic machine, no feel, always the same. The author no longer can express his/hers’ persona and how they wanted the reader to see the story, before they got to read it.

            Tom Piazza had a very good quote about why a book just loses its nature if it doesn’t have a cover “But it’s like looking at a book of paintings where Guernica is the same size as a Holbein portrait. You get no sense of the scale of things, of the nature of the artist’s ambition”. The quote basically states that without a cover all books are the same in their nature and artist’s choice. I must agree with the quote, the cover is something that attracts you (Most of us), and there can’t be attraction to a specific book, if all books are the same, as simple as that!

            To summarize, my idea can be simply described in 3 easy questions. Does a book need a cover? “Yes, it does, without it, we would probably never notice the small jewels among the waves of glass”. Can a book still be special without a cover “Yes, it sure can, but the cover is still rather important on a psychological and physical level, without it, its just not the same, and you are left to hope that the plot of the book will pay for the price of not having a cover.” Lastly, if you had two choices of buying the same book, would you rather buy a digital one for less, or a real one but expensive? “Rather a broad question, it really depends on the price difference. But if the price for a good book didn’t come to a point where a physical copy would cost more than twice the price of a digital one, I’d still rather get a real one.”