I just read a portion of a script for Ender's Game and there are a lot of interesting changes, like why are the buggers called woollies? I wont place any more here, but the script html is below.
posted
I thought a petticoat was like a slip. I remember a red child's coat. It was actually kind of distracting for me since that scene was not as purely black and white as the other scenes. But my sensitivity to that is probably from being a B&W photographer. See, color images are a collation of 3 faster films to combine into colors.
To compare, the scene in the beginning where Schindler is getting it on with some lady is a particularly lustrous illustration of what B&W can capture. Whereas a color image with most of the color removed is not B&W.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I feel like I'm changing the subject (and fear I'm good at that) but...
I liked how the single bold color stood out. It made me grab the book to determine if she'd been as memorable there.
As for what B&W can capture - most of the time I've found it's better. As for the variations of color - isn't it funny how 'sepia' is an option on many digital cameras now?
Lastly (I swear I'll stop with the changing of subjects... as soon as I learn how!!) I love how it's easier to go from black and white to color than vice verse.
Posts: 1355 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Yeah... That script is from 7 years ago. It's been rewritten more than once since then, with the latest version having been completed by Card recently, I believe.
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Probably because of the connotations of the word "Bugger" in some cultures. (Wasn't there a thread about that a while back, with the topic that by naming the enemy that got wiped out Buggers, OSC showed his hostility toward homosexuality or something like that?) He kept the name "Formics" though, which would indicate that they were still insect-like in this script. Then again, what'd the p.c. name be for an enemy alien race that looked like teddy bears?
Posts: 283 | Registered: Jul 2006
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I just read the portion of the script and i must say that i am thoroughly pleased with the outcome but i do have a few complaints which i think others will have too. My first complaint would have to do with the pacing of it all. I personally feel that he's rushing it. For example, the Fantasy Game. In the book it was a progressive thing but within the script he accomplishes everything in like 10 mins of reading. I do not believe this proves his intelligence and/or superiority over the others, just that it simply feels contrived. Another thing that bothered me is that it didnt have the the part where Ender kills a kid which i thought to be imperative piece to tell because it displays Enders aggressive side. Last thing, the beginning with the first attack on the "formics" seems to be too revealing. I think it would be much better for the viewer to learn this with Ender bc it proves to be a possible spoiler for the ending. With the audience being oblivious of everything going on instead of being told the situation by Graff and the beginning, i believe it will have a more emotional and appealing impact on the audience. That's all i have to say. I know that this script was done long ago and has undergone many revisions but i felt obligated to add a comment and also the fact of being bored. I just hope that Mr. Card isnt shooting for a running time of 90 mins bc this doesnt seem like something that can be rushed. It needs to time for character developement and other things. Anyways, someone comment on what u think other than complaining about the changing of the buggers. Thanks
PS. Sry for the grammatical mistakes
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posted
The script you saw has nothing whatsoever to do with the script that we're working on right now. And I mean NOTHING. So all discussions of that early work are quite irrelevant now.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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A quick question about the script: When the first contract was signed, you had made a comment about a couple of concessions that you had to make. One of these was the racial make-up of the cast. (As I recall, the studio insisted that the majority of characters, including both Ender and Bean, be Caucasian, which I believe you said could leave an audience with the flavor of "white Americans save the world AGAIN". Something about WB opining that American audiences are "scared" of non-white lead characters in non-comedies. Correct me if I'm wrong.)
With the extension and subsequent re-writes, has the studio given you any wiggle room w.r.t. this point of disagreement?
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another question: how was the new script received? Are you in another revision phase, or are people fairly happy?
Posts: 72 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Thanks for commenting but i assure you that i acknowledged the possibility of it undergoing several changes and i'm apologize if that came off as being insincere because that truly wasnt my objective. I believe this movie has the potential to be great. I loved Enders Game and enjoyed its sequels just as much. I never thought you would have read these comments OSC or maybe you didn't after noticing its subject matter. I just felt obligated to comment not only to converse with people on this forum but with the possibility that it may influence your work because i've noticed that you are a regular on these forums. Perhaps I'm not someone who is qualified enough to give such opinions, but sometimes a little is just enough. I don't want to see Ender's Game end up just like all the other adaptions out there nor do i believe you do either. But lets face it, this movie is for the fans and being a big fan of the book, i feel i could shed some light on it and perhaps give some insight on why it was such a captivating piece of literature for me. Maybe, with comments such as mine you can re-capture your ideas, your writing in a different medium as well as you did in the novel. Maybe it was a bit extreme of me to say this movie was purely for the fans, but don't change it to meet a certain target audience. It is what it is and that is what made it so special to the people who read it. Anyways, maybe you will consider what i said or maybe you won't. All i can say is that i can't wait to see this movie whenever it comes out. Thanks
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Heh, Heh... Is it bad if I say don't write the script? I love the movie I see every time I read the book. Selfish, I know...
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I'll try Atropos Mar, hopefully this helps explain what I meant in my last post...
When I read EG I've got my own film playing in my mind as I read each page. Sometimes it's nice to leave it at that. I'm the type person that can't help but to watch a movie about a book I've read and Loved. Sometimes I'm disappointed by the film 'on screen'. What I mean is that I enjoy/ed EG enough to leave it at the book - to have the only pictures (to me) be what comes from the words (and their significance to me).
Is that what you meant?
Posts: 1355 | Registered: Jul 2006
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ya i understand now... but if the movie does fail to instill all those visuals and memories we the fans loved, we always will have the book to fall back on. I understand that you feel it may compromise the intial feelings you got from reading it and that it will be hard for you to adjust to images unlike how you perceived them to be, but mediocore films can't ruin classic books, they just become forgettable. You never now either though, perhaps the film will be amazing, which i'm hoping for, and it will give you a whole new medium for you to adore the world of Ender Wiggin and live out those feelings you had the first time you read the novel again....anyways i understand, but i assure you no matter what that the novel will still be there for you to do whatever you desire with it
Posts: 13 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Good points. I guess I just feel bad for the people who end up doing it the other way around... Will the book for them never become a 'classic' if they've seen the mediocre film first?
I'm not saying they are or aren't classic, but the Potter books are a great example... Parents/Aunts/Uncles/Godparents are taking their kids to the movies thinking they're in for a great show, but if they'd just waited a couple of years until their kids had the chance to read the books maybe the whole experience would be better?
^edit to say that the potter reference was for example only - not to side-track anything. i'm practicing my non-side-tracking-tactics. : )
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Well i agree and disagree with your statment, mostly because i find the Potter films far from being mediocre. Try encapsulating the imagination of JK Rowling and her stories that consist of sometimes more than 600 pages, and i can assure you that it wouldnt be easy to do. It would be a difficult task to please the fans who have different aspects of the books that they believe to be important and be able to satisfy all those different opinions. But, then i agree because some people feel that they do not need to read the book afterwards. Sure, they don't have to but there is enough difference between the two to read it and still get something new from it. I personally got into the series because of the movies and though i can assertively say the books are better, when has a movie ever transcended the book. I understand opinions are subjective, but stories are mean't to be told through medium possible. Perhaps, these movies will entertain those who cannot read and without the movies they would never have a chance to experience the thrill and imagination of JK Rowlings pen. Anyways a mediocre film cannot tarnish a classic book. Take 1984 the movie as an example. George Orwell's infamous novel remains intact with all its gloriness despite a travesty of a film to pay homage to it. People still read the novel and it still is considered a classic. Anyways thanks for conversing with me no one else seems to share an interest.
Posts: 13 | Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by cmc: Heh, Heh... Is it bad if I say don't write the script? I love the movie I see every time I read the book. Selfish, I know...
A lot of books are that way for me. "Ender's Game" is definitely that way more than most. I've never read the Potter books but I like the movies. And sometimes I'll watch a movie, find out it was adapted from a book and then go and read it. So maybe if they do a decent to really good job on the movie it will end up the same way for other people and then maybe "Ender's Game" will be an even more popular book then it is now???
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B34N - it could totally go that way... Which would be a good and bad thing in my eyes.
I'm sort of a weirdo when it comes to 'pop' culture. That's not to say that I think EG is that at all. What I mean is that I get, I guess annoyed is the word when something I've really enjoyed becomes super popular to the point where you see people walking around wearing a t-shirt because it's got the cool logo of the moment on it. I guess that's another part about why I'd not want to see an EG movie become massively popular on some fad-y level. It's almost like it dilutes the coolness.
At the same time, the awesomeness of EG should be spread to people who'd really enjoy it for what it truly is (meaning not just because other people like it).
Does that make any sense? I'm not sure I'm good at explaining my point...
Posts: 1355 | Registered: Jul 2006
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I think I get what your trying to say and yeah I feel the same way. We have this perfect idea of what EG is like and by making a movie whether we want it to or not we will think of the movie everytime we reread the book.
As for the pop culture thing I think it would be great for the enderverse if EG became really popular but it's gonna suck also becasue then things get out of control and you get saturday morning cartoons about the movie, sequels that are all about the money not the art or the story. Then come the toys and everything else...which is great money wise but it also sucks. I think that is where you were going with what you said and I know there is probably a lot more to it and please if I am wrong let me know?
So, basically I agree with you but am still interested to see where all of this goes, will it become a bunch of hype or will ascend to the heights of Star Wars, Star Trek and now Battle Star Galactica? Only time will tell.
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Well for one I don't think OSC will let it become about the money and he will still retain the rights to it. If it was about the money, it would have already been done with teenagers instead of children. If you ever listen to Uncle Orson talk about that, you will know that the Ender's world is his baby and he is out to keep it safe and not let it become a fly by night wearout like Star Trek and Star Wars became.
Posts: 224 | Registered: Jan 2001
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quote:Originally posted by OSTY: Well for one I don't think OSC will let it become about the money and he will still retain the rights to it. If it was about the money, it would have already been done with teenagers instead of children. If you ever listen to Uncle Orson talk about that, you will know that the Ender's world is his baby and he is out to keep it safe and not let it become a fly by night wearout like Star Trek and Star Wars became.
Exactly why I'm not worried about the movie being bad at all.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
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B34N - Your first statement's spot on to how I feel. I hadn't even gone down the toy/sequel/cartoon road in my mind! *shudder to think* It's more like I have this vision of some 13 year old girl who hasn't even seen the movie walking out of Hot Topic in her battle suit (complete with lazer), messenger bag with some intricate (and no doubt cool) 'EG' logo on the front slung left to right over her shoulders...
I absolutely am not implying that I think OSC's in it for the dollars. If it seems that way, my apologies. I'm also not trying to say that I think whatever movie might come out would be crummy... Just throwing out my point of view - that I like what it is now and wonder what would happen if the movie came out while commenting on the way I hope it wouldn't go.
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No I honestly brought the money thing into it, but that's how the movie busines is ro any business for that matter. But it is hard to keep the story and art true and still make money, so there are always compromises that need to be made. OSC seems the liek the type of person to keep it "real" when it comes to his art, which is why the movie wasn't made way back when. And lastly on the previous post I put that BSG had gone that way and it really hasn't so I kind of misspoke, I can't dis my favorite series.
Can you imaging though a new form of slang hitting the street that is some sort of derivative based ont he battleschool language used by Card in his books. Now that I would honestly pay to see. Bugger Lover and Ho being added to the dictionary??? LOL. Or even better some mixture of BSG and EG. Frack and so on??? LOL
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Well I wouldn't really care if the movie was hugely successful beause it deserves to be and i could careless about the teenyboppers running around with shirts like "Ender will save us" logo's on. I'll be content enough simply knowing that the movie was a good adaption of the book. Also, to the comment made about adding Bugger Lover to the dictionary, that would not happen. As someone stated previously, bugger in some cultures is known to be a lot different than an insectoid, which is that it refers to an act of homosexuality and though i don't disapprove of that, i can assure you some people may be offended.... nice to see more ppl are beginning to converse within this forum
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posted
I think Atropos Mar meant this thread? If you check a few posts back I was thanked for conversing on the topic, so I just figured that's what they meant... Like I said, though, I THINK.
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quote:Originally posted by Atropos Mar: Well I wouldn't really care if the movie was hugely successful beause it deserves to be and i could careless about the teenyboppers running around with shirts like "Ender will save us" logo's on. I'll be content enough simply knowing that the movie was a good adaption of the book. Also, to the comment made about adding Bugger Lover to the dictionary, that would not happen. As someone stated previously, bugger in some cultures is known to be a lot different than an insectoid, which is that it refers to an act of homosexuality and though i don't disapprove of that, i can assure you some people may be offended.... nice to see more ppl are beginning to converse within this forum
I just used those as an example off the top of my head, I don't htink anything from the movie will get added to the dictionary, it was more of a worst case funny senario. Hopefully, I did not offend, definitely was not my purpose.
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Is there a dictionary out there of the slang from EG? Even just one on the web someone compiled themselves? I wonder how many of the slang words readers become familiar with while reading and don't even notice it's slang from the book...
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That's an interesting question, I might have to spend some research time on that one, there's got to be a couple of sites that do it?
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Granted I wasn't going all out... but the only things I could find were entries into dictionaries of the 'common' slang words and also things like 'Path'...
Posts: 1355 | Registered: Jul 2006
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No sites, I figured there might be one, but then again when I found hatrack.com it was only one of a couple relevent sites about "Ender's Game". We should start a list here and compile them together? LOL.
Posts: 871 | Registered: Jul 2006
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B34N i wasn't offended i was simply stating a fact. It's strange how comments can be construed into different feelings when not being specific enough. Anyways i don't really think you would need a dictionary for the slang terms because are't they all moderatly self-explaintory. I can understand one for A Clockwork Orange. I had to re-read pages sometimes near the beginning to figure out the meaning through the context given which was quite difficult at times. But, then again i haven;t read the book in awhile
Posts: 13 | Registered: Jul 2006
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I think for the most part you are right about the dictionary thing, there are only a few that I can remember as being a little off target on meaning. As for the appology that I gave it was just in case anyone took offense to what I said, but I am definitely glad that I did not offend you.
*** Sorry off topic - Anyone seen the trailer for the new Transformers movie ***
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Quite random, but ya i saw the trailer. It left me feeling intrigued and a little bewildered. I mean i remember seeing the series, but how faithful is this movie going to be to the show becasue that seemed very different as to how they became, but maybe it's just my selective memory thats got me confused. Anyways, off topic and on topic relevant to this forum, isn't it strange that the thread starter, running bear, hasn;t said anything after starting this thread. oh well i'm just trying to think of things to say....hmmmmm... if anyone has read the script do tell what you thought of it.
Posts: 13 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Yeah, sorry about that I just watched the trailer before I posted so I was on a high about it. The mars rover thing honestly has nothing to do with the film from what I have found out. It is just Micheal Bay putting a little flair in the trailer to gather interest for the movie.
SPOILERS MAYBE
** Back on topic, are we talking about the old script or the new script, OSC said that the old script is nothing at all like the new one in another thread so there really isn't much to talk about it other than the apparent differences. It sounded like the new script is more ike the book with a couple of differences in age, i think. This is all spec??? **
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My original post on this thread was something like... Don't write the script. Now I'm all giddy. Well - maybe not giddy, but I want to see the movie a lot more now...
*edit - okay, not original, i just went back... but it's up there. : ) *
Posts: 1355 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Oh, I didn't ook back up to see what you wrote previously. Cool glad there are people converting interest in people. I think it'll be a really good movie, if not great. OSC says he has been really active int he process so that means it will be true to his story and he or someelse says that enderverse is somehting he is very passionate about and won't let anyone mess it up for a buck or two. I really excited about the movie, the new book "Empire" in Nov and the new books about the enderverse comming out eventually.
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