Transferring a Play to a FIlm

Abby: Hey Sara, do you have any awkward videos you want to show to your whole English class?

Me: Why yes I do! It's an adaptation of David Henry Hwang's play Trying to Find Chinatown. 

(Please pardon the video quality. I originally shot it in 1080p, 60 frames of 1920x1080 pixels per second, but Blogger couldn't handle the size of the video so I had to "dumb it down" a bit so it would be under 100mb.)


Abby: What did you learn while making this?

Me: I feel like I have to turn a paper in about this question, but anyways I learned about the difficulties of transferring a play's script into a movie. I learned a little about this process in my Introduction to Film Analysis class, but now I feel like I have more "hands-on" experience.

Abby: How hard could it be? The script's already laid out for you.

Me: True. But live theater is much different than film. For instance, the stage in theater is 3D and more lifelike. What matters in this medium is the words of a work, not necessarily the visuals. When there is action, the actors often talk about what they're doing. The stage in a scene is also stationary for plays. When performing the play in front of an audience, the actors and tech only have that one chance to impress the people watching. They can't redo a scene in the middle of the performance. Film, on the other hand, provides the audience with a flat 2D image. The use of cameras provides more freedom and makes the scene less confined to one set. The actors don't have a chance to "interact" with the audience. Film is more of a visual art that can be manipulated and edited after the performance. Movies can tell the story using different angles and shots, without relying heavily on dialogue.

Think of transferring entire Shakespeare plays into film! While the script is already written, the director has to determine how to convey the messages of the play by using different shots and visuals. The whole movie can't just be people conversing on the same set or else it wouldn't be interesting.

Abby: So what did you think of your movie?

Me: Well, the play is mostly dialogue, so visually I couldn't do much. I had some establishing shots of the city, but most of the film is just us talking. I threw in some audio tracks in the background to produce a "city-like" atmosphere, even though it was shot by De Anza's Media Learning Center. This project gave me a lot more insight of creating movies based on plays.

Abby: I can't wait to watch it!