This week we looked at adaptation, starting with reading the short story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, a 1924 short story about an island where the protagonist, a hunter, is hunted for sport by General Zaroff, a man who became bored of hunting animals. I recognised the trope of the story, but hadn't known where the reoccurring theme had begun; I've seen it referenced in films and in a recent fantasy book I read without recognising what they were referencing until now.
Silvana and I worked together to make a vague storyboard of what the beginning on the boat, and the beginning of the protagonist's journey in the jungle would look like. We discussed that if we were too animate this we would probably use a medium like charcoal, which would smudge really well when scenes became fast paced or frenzied. It could also work well for the beginning when it is so dark on the boat. We also considered what we'd have mostly diegetic sound alone to keep the intense feelings of each scene, although the idea of having a soundtrack similar to that of the film Dunkirk, where the clicking of a clock is perceptible in all moments of the film, could also be an effective use of sound once he enters the jungle.
This seminar made me think about the difference between adaptation and illustration- if you make few changes then it is more of an illustration of the written word, whereas for it to be an adaptation you need to make changes. This hadn't occurred to me before so hopefully next time I'm interpreting a story into a storyboard I will feel more able to make changes to the story, as with our storyboarding for The Most Dangerous Game a lot of it remained the same as the story.
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