VERSIONS AND ADAPTATIONS
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - Baz Luhrmann, 1996
 Shakespeare's play about the fate of two young lovers has been set
in a Verona that looks like Miami Beach with the Montagues and Capulets
as rival industrial powers. The patriarchs make the orders and the
young Turks settle their scores with handguns. Romeo is a lover,
not a fighter and at the Capulet's masked ball he is instantly smitten
by Juliet and vice versa - neither one knowing the other belongs
to their family's enemy. They pledge their love and agree to wed
but the slayings of Romeo's kinsman and Juliet's cousin causes havoc
and despair. Baz Luhrmann translates Shakespeare's characters into
easily recognisable modern archetypes, e.g. Lady Capulet is a Blanche
DuBois lady who lunches and Father Laurence is a take on Timothy
Leary. The soundtrack includes Prince's When Doves Cry and the rivals
wear different designer labels - Dolce and Gabbana for the Capulet
boys and Prada for Romeo. Sets, costumes, characters, colours and
compositions serve perfectly to evoke the forces of wealth and poverty,
love and hate, power and pride, prejudice and superstition set in
a post-punk, post-industrial multiethnic world of millennial Verona.
10 Things I Hate About You - Gil Junger, 1999
This film is an entertaining teen version of 'The Taming of the
Shrew'. which plays like a situation comedy. It is directed by Gil
Junger, who has previously worked in television (he directed the
famous 'comming out' episode of 'Ellen'.)
Kat and Bianca Stratford are sisters who both attend Padua High.
Bianca is the sweet, popular slightly self-centred sister with two
suitors - one is the vain model, Joey, and the other is new kid in
town, Cameron. But Bianca is not allowed to date until her older
sister dates first. Kat, known on campus as the 'heinous bitch' is
sullen, stubborn, busy reading Sylvia Plath, beautiful, brainy, haughty
and contemptuous of boys. Enter Patrick Verona, an Australian misanthrope
with a dangerous reputation.
The screenplay is witty and supported by a range of eccentric minor
characters; the film also provides an inventive breakdown (and critique)
of social high school cliques.
To Kill a Mockingbird - Robert Mulligan, 1962
 The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper
Lee. Atticus Finch is a lawyer and a single parent in a small southern
town in the 1930s. He is appointed by the local judge to defend a
black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Atticus loves and
nurtures his children Scout and Jem and treats everyone with respect
and consideration - he stands up for what he believes in. Friends
and neighbours object when Atticus puts up a strong and spirited
defence on behalf of the accused. One of the film's themes is the
developing relationship of Scout and Jem to Boo, a mentally retarded
next door neighbour, and the change they make from fear to caring.
The story is told through the eyes of a child. Gregory Peck won an
Oscar as the Southern lawyer.
TASKS AND ACTIVITIES
Take the play or novel you are reading or that you know really well
and write a synopsis for a modern day film version. Think particularly
about locations and casting.
Storyboard a trailer and design the poster paying attention to tag
lines, voice-over and your target audience.
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