Adaptation the Movie Is Based Around the Character Charlie Kaufman Essays

Adaptation the Movie Is Based Around the Character Charlie Kaufman Essays Adaptation the Movie Is Based Around the Character Charlie Kaufman Essay Adaptation the Movie Is Based Around the Character Charlie Kaufman Essay Jessica Layton HUMS 250 Fall 2011 November 8, 2011 Throughout this paper I will be analyzing a scene from the movie Adaptation. The movie is based around the character Charlie Kaufman and his struggle to write a screen play for the book â€Å"The Orchid Thief,† written by the character Susan Orlean. This movie shows us Charlie writing the screenplay, while it also shows Susan writing the book, through the use of flashbacks. We learn through interviews in the movie, that a man named John Laroche, the man who owned the orchid nursery, inspired the book. In this scene, John and Susan are speaking on the phone about what happened to John’s nursery. We learn that a car accident has killed his mother and uncle and put his wife in a coma. When she awoke, she divorced him and as â€Å"karma† for what happened, a hurricane came and destroyed everything and wiped out all of his orchids. This scene has many different elements that bring the whole scene together so that you really feel and understand the emotions and significance of the story. This clip is full of many different emotions and uses different lighting to portray those feelings. During the flashback, we see the use of natural light. The car acts as a reflector board, softening the lighting on the characters as they back out of the driveway. As John and Susan speak to one another, we notice that the lighting in their rooms is very soft and low-key. This kind of lighting for this shot portrays the seriousness and tragic emotions of this scene. Susan’s lighting is located behind her and very soft. The soft lighting is used to focus the attention on the character making everything around her out of focus. Having the lighting in the back of Susan creates depth in the shot, separating her from her surroundings and accentuating her. When the shot moves to John, we see the location of the light is from above. While he is answering Susan’s question, the angle of the camera and the lighting create the feeling of vulnerability and sadness. This type of lighting is also being used in the hospital room shot, where the overhead light is focused on his wife showing her desperation. This whole clip is shot in a tight, closed frame. The characters don’t have the room to move around. The proximities of these shots vary from character to character. Every shot that Susan is in is shot as medium-close up. This helps the audience see her expressions as they go from intrigued to find out the story behind his orchid nursery to showing the sympathy and grief she feels for John’s story. In contrast to her shot and expressions, the way John is shot reflects the expressions of Susan. When we first see John in this clip, we see him in a medium long shot. After the first flashback shot, we see him as a close up shot, helping to show his expressions and vulnerability. Editing in this clip is very important. The use of flashback helps the audience understand what has happened to the nursery and why he no longer has one. When the clip begins we hear Susan ask the question â€Å" what ever happened to the nursery? † John’s response leads up to the flashback to the day that his uncle and mother died in the car crash and the hurricane coming through. Their conversation is edited by using what is called intercutting. This type of editing shows the action of the two characters talking as one single scene rather than two different scenes. This way of editing shows the reactions of each character as if they are in the same setting. The characters used in this film are professional actors and well known. In this specific scene, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper play Susan Orlean and John Laroche. The portrayals by these two actors are very realistic. The story behind the scene and the reaction of the characters is very realistic. Their emotions can be felt through their facial expressions. For example, when Susan first asks John what happened, we see that it brings bad memories for him. He becomes very uneasy and we see his facial expression become very upset. After he tells her the story, we see that her facial expressions have gone from intrigued to sympathetic and upset. We also see how their costumes and settings further help to define their characters and their personalities. We see Meryl Streep in a nice nightgown and nice room with a big comfortable bed. When the scene switches to Chris Coopers character we see him wearing a flannel shirt unbuttoned with jeans lying on an old couch. Each character portrays a different level of the social class stereotypes of upper and lower middle class. Meryl Streep’s character is very sleek and put together even when she is lying in bed, while Chris Cooper’s character is very rough looking. In this short scene, we see how many different elements that are put into making a movie. Just by changing the lighting, dressing the characters in certain clothing and how a shot is framed, can impact how emotions can be portrayed to create the overall feel of a scene. After seeing the whole movie it helps to better understand the characters and the emotions behind what is being portrayed on the screen in this scene.