Hollywood producers adapt best-selling novels into films not only because the novel appeals to a large audience, but also because the images of the book provide a powerful visual guide for the director. The details of character, setting, and action scenes in the novel create an imaginary storyboard that simplifies the photographic decisions of the director. By taking excerpts from popular novels made into films and juxtaposing them against the representative scenes in the film versions, teachers can help students visualize the relationship between words and images.

          This activity requires some prior research. First, you will need to locate copies of one or more of the films represented below from your local library or video store. Next, you will need to find the section of the film described in the text below.

          With each film/text combination, show the film while projecting the author’s description with an overhead. By viewing the projected text while simultaneously observing VCR cuts of the same film scene, students can work collaboratively in small groups to identify the brush stokes used to create both the film and novel images. The combination of written brush strokes and popular film cuts reinforces the concept of the writer as artist, making image grammar more significant for students, many of whom have been exposed primarily to multimedia imagery.

          You can vary this assignment several ways. Students can work in collaborative teams or individually to identify techniques. Or to build a personal film-passage collection, you can give extra credit for each excerpt/video combination students bring to class. If the entire class is reading a novel made into a film, consider showing the film in parts and discussing how both the writer and director painted key incidents.

Raiders of the Lost Ark by Robert Campbell

He stared at the bag, then at the idol in his hand, and then he was aware of a strange, distant noise, a rumbling like that of a great machine set in motion, a sound of things waking from a long sleep, roaring and tearing and creaking through the spaces of the Temple. ... For a split second nothing happened. And then there was a faint whirring noise, a creaking sound, and the walls of the chamber seemed to break open as giant metal spikes, like the jaws of some impossible shark, slammed together in the center of the chamber. (7)

In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash (Film entitled, The Christmas Story) by Jean Shepherd

          He swept up the plastic trophy, his symbol of superiority, and rushed out through the dining room and into the living room. Placing the lamp squarely in the middle of the library table, he aligned it exactly at the center of the front window. We trailed behind him, applauding and yipping. He was unrolling the cord, down on all fours.

          "Where’s the damn plug?"

          "Behind the sofa."

          My mother answered quietly, in a vaguely detached tone.

          "Quick! Go out in the kitchen and get me an extension!"

          Our entire world was strung together with "extensions." Outlets in our house were rare and coveted, each one buried under a bakelite mound of three-way, seven-way, and ten-way plugs and screw sockets, the entire mess caught in a twisted, snarling Gordian knot of frayed and cracked lamp cords, radio cords, and God knows what. Occasionally in some houses a critical point was reached, and one of these electric bombs went off, sometimes burning down whole blocks of homes, or more often blowing out the main fuse, plunging half the town into darkness. (92-93)

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

          Nedry opened the car door, glancing back at the dinosaur to make sure it wasn't going to attack, and felt a sudden, excruciating pain in his eyes, stabbing like spikes into the back of his skull, and he squeezed his eyes shut and gasped with the intensity of it and threw up his hands to cover his eyes and felt the slippery foam trickling down both sides of his nose. Spit. The dinosaur had spit in his eyes.

          Even as he realized it, the pain overwhelmed him, and he dropped to his knees, disoriented, wheezing. He collapsed onto his side, his cheek pressed to the wet ground, his breath coming in thin whistles, through the constant, ever-screaming pain that caused flashing spots of light to appear behind his tightly shut eyelids. (96)

Call of the Wild by Jack London

          For the most part, however, Buck's love was expressed in adoration. While he went wild with happiness when Thornton touched him or spoke to him, he did not seek these tokens. Unlike Skeet, who was wont to shove her nose under Thornton's hand and nudge and nudge till petted, or Nig, who would stalk up and rest his great head on Thornton's knee, Buck was content to adore at a distance. He would lie by the hour, eager, alert, at Thornton's feet, looking up into his face, dwelling upon it, studying it, following with keenest interest each fleeting expression, every movement or change or feature. Or, as chance might have it, he would lie farther away, to the side or rear, watching the outlines of the man and the occasional movement of his body. And often, such was the communion in which they lived, the strength of Buck's gaze would draw John Thornton's head around, and he would return the gaze, without speech, his heart shining out of his eyes as Buck's heart shone out. (64-65)

          Nonfiction documentaries also provide excellent examples of some of these same techniques. Transcriptions of PBS documentaries offer a rich resource for analyzing brush strokes. The following excerpts from the film The Hellstrom Chronicle demonstrate how nonfiction models work equally well for analysis and discussion.

The Hellstrom Chronicle by David Seltzer

Their greatest enemy is the sun, its scorching rays drying their protective walls to the consistency of dust. The mound ripped open, they stand defenseless against attack. Moving with sudden frenzy, the soldiers assess the damage. With frightening efficiency the mound suddenly comes alive, a troop of workers proceeding with incredible speed to heal their wound before the predators arrive. Exuding paste from special glands, they fight to rebuild their shield. But in their work is desperation, for the drying rays of the sun begin to suck the life from them too. (Seltzer)

          Once students understand the concept of brush strokes, teachers can use a variety of models for collaboration, revision, and individual investigation.