A Boy's Life was the first screenplay that I have read and it was a great first experience. Once I got to the fifth page I realized that I was reading the script to E.T. Reading this wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be difficult to read, but it wasn't which I thought was a good thing. I've read some books that were a struggle to get through, but this wasn't. One thing that I found boring was the first few pages when the writer was describing everything in the forest.
While reading the screenplay I saw the characters and locations in my mind. It was hard not to see the actors from the movie in my mind while I was reading, but that's what happens when you watch the movie before you read the screenplay. One thing that I enjoyed while reading this was the scenes that were changed or left out of the movie. It shows you how the writer wanted the scene to be, but had to rewrite it or the director thought it should be something else.
Non-professionals should read screenplays. It allows them to envision the characters and story in their own way instead of the directors. They can also compare the screenplay to the movie which I think is interesting.
Marc Maggio
Discussion Questions:
1. After reading the screenplay, what scenes would you have written differently?
2. I felt the dialogue in the scene with the doctors hard to read. After reading it and watching the movie, do you think it was portrayed well? Would you have written or shot it differently?
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2 comments:
I found that not only the dialouge, but the whole scene in general, with the doctors was somewhat hard to read. But I honestly kinda dig it, because it adds to the sense of chaos felt by Elliott and his family. Everything was so hectic and moving so quickly and franticaly that I ended up being a bit confused. But I believe the rapid nature of the dialouge adds to the tension of the scene.
I thought the scene was easy to read, once you developed a pace of reading. The scene is frantic, so the many characters are less defined causing for a distortion for the audience and Elliot. I believe the scene portrayed the horror that Elliot was going through well.
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