Real 2 Reel

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Interviews with the people who make books and movies great.

Art Director of The Lord of the Rings talks about his time working on the blockbuster film!

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Fall 2018

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Meera Das is in the 2022 LASA Highschool class. Outside of school, Meera is a dancer. She dances at ONE Academy of Dance in South Austin doing ballet, jazz, modern, and hip hop.

She is a huge Lord of the Rings, Spy Kids, and music fan, so she had a lot of fun writing, designing, and interviewing for this magazine!

Max Miller is a Freshman at LASA Highschool. He participates in his schools policy debate team and his boyscout troop, 511. He’s also interested in all sorts of history, and spends most of his free time reading fantasy or playing videogames.

He had a ton of fun making visuals for his story.

Jake Matz is a freshman at LASA. An avid reader and walker of dogs, he enjoys long walks on the beach, banana smoothies, and the chorus of most Foo Fighters songs. He ran cross country for the LASA team and is in Winterguard.

Carly McKinney is a freshman at LASA High School who enjoys reading, listening to music, and watching movies in her free time.

Her favorite book is Les MisĂŠrables and is currently reading a Game of Thrones during the publication of this magazine. She finds the adaptations of both technically well done but thinks the books are superior.

Meet the team

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Letter from the Editors Dear Readers,

First off, thank you so much for reading. All of us on this project have spent a lot of time working on it, and really hope you enjoy it. When tasked with creating a magazine from the ground up me and my fellow editors found our common interests lying in film and literature. We decided to focus on the transition between the two, from books to movies and television, and vise versa.

The purpose of our focus was to gather a range of viewpoints on the processes of adaptation between works of writing and works of film. We were fortunate in being able to get ahold of illustrators, authors, critics, and even those instrumental in the behind-the-scenes production of blockbuster movies in order to bring you as many perspectives as we can on the adaptation process.

As such, we hope that we’ve been able to bring you new insight on how the stories you read turn into the shows and movies you watch.

Sincerely,

The editors of Real 2 Reel

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Front and back cover designs by Meera Das Cover images courtesy of Jessie Eastland, Warner Bros., Dimension Films, Mike Mignola, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Network Inside front and back cover designs by Jake Matz Inside front cover graphics by Jake Matz Graphics based on images courtesy of Warner Bros., Dark Horse Entertainment, Marvel Studios, Universal Television Contributers page design by Max Miller

Real 2 Reel

Letter from the editors design by Max Miller Contents design by Carly McKinney

Fall 2018 Issue

Feature Stories

INFOGRAPHICS

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TROUBLING TRANSITION

How books are adapted into television

Real or Reel?..... 12

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ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY...

Set design and music: Behind the Scenes

In the Can........ 20

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SUPER STORIES

What makes a superhero appealing to audiences

Marvel: Comics vs Studios.......... 26

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A NOVEL IDEA

What makes a good novelization

What Makes a Novelization

Unique.............. 32

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T R O U B L I N G TRANSITION How books are made into Television, and what makes them work

by Max Miller

Blend of the cover of the Elfstones of Shannara (left) and the poster for its TV adaptation, The Shannara Chronicals (Right). Images courtesy of MTV and Del Rey Books.

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Cover of “The Great Hunt”, book two of the Wheel of Time. Courtesy of Tor Publishing.

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any people have had a moment where they were disappointed by the film adaptation of some of a book, yet other times one is elated by how books have made the transition to television. Two major factors that influence how an adaptation in recieved are how closely the adaptation follows the book and what the viewer’s mindset is when watching the adaptation.

Tons of books have made the transition to television, including books like A Song of Ice and Fire, The Expanse, and even The Wheel of Time.

Terri Schwartz, editorial manager for entertainment website IGN, said her view of adaptations has evolved over the years.

The worst thing the person adapting a series can do is not make it their own.

- Terri Shwartz, IGN

“I used to not understand why adaptations couldn’t be one-to-one matches with the original source, but having covered this industry

for a decade,” said Schwartz. “It’s become clear that an adaptation really needs to stand on its own as a fully formed concept to succeed.”

People shouldn’t approach an adaptation with the expectation that it completely follows the source material, that it needs to deviate to be successful. This extends to the fact that it’s counterproductive to expect a one-to-one match, as a movie can’t succeed if it tries to emulate the source with one hundred percent integrity.

Unfortunately, a full length novel simply can’t fit inside of a two hour movie, and a TV show that attempts to touch on every plot

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point of its source material won’t be able to adequately cover every topic.

Instead, we should appreciate the adaptation as its own entity, and expect it to be independent.

Schwartz said, “It’s become clear that an adaptation really needs to stand on its own as a fully formed concept to succeed. In adaptation, it’s best to take the strongest aspects of the original and throw out the rest; the worst thing the person adapting a series can do is not make it their own.

an adaptation as its own object, one must also consider their mindset and expectations.

“The best you can do is leave those expectations at the door once you sit down to watch.”

- Keith Uhlich, Hollywood reporter

However, to allow oneself to accept

“It would be a lie to say that I don’t anticipate certain things ahead of time depending on the project,” said Keith Uhlich, writer for the Hollywood Reporter. “But really, the best you can do is leave those expectations at the door once you sit down to watch.”

Another factor to consider is how true an adaptation is to the source material. One example is Annihilation, an adaptation of a novel by Jeff VanderMeer.

Spencer Kornhaber, a film and TV critic for the Atlantic who reviewed Annihilation said

“That movie’s a total trip”

- Spencer Kornhaber, the Atlantic “The director read the book, once, and then did not go back to reread it at all.”

The adaptation of Annihilation was not striving for a one to one match with its source material. But despite it’s deviance from the novel, was still received well.

“That movie’s a total trip,” Kornhaber said. “The first time watching the movie, you’re like ‘what has he done to this story I really was into?’ but once you step back I can see what the filmmaker was trying to do and evaluate it for its own.”

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Poster for the movie adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

“Eric Rohmer adapted Heinrich

Image from Syfy’s TV adaptation of The Magicians. Courtesy of Syfy

von Kleist’s The Marquise of O practically line by line, keeping a copy of the book on set and directing his actors according to his own close reading of the text,” Uhlich said. “And that movie is wonderful. But plenty of people have stuck close to a text and done awful things.”

How a movie turns out is also based on it’s production value as a TV show. We can see this in how MTV’s The Shannara Chronicles was reviewed.

“The effects, character design and costuming/props all looked incredibly cheap,” said Schwartz, retelling their thought process from when they viewed the The Shannara Chronicles. “The acting and writing were pretty weak and didn’t elevate the show beyond just average teenoriented TV shows.”

Another TV adaptation that came out roughly the same time as The Shannara Chronicles was The Magicians.

Rand al’Thor from the Wheel of Time.

Courtesy of Tor Publishing

Terri Schwartz said, “The Magicians, on the other hand, was much more daring and had excellent storytelling, and was a much more dynamic representation of fantasy on TV.” Whether or not directors strive for a completely faithful adaptation is somewhat detached from its overall success.

As Kornhaber said, “the most honest thing to do when you’re watching a movie or a TV show is to take it on its own terms.”

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Real or Reel?

By Max Miller

5.3 5.4 The Maze Runner

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7.7 7 Harry Potter

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These are the results of a survey conducted by Real to Real in hopes of figuring out the effect that watching the movie first or reading the book first had on how people recieved film adaptation. The average ratings from those who read the book first is represented by bookspines on the left, while average ratings by those who watched the movie first is shown as movie tickets on the right.

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5.8

3 Percy Jackson

Lord the Rngs Lord OfOf the Rngs

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Elijah Wood (left) and Sean Astin play Frodo and Sam respetively in The Lord of the Rings. The movie was filmed in New Zealand. Courtesy of Warner Bros.

One Does Not Simply…

Unsung Artists Who Create Film and Music

by Meera Das ights flash signalling the start of the play and dim before the movie starts. Stories come to life on the stage or the screen, but the real action happens behind the scenes.

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New Zealand.

Designing the Sets

From his office an ocean away from Hollywood, Bleakley recalled working as the art director of the blockbuster film The Lord of the Hundreds of people are involved in Rings. He is one of thousands of the long process of movie making. people who worked tirelessly on this There is the director, the producer, huge project. actors, dancers, and singers. Most of the creative process happens in the “When you make a film, it’s like a snowball,” Bleakley said over the art and music departments. phone. “Once it starts rolling it gets “Whenever you get an exciting idea, bigger and bigger and faster and that’s an expression of yourself,” faster and you can’t stop it, you just said Joe Bleakley, a have to keep up with it.” film art director and visual artist from This was a once-in-a-lifetime

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opportunity, and although he doesn’t wish to go through the long and tedious process again, he is extremely grateful for the privilege.

“It was just an exhilarating experience, and we all knew we were on something that was pretty magical,” Bleakley said.

Bleakley was one of the few people in the art department who had previous experience in the art field.

Many of the 400 people hired to work on the sets and props in the art department of The Lord of the Rings had only ever worked in the construction industry. This made the film a very rare and unique project for everyone.

Marcus LaPorte works as a production or set designer in Houston. He helped with many of director Robert Rodriguez movies including Predators, Planet Terror, Grindhouse, Spy Kids: Island of Lost Dreams, and Spy Kids: Game Over.

people were coming to it, you could make a small one, and when you … filmed people, it would look like this castle was full sized.”

important part of the process. Peter Jackson would take a small camera and actually work out how to film scenes using just a model on a table in the studio.

Since digital effects weren’t a huge part of the film industry yet, Although Jackson had a clear idea miniature models of the sets were an

“My favorite part of the job,” LaPorte said, “is seeing the joy on the faces of the director, other creatives, and the production team when we end up pulling off the impossible vision.”

Both Bleakley and LaPorte spent months and months on each movie.

However, their responsibilities were very different.

“Production designers are primarily responsible for establishing a visual look and overall concept for a film, television or theatre production,” La Porte said. “They identify a design style … while working closely with the director, producers, and creative directors. Once these creative concepts are decided, the production designer’s job switches into management mode to oversee quality control within the Art Department and all the individual creative teams.”

Bleakley, on the other hand, was quite involved with the actual process of building the sets and working with the director in addition to the managing job. He remembered working with Peter Jackson, the director of the film, on building models of the sets.

“Bits of it were full scale because they required horses … to be galloping around and amongst them,” Bleakley said, “and other bits were small when people were Marcus LaPorte worked on the hit movie, Spy Kids 2, starring at a distance from the castle. When Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara. Courtesy of Dimension Films.

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Helm’s Deep In J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, The Lord of the Rings, on of the most iconic locations is Helm’s Deep. Helm’s Deep is a valley within the White Mountains (center) of Middle Earth. At the mouth of the gorge, a

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

huge fortress (top) stands in the shadow of the mountains.

In the second book of the trilogy, The Two Towers, the “Battle of Hornburg” raged in and around this fortress. The army of Rohirrim, under King

Courtesy of Erin Young

The art departments of films face many challenges in addition to “We all knew we translating the director’s ideas into were on something visuals. These include financial that was pretty constraints as well as the sheer magical.” number of hours needed to complete - Joe Bleakley, New the project. Where a typical film in Zealand artist New Zealand would require 11-to12 hour days, The Lord of the Rings ended up needing a night crew. do what everyone would like,” Bleakley said, “but that restraint is “My concern was just how to deal often what is necessary to stop films with the scale of everything that becoming indulgent. we were building,” Bleakley said.

“We were all kind of working in The film crew did not have the areas that we weren’t familiar with. equipment to complete these … We didn’t have enough time to massive sets on their own. This was think about all the other worries that where the Weta Workshop came in. someone else might have.”

“Weta Workshop was a separate Not only was Bleakley stepping company who were engaged [by into unfamiliar waters, his first us] in a legal way,” Bleakley said. responsibility was to look after “They were engaged to produce the Helm’s Deep, which is miniatures, to create the weapons, the huge and to create the suits of armor and prosthetics. And Weta Digital did the digital enhancements of sets. So we might build the bottom bit of a castle, but then the top of it o was added on digitally.”

Br s.

Théodin, tried to hold out against the forces of Saruman, an evil wizard who was working with the dark lord, Sauron. Although Saruman’s army managed to breach the walls of the fortress, Théodin and the warrior Aragorn (below) held out against them until help arrived to drive the enemy away.

of what the end product would look fortress that is the site of the “Battle like, many directors have only a of the Hornburg.” This set ended up vague idea of what they want. being the largest set ever built in the Southern Hemisphere.

“If they aren’t certain, it takes a lot of additional effort to coax that out All these expansive sets were very of them,” La Porte said. “A director expensive. Financial constraints who sees this easily inside their head are always a problem in the film and can verbalize those feelings. industry. Although films made in Being a production designer means New Zealand are generally cheaper you have to work in someone else’s than those made in Hollywood, The style, which is not easy. Once … you Lord of the Rings still faced these have the director’s trust, it’s about limitations. winning them over on your own “There’s never enough money to ideas as a designer.”

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

er rn a s W LaPorte received Da of a y r s ee rte M u o bachelor’s degree in studio ec d by Imag Edite

a art

and later worked in the art department on the well-known film, Spy Kids.

After this project, he went on to lead major fabrication projects on most of filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s movies like Sin City, Grindhouse, and Predators.

he will also build the sets and props.

40 hours to write the music,” Young said. “It’s seven minutes, of music.

So if a composer writes a minute and a half of music a day, that’s a good amount. If I do two minutes of music a day, I’m really happy.”

“I love the show ‘cause there’s two thousand people involved,” Young said from his office in Pflugerville.

“There’s about 15 thousand people in the audience that see it. I’m the guy in the pit playing the piano, This music writing process starts “Even if you’re stuck working that directing the pit orchestra. And … I similarly to a film’s set design. shit job,” LaPorte said, “try to find write the music. Arrange it.”

Young sits down with the director an hour or so to just let it all go, and and tries to get them to define what While a normal full-time job is about find peace with your craft.” they want. He picks apart their ideas two thousand hours every year, and reforms them into music that Bleakley, however, went out into the Young works that same amount of will portray their vision. world and dove right into his passion time within the span of six months. working with just a few friends. He believes that young people wishing to pursue a career in the art and film field should follow a similar path as him.

“When you’ve worked out what you want, then go get some training,” Bleakley said. “But don’t go training when you’re not sure what you want to do. You’ll waste time. It’ll be interesting, and you’ll learn a lot. … Develop [your] ideas, whatever form they might take. That’s how you grow. That’s how you work out who you are.”

Composing the Music Music and sound, like the sets, is a Designed by the creaters of The Lord of the Rings, the fantastical land of huge part of the production of shows the Shire still resides in New Zealand. The most famous of the houses in the Shire is Bag End with its round green door. Courtesy of Erin Young. and movies. There are many steps in the music writing process, and it can Most of his projects at Baylor require “I tell them it’s like a puzzle in a sometimes take six months to write him to work from the moment when box, taken apart,” Young said. “And a complete score for just one show. he wakes up to the moment when he I come in and there’s no picture on goes to bed. But the rest of the year, the front of the box. And I open up Jason Young works at Baylor he is free to take on whatever activity the box and there’s a billion pieces University in Waco, Texas, with the he wants. He is currently building a in there. And my job is to ask them, students in the theater department fully functioning R2-D2 robot from ‘What does this puzzle look like? as a composer and instructor for the the Star Wars trilogy. This has been Because I can help you assemble it All-University Sing, an inter-Baylor his pattern for 28 years. in the way you want it to be, but I’ve musical competition among student got to kind of know groups, and will spend months and “For one of the acts, it’ll take about what you’re shooting months writing music. Occasionally,

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“I have built a functional ferris wheel,” Young said. “Nine foot in diameter. I’ve built a fiberglass clamshell that closes with a person on the inside. I’ve built a crashed airplane, which is a lot of fun. I’ve built a giant grocery bag, nine feet tall. This year, I’m building a 27 foot wide, 22 foot tall cuckoo clock.”

The director of the act presents their ideas to Young, and after sketching the design on a 3D computer software, he builds the sets or props with his own tools. Oftentimes, the students have had no experience using tools, so Young guides them.

Before his job at Baylor University, Young earned his music degree there. Then he went to community college to get his associate’s degree in commercial composition and Jason Young works in his studio at his house in Pflugerville, Texas. His projects use many different softwares on his many computers to arrange and transcribe arranging. Once his college days his music. Photo by Meera Das. were over, he wished to make a for.’ If they say, ‘Write music. Just composed for Baylor’s theater living out of his love for music go write music,’ that means nothing. program, but he has also composed and took the risky plunge into the I could make these puzzle pieces be for movies, TV shows, and some business. anything.” radio stations. He was in charge of “And I found, ‘If I can just go one the entire sound department for the Then comes the process of sitting film Paradise Recovered and won an year just doing what I love to do,’” Young said. “‘Just playing music alone for months in his office award for it. and just doing stuff, really living … arranging, experimenting, and recording on the special software on “I was the guy with the boom,” cheap.’ And I did, and it worked. I his computer. Then rehearsals begin. Young said. “I’ve done what’s called was surviving. I didn’t starve to Finally comes the tedious task of post-production. Basically, you take death. And ‘I’ll do a second year.’ transcribing the score onto sheet all that raw audio and you edit things And I did the second year, and I was just a little bit more successful. music. Many times the score will out.”

And the third or fourth year, end up being about 500 pages worth of music, and Young has written In addition to his musical talent, I thought, ‘Okay, I’m Young is accomplished in the field going to do this about 400 acts in total. of set and prop design. for s “You go to the movies. At a sad Graphic by Meera Da real.’” movie, you want to cry,” Young said. “My job as a composer is to Y o u n g help the client--and in this case believes that college students--move the audience his formal training truly emotionally.” prepared him for what the composing world required of him.

Not only has Young

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He studied music theory all the way through his college years which allows him now to easily transcribe the melodies in his head onto paper.

“A lot of musicians nowadays,”

“I come in and there’s no picture on the front of the box. And I open up the box and there’s a billion pieces in there.

And my job is to ask ... ‘What does this puzzle look like?’”

machine shop, all that stuff,” Young said. “And one kid in the entire school … has come by. He’s like, ‘What is this place?’ I’m like, ‘It’s a Maker Space.’”

After Evan walked into the workshop that day, he has been there every day since. He and Young worked side by side building cabinets and learning about each other.

“I will guarantee you,” Young said, “the first opportunity that I have to use someone, or to have someone help me on a big project, Evan’s my guy … no question.”

Evan showed Young that he was ready to move ahead not by immediately working with the power tools. He proved that he was willing - Jason Young, composer to take on the easy jobs like getting coffee and sweeping the floors. In Young said, “especially [in] a lot Young’s opinion, following Evan’s of popular music, they don’t know example is a good idea for anyone the traditional language of music. If who wants to have any job, not just you’re in the top, tiny little sliver of in composing or film. the top percent, if you’re Rihanna … you’ve got people to do that. “My advice for people who want to But a lot of them don’t have those get into any field,” Young said, “is abilities. They sit and just mess show up and volunteer and do the around with these programs … But hard work. Do the stuff that nobody if you’re going to put stuff in front else wants to do. Be willing to do the of an orchestra, you got to be able to small jobs first, for very very little speak this language. So that’s what recognition. And do them really my formal training did. That was well. And very shortly after that, very helpful” people will give you slightly bigger jobs. And prove yourself there, and Young has overcome many obstacles sooner or later you’ll be doing the in achieving his goals, but he made big jobs. That’s the secret, and it’s it. He has a job that he loves, and literally as simple as that.” he has worked with many bright young people. One of these people is Evan, a student at Georgetown High School where Young is helping in the Maker Space.

“We’re just starting to put a shop together: woodshop, metal shop,

Photo by Meera Das

R2-D2 IRL! If you have ever seen the blockbuster Star Wars trilogy, you know R2-D2, the beloved droid. Jason Young has taken it upon himself to build his own lifesize, automated, and painted R2-D2 robot. He decided to do this because he wanted to learn about metal working and programming. The process has taken him many years and will still take a few more. With research and help from fellow R2-D2 builders, Young has a design that is almost exactly the same as the real R2-D2, down to the width of a sheet of paper. When his project is completed, the droid will have three modes. The first is remote-controlled, where it will be able to roll around and flash its lights and open and close its flaps in response to a hand-held remote. The second mode is display mode.

R2-D2 will sit in the corner and randomly flash lights and make his iconic beeping noises.

The last mode will be the most complicated of all: the automated mode. Not only will R2-D2 be able to move around on his own, but he will have facial recognition and be able to respond to voice commands.

He will be the real life Star Wars droid!

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“I cried when I saw it. I said, ‘Oh, God, what have they done?’�

"Don't never let nobody make a movie of your life's story,�

-P.L.Travers

-Winston Groom

-E.B. White

“Crummy; no talent or flair.�

-Roald Dahl

"It was the most miscast film I've ever seen. It made me want to throw up."

-Truman Capote

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-Stephen King

"The movie is interrupted every few minutes so that somebody can sing a jolly song. I don't care much for jolly songs."

“A big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it.�

In the Can Authors Who Hated the Movie Adaptations of Their Books

by Meera Das

Not only was Winston Groom, the author of Forrest Gump, not credited at any of the six Academy Awards the film won, but he also did not like the movie at all. He thought that the movie sanitized the language and sex, and it omitted some important plot points from his novel.

Author E.B. White was indignant that the movie based on his novel, Charlotte’s Web, didn’t cause children to be wailing by the end of the film. His book was about death, grief, and a pig living in constant fear for his life, so he was very against the upbeat musical that ended up in theaters.

P.L.Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins series, absolutely hated the film.

She thought that Disney didn’t take her story seriously, and she was violently against the casting of Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. At the end of her life, she even cursed Disney in her will.

The author of The Shining, Stephen King, was disappointed in the movie. He did not like Jack Nicholson’s performance. In King’s opinion, director Stanley Kubrick “just couldn’t grasp the sheer inhuman evil of The Overlook Hotel.”

Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, disowned the movie when he saw the orange Oompa Loompas and the “trashy” musical numbers. He thought the movie was not dark enough, and he hated the casting of Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka.

Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, argued violently against the casting of Audrey Hepburn. He had written the book with Marilyn Monroe in mind. Not only this, but he had envisioned himself as her love interest. After Hepburn’s death, Capote still maintained that the movie was one of the greatest disappointments he had ever experienced.

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SUPER STORIES

What Empowers a Hero to be Popular

By Carly McKinney

F

rom Zorro to Flash Golden Age, which occurred between Gordon to Batman, the late 1930’s and early 50’s, films have captured which is roughly the same the way we see time period surrounding heroes throughout history. The WWII. In 1954, the Comics Code question must Authority, or the CCA, be answered “I look at something was created to censor as to what and I say they’ve comics to make them influences got it completely more reader-friendly. the way they wrong ... they’ve This prohibited things are portrayed, taken one of my like creating sympathy for the and how they books and they criminal, nudity of any form, represents haven’t understood having violent scenes present, our ideals. and more. The CCA was said the book” to be the downfall of many -Mike Mignola, C o m i c s comics, or at least the Creator of Hellboy have been cause of a source of t h e i r entertainment since they’ve decline. Many could see been in existence, and they’ve the issue and been a source of hope in times of abandoned the distress. This can be seen in their code; DC being production and sales quantity, one example both of which greatly increased that benefited for superhero comics during g r e a t l y World War II. After the war, from this some heros started disappearing decision. due to decreased interest as T h e audiences moved on to some of the more popular heroes, such as DC’s Superman.

Of course, there are many stages in these novels’ production, but the one with the most action is the

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Image courtesy of Mike Mignola

Killing Joke is one of Batman’s most popular comics to date and features the Joker doing some majorly violent crimes.

The Killing Joke is one of many books that had film adaptations, but one of few that gained much traction.

Being a very controversial story, it was bound to have some negative reviews, but the question of why it did so well can be answered. The same goes for Batman: Under the Red Hood and other adaptations that did well, whether this shows in the box office or the general reviews for the movie have a similar, positive outlook.

Getting an insider’s perspective of how a film as made ca tell us what makes or breaks it. In an interview with Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy, he explains how the films may or may not have been what he had in mind when making his creation’s adaption.

a

different phases. At first, I look at something and I say they’ve got it who completely wrong, or at least in the understands case of this recent movie, the new what works about movie, my first thought was they the book,” Mignola got it completely wrong said. “I’ve been -- they’ve taken one of lucky with my books and they the Hellboy haven’t understood stuff. For the book. Then I kind of es r u the most had to let go of that ‘cause I ict yP n o part I’ve had was tripping over the details of S esy t r filmmakers or writers they had changed, and I had cou ge ma I who kind of understood what the to look at it and go ‘okay, wait character was so you could change a minute, it mostly does work.’” details, you could add a love interest, Mignola remarks on how his you can do these things, but they’re involvement can contribute to surface differences.” perfecting the piece by shifting around already existing components Mignola goes on to talk about when Marvel Comics did their first Iron of the film.

Man movie and updated it to perhaps increase the relevance and keep the original feel of the story.

“I wanted to express how people could get the same reactions [and how this could lead to] feeling like a freak, being rejected from society” -Lou Ferrigno,

“So you can change the details,” Mignola said, “but you have to understand why something worked -what was good about it, the kinds of things that the characters were about -- you have to keep that, and then you can move it to a different location o r move it to a different time Actor, The Incredible Hulk period. But yeah, you just need somebody who understands what Though the director of the Hellboy was good about movies, Guillermo del Toro, led the the source early projects, Mignola was overall material.” impressed with the outcome and Spider-Man approved most of the changes made (2002) and to the character. He understood that Batman (2005) are sometimes a story has to be changed noted for their success for film to fit the audience, whether in adaptation the change had to be made due to a jump from the time the original was created or if it just wouldn’t fit well in a certain context.

Image courtesy of Warner

“I’ve been very lucky that they wanted me involved,” Mignola said.

“I always end up g o i n g through c o u p l e “What you hope for is a filmmaker

Brothers Entertainment

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This is true for other movies as well, which can be seen in other works that didn’t follow the source material, yet did well. Sam Raimi’s SpiderMan trilogy skipped some plot points, such as the web shooters (the original hero didn’t have organic webs until later in the series), and the importance of Gwen Stacy was glazed over.

Maguire’s interpretation of Peter Parker’s character might have had something to do with the film’s success, but different audiences react to things differently. “[Del Toro] made some changes,” Mignola said. “In my comic, Hellboy is a public figure, and he thought that that would just be too weird for a movie audience to accept the fact that this big, red guy with a tail would walk down the street and people wouldn’t think anything was weird about that.

So he had to make that change: That he was kind of living, that he was this secret thing. And that was fine, I understood that as a change for the movie. That didn’t bother me; it made perfect sense.”

Mignola then remarks on the change Del Toro made regarding the introduction of Hellboy and how he more closely ties it to the Nazis than in the original work to “make the film more exciting and to make [things easier] to understand.” “[This had] made so

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sense. I had no idea why I didn’t do it like that in the comic. So that’s one of the rare things I see in the films where I go ‘Yeah, why didn’t I do that?

That’s a better way of doing that than what I did in the comic.’ But for me, the comic’s always gonna be the real thing,” Mignola said. “The best I can do, generally is say ‘okay, I did it my way; you did it your way. They’re both okay ways of doing things.’”

Mignola did agree on changes like this and was accepting of most differences he and director Guillermo del Toro had, as previously mentioned. Although most changes were trusted, there were a few Mignola was a little anxious about.

“One of the big changes Del Toro made in the film was putting in this love interest between Hellboy and the character Liz Sherman, which was not in the comic at all. And while he was very insistent that we do it and I didn’t really put up much of an argument; I said ‘fine, you know, I’ve done the comic my way; you’re doing the film a different way. That’s fine.’ When it came right down to it, I think that was the thing we were most nervous about: How the audience would accept that since it was such a gigantic change from the comic.”

This pulls more unanswered questions surrounding what would affect the audience’s reaction to movie adaptations, and in some cases, movies in general. Some would Image courtesysay of that the quality of the director Mike Mignola would show in the quality of the film while others might say the writing is the carrier for the film’s success. We asked

Peter Bradshaw, a film critic for The great influence on pop culture, the how this could lead to] feeling like Guardian, what he looks for when casting greatly contributes to a a freak, being rejected from rating a film. film’s success. Whether society.” the person in question “When considering … adaptations is well received can specifically, it’s important to not rely have something to do too much on the source material,” with their character.

Image courtesy of Bradshaw said. “You have to Universal Pictures recognize that it is its own work.”

Lou Ferrigno is possibly most known In his review for Christopher Nolan’s from his work as the Hulk The Dark Knight Rises, Bradshaw from the TV show from notes the action and pacing of the the 1970’s. When asked film, writing: “The film is better at about his inspiration for pure action.” what he brought out in the character, he said DC is infamous for its failure with perfectly: “I wanted audience approval, but Nolan has to express how evaded this threat with his directing, people could get the working with the psychology of same reactions [and camera angles, cuts, and lighting. It helps that most audiences loved Christian Bale as the man behind the Bat. Moreso now with social media having such a

The Incredible Hulk and Hellboy adaptations are both loved by their creators Image courtesy of Universal Television

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Avengers #19-22 featured Ultron wiping out the population of the entire country. the Avengers weren’t able to stop him until it was too late

2015

In The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos couldn’t possibly be matched by the Avengers or others -- he was given too much power by the stones

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The plot of Thor #340 by Walt Simonson followed Surter’s destruction of Asgard

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In the books, the group who brainwashed Bucky was left in the dark, with the idea of various communist organization who couldn’t be beat

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In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Avengers were able to get there in time to save most of the community. This change was most likely made to give the audience hope and keep the movie more entertaining for younger viewers

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Hydra was named responsible in the films, which made the plot easier to follow for newer audiences

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The scene where the heroes are almost able to remove the gauntlet from Thanos’ grip, only to be foiled by Quill’s anger, is a perfect example of why this change needed to be added for tension

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Thor: Ragnarok was a comedy to match the lighthearted feel of the other MCU movies with Surtur’s destruction in the background

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Graphic by Jake Matz. Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

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A Novel Idea What Makes A Good Novelization

by Jake Matz

M

ovies are a well-known and treaded media, and the plot can be commonly derived from books. However, there is also a presently uncommon transition of film to book, with just as much finesse in the weaving of the transformation.

one. Pictures to words.” Perry said.

A script and novelization may both be in text, but their purposes differ.

A script makes an image, while a novel gives you the tools to make personal imagery “You can get into a character’s head,” Perry said, “show things he or she can’t see or know about, since camera viewpoint is usually restricted to what an audience can see or hear, but not interior thoughts.”

Novelizations are a unique medium, a middle ground of book and movie.

Todd Strasser and Steve Perry, both well-versed authors and creators of several movie novelizations such as Alien and Home Alone touch on the topic, work and art behind the making of a film into a book.

- Steve Perry “There are two things ... Primarily, The medium , and the thickness.

If you are novelizing a script, be it “With a novelization you already theatrical or televised … you are have the plot, theme, characters, going from that form to a written much of the dialogue and the end

– all things that must be thought up for an original story,” Perry said. “In this case, the movie script becomes essentially an outline from which the novel is built, and you can’t step far away from it.” For authors to bide the already present plot, filler is added to provide newfound depth.

Even though a plot is present, this does not mean that it can be used in its original state, it must be adapted.

“When you do this,” Perry said, “you add or delete material so that the story will work in a written form ... A two-hour movie script runs about 120 pages. A novel covering the same story might run 300-400 pages.”

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“Readers have to work harder than viewers, so you want to guide them where you want to go, make them see, hear, smell, taste, and feel the action as best you can.�

- Steve Perry

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All Graphics by Jake Matz. Images courtesy of 20th Century Fox

It’s not all hindrances however, as thoughts.”

Perry said, the lack of picture allows you to go beyond what is topical. Novelizations are an art, with the need to warp it for this new “The movie audience and this includes skewing the story for the new media “you script becomes try to make the story richer,” Perry essentially an said. “Readers have to work harder outline from than viewers, so you want to guide which the novel them where you want to go, make is built, and you them see, hear, smell, taste, [and] can’t step far feel the action as best you can.” away from it.”

- Todd Strasser You may not have heard of novelizations before this article, and “You can get into a character’s you may not hear of them again. They head,” Perry said, “show things are a unique take on storytelling he or she can’t see or know about, and bear new perspective on your since camera viewpoint is usually favorite stories and movies. restricted to what an audience can see or hear, but not interior

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What Makes A Novelization Unique?

6 Ways Authors Make Novelizations Stand Out

By Jake Matz

Gremlins As Gremlins is a horror/comedy and as such in the moment, the novelization simply adds a past to the story to add depth that the film could not achieve for the setup of the plot.

Movie By Warner Bros. Studio Novelization By George Gipe Published By Avon Books

Cory In The House: New Kid In Town

Movie By Disney Novelization By Alice Alfonsi Published By Disney Press

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Coming out with the release of the film, the novel works to tie the sitcoms divided stories into one succinct story. The novelization did a grand job of catering to the youth audience of the show, the novel leading to several sequels.

Movie By Paramount Pictures Novelization By J.M. Dillard Published By Pocket Books

Movie By 20th Century Fox Novelization By Steve Perry Published By Bantam Books

Movie By 20th Century Fox Novelization By Todd Strasser Published By Scholastic

The Pauses of the Alien novelization work great for a horror novel, keeping all the tense moments and tempo shifts with the aid of grammatical devices, which supplement the lack of visuals.

Alien

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York The rambling lists of traps works wonders on paper, Home Alone’s novelization serves to add emphasis to the events of the protagonist’s time home alone, while maintaining all the humor of the original.

Star Trek & Star Wars With Star Wars and Star Trek, there is already an established story with little room for interpretation. While this has not stopped direct novelizations of the films, there are countless stories made in the universe, but of differing characters and stories. This is referred to as the Expanded Universe. While it is prevalent in other areas, it is a staple of Star Trek and Star Wars literature.

Movie By Lucas Films Novelization By Steve Perry Published By Bantam Books

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Horcrux Arkenstone Frodo Thror Hogwarts Aragorn Ravenclaw Malfoy Elf Legolas Ron Wizard Hermione Orc J.R.R. Dwarf Marvel Warner (Bros.)

Troll

Write the remaining letters from top to bottom and left to right in the spaces below to reveal a secret message!

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6

Across: 1- This monster leads the antagonists in Gremlins 2- This girl is the sole survivor ofa Xenomorph attack, and commonly goes

by Newt 3- This Omsford boy takes the lead role in the Elfstones of Shannara 4- The species that includes members like Venom, Carnage, and Toxin 5- Bruce Wayne’s mentor in Batman Begins

Down: 1- This Hellboy character demonstrates telepasty.

2- This Spider-Man actor is best known for delivering the line “Pizza Time”.

3- This Elf is best known for his ring smithing in The Lord of The Rings 4- This Wheel of Time character is known for his gambling addiction 5- Hold the door!

6- My name is ____

Special Thanks...

The Real 2 Reel team would like to especially thank friends and family who supported and accomodated our work on the magazine, Kevin Garcia, our teacher who guided us on this journey, and reserve our deepest thanks for all the interviewees who went out of their way to contribute to this publication.

Thank You...

Answer Key

Joe Bleakley Marcus LaPorte Jason Young Spencer Kornhaber Keith Uhlich Terri Schwartz Steve Perry Todd Strasser Mike Mignola Lou Ferrigno Peter Bradshaw Kevin Garcia Shawn Charlotte McKinney Susan and Sanjit Das Christine and Michael Matz Jeremy Miller and Julia Kinsey

Thank you for perusing our magazine!

Word Search

Across: 1- Spike 2- Rebecca 3- Wil 4- Symbiote 5- Ghul

Down: 1-Krauss 2- Maguire 3- Celebrimbor 4- Mat 5- Hodor 6- Earl

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