Reading Books vs. Screenplays
Hi everyone! After writing a few reviews of screenplays, I have gotten some comments from people who have never read a screenplay or wonder how they compare to books, so I thought I would do my best to answer that question rather than do a traditional book review.
First of all, it is important to remember that with books, the entire story is on the page. Anything the author wants you to know, any movements or expressions the characters make, are all written out or alluded to. With a screenplay, settings, important camera angles, and occasionally reactions will be given. The rest - inflections, gestures, etc. - are left to the readers' imaginations. This can be fun if you watch the movie or show after reading the script and can compare how you imagined a scene with the director's and actors' takes. It can be confusing, though, if the story is non-linear or if characters' tones aren't obvious. I also personally find that scenes can sometimes get boring if there are long stretches of unexciting dialogue without direction and movement. Here is, in my opinion, a good example of long, entertaining but unexciting dialogue from the movie (500) Days of Summer. This movie is also an example of clear and creative non-linear storytelling. Ultimately, the specifics of scenes are usually left more to imagination in screenplays.
Although the lack of extensive description can be confusing at times, it is also one of the reasons I tend to read screenplays more than books. Without paragraphs of description, the paces of scenes are faster and plots move a lot quicker because screenplays have a shorter time in which to tell their stories than books. As long as the story is exciting and interesting, I personally think screenplays are easier to read for a long time without getting bored. Conversely, though, if settings or certain actions are very important, a script will contain a lot of explicit direction, which can be annoying to wade through. The first scene of this movie, Hannah and Her Sisters, is a good example.
Another big difference between books and screenplays is point of view. Screenplays are usually in third-person omniscient (although they will sometimes refer to the audience with first-person plural). Because of this, showing first-hand emotion and surprise is more difficult in a screenplay than in a novel. Characters' unspoken emotions, if not just outright stated by the writer, are communicated visually. They could be shown through a character's actions or by camera angles (close-ups, spinning, focusing on certain details, etc.). I haven't read this whole script of The Bourne Ultimatum, but the first couple pages are a great example of using what a character is seeing - and how he is seeing it - to understand what he is feeling. Interpreting unspoken words and being able to feel what the characters are feeling is different when reading books and screenplays, but is possible for both if written well.
Overall, reading books and reading screenplays is very different, but both are fun for their own reasons and I don't necessarily prefer one over the other. If you want a "normal" storytelling style that uses language to build a whole new world (pardon my Aladdin reference) then pick up a book, but if you want a more fast-paced story that relies on visual cues to communicate feelings and ideas, try a screenplay. If you choose the latter, here is the site I usually use to find new screenplays to read (warning: the scripts on that site, as well as the ones I put links to above, may contain explicit language and/or sexual content).
One more thing to remember before I sign off: just like with books, authors of screenplays have very different writing styles. Depending on the author, scripts can feel less or more novelistic, have a more familiar tone, or be slower-paced than certain novels. It all depends; the above are just my own opinions from the books and screenplays I have read.
Thanks for reading!
Aditi
First of all, it is important to remember that with books, the entire story is on the page. Anything the author wants you to know, any movements or expressions the characters make, are all written out or alluded to. With a screenplay, settings, important camera angles, and occasionally reactions will be given. The rest - inflections, gestures, etc. - are left to the readers' imaginations. This can be fun if you watch the movie or show after reading the script and can compare how you imagined a scene with the director's and actors' takes. It can be confusing, though, if the story is non-linear or if characters' tones aren't obvious. I also personally find that scenes can sometimes get boring if there are long stretches of unexciting dialogue without direction and movement. Here is, in my opinion, a good example of long, entertaining but unexciting dialogue from the movie (500) Days of Summer. This movie is also an example of clear and creative non-linear storytelling. Ultimately, the specifics of scenes are usually left more to imagination in screenplays.
Although the lack of extensive description can be confusing at times, it is also one of the reasons I tend to read screenplays more than books. Without paragraphs of description, the paces of scenes are faster and plots move a lot quicker because screenplays have a shorter time in which to tell their stories than books. As long as the story is exciting and interesting, I personally think screenplays are easier to read for a long time without getting bored. Conversely, though, if settings or certain actions are very important, a script will contain a lot of explicit direction, which can be annoying to wade through. The first scene of this movie, Hannah and Her Sisters, is a good example.
Another big difference between books and screenplays is point of view. Screenplays are usually in third-person omniscient (although they will sometimes refer to the audience with first-person plural). Because of this, showing first-hand emotion and surprise is more difficult in a screenplay than in a novel. Characters' unspoken emotions, if not just outright stated by the writer, are communicated visually. They could be shown through a character's actions or by camera angles (close-ups, spinning, focusing on certain details, etc.). I haven't read this whole script of The Bourne Ultimatum, but the first couple pages are a great example of using what a character is seeing - and how he is seeing it - to understand what he is feeling. Interpreting unspoken words and being able to feel what the characters are feeling is different when reading books and screenplays, but is possible for both if written well.
Overall, reading books and reading screenplays is very different, but both are fun for their own reasons and I don't necessarily prefer one over the other. If you want a "normal" storytelling style that uses language to build a whole new world (pardon my Aladdin reference) then pick up a book, but if you want a more fast-paced story that relies on visual cues to communicate feelings and ideas, try a screenplay. If you choose the latter, here is the site I usually use to find new screenplays to read (warning: the scripts on that site, as well as the ones I put links to above, may contain explicit language and/or sexual content).
One more thing to remember before I sign off: just like with books, authors of screenplays have very different writing styles. Depending on the author, scripts can feel less or more novelistic, have a more familiar tone, or be slower-paced than certain novels. It all depends; the above are just my own opinions from the books and screenplays I have read.
Thanks for reading!
Aditi
As someone who just finished reading Fences, a screenplay, a week ago, your description of the differences between them and books was spot on. I especially liked that you brought attention to the fact that books just have more time than screenplays, and a consequence of this is that the screenplay is often faster paces. For me, when I read my first screenplay, this was one of the biggest differences, as the story would never stop after the first few beginning scenes. Good analysis!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting blog post! You brought up a lot of really good points on both sides of your argument, and it was clear that this is a topic you're interested in and have experience with! I particularly liked that you gave some examples of screenplays that demonstrated the points you made, and your analyses of them were thoughtful and well-done. Overall, I would say that I generally prefer to read normal books and watch movies, as I often feel like I'm only seeing a part of the full story when I read screenplays, since they're designed to be accompanied by other aspects of movies like the actors' body language, visuals, particularly of the sets and costumes, and the film's score. That being said, though, I appreciate your point that it can be nice to leave the other aspects of the story more up to your imagination, and I think it's definitely fun to see more of the thought process behind a movie or play. Nice job!
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DeleteNice review! I can really tell you know a lot about both screenplays and books and can understand and identify the significant difference each one has. I really agree with what you said about how screenplays can have trouble showing first-hand emotions as sometimes when reading screenplays I feel like I'm missing an important emotional scene for a screenplay. This was a good analysis!
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