Film Adaptations on Literary Sources

Subject guarantor:

Dan DUTA

Name of lecturer(s):

Dan DUTA

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

-Developing the artistic sense and taste of the students and their ability of analysing and understanding the literary and cinematographic language, the relationship between literature and film

-Developing students´ ability in comparing a literary work with a film adaptation made after it

-Stimulating and developing students´ ability of adapting a literary work into a screenplay and later into a film; enriching their theoretical acknowledge within this filed

-Stimulating and developing students´ capacity of understanding the idea of relativity in literature and cinema, of understanding and analysing auctorial more or less subjective or objective attitude.

Mode of study:

Screenings with introductions, commentary, guided discussions.

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

No requirements for registration to the course. A basic experience with Central European literature and/or cinema is recommended.

Recommended optional programme components:

No

Course contents:

The course consists in three parts:

1)Comparation between some novels or short stories with film adaptations based upon them. The students are supposed to individually read the literary sources. If the adaptations are made as short films (up to 30 minutes), they will be screened during the course. In case of long feature films, only short sequences from them will be screened and the students will be asked to watch them entirely by themselves.

2)A part of theory, dedicated to the techniques of adaptation of a literary source (novel, story, short story, theater play, poetry, poem etc.) into a film. Differences will be stressed towards the adaptation of an original screenplay.

3)If the students are interested, to the above mentioned two parts a workshop will be added, consisting in writing down together with the students of a screenplay based on a literary source. According to the preferences of the students, this could be a collective work (all the students will cooperate, under the coordination of the lecturer, in writing down the same screenplay) or each student will work on her or his own screenplay. (Of course the variant of several working groups producing several screenplays is also possible and according to the experience of the previous years, it seems to be the most pragmatic variant.)

The literary sources and the films made after them are to be compared with the goal of identifying and studying different ways of adapting to the screen a literary source: ?true? adaptations, „free“ adaptations, using some ideas, symbols or metaphoras from a novel or story for making a film etc. This could not only enrich the students´ aknowledge about the history of the world Literature and Cinema, but also help and inspire them for their future career of filmmakers.

A special attention will be dedicated to short films adapting literary sources.

Recommended or required reading:

Recommended (not compulsory) Bibliography:

-Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen: 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films ? Stephanie Harrison, Amazon, 2005

-The Art of Adaptation: Turning Fact And Fiction Into Film ? Linda Seger, Amazon, Owl Books, 1992

-How to Adapt Anything into a Screenplay ? Richard Krivolin, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2003

-Adaptation and Appropriation (The New Critical Idiom) ? Julie Sanders, Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London, 2006

-A Theory of Adaptation ? Linda Hutcheon, Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London, 2006

-Film Adaptation and Its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ ? Thomas Leitch, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2007

-Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation ? Robert Stam and Alessandra Raengo, Blackwell Publishing, 2004

The students are also supposed to read at least a part of the literary sources of the films that will be discussed at this seminary and to individually watch all the films that are not completely screened during the courses

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

Assessment methods and criteria:

Requirements and Assessment:

-An oral exam or a ten-page essay analysing one of the studied literary works and the film made after it

or

-A screenplay written within the workshop and adapting a literary work agreed with the lecturer

Course web page:

Note:

No

Schedule for winter semester 2012/2013:

	06:00–08:0008:00–10:0010:00–12:0012:00–14:0014:00–16:0016:00–18:0018:00–20:0020:00–22:0022:00–24:00
Mon	místnost 241 Učebna 3 (Lažanský palác) DUTA D. 12:20–13:55 (přednášková par. 1)
Tue
Fri
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Mon	12:20–13:55	DUTA D.	Učebna 3 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

Schedule for summer semester 2012/2013:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (qualification subject)