The Transition Between Film and Theater: War Horse

2417 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The impact of technology on graphic art

In this essay I will explore the different effects film and theatre has on an audience and if the transition from theatre to film, which tends to be thought of as “deadening”, can be truly successful. To do this I will be using the production of War Horse as a vehicle, and I shall be investigating and exploring the different points of view of critiques and journalists and by using my own personal experience as well.

To begin with, to be able to compare whether a story can be successful in both mediums one must know the difference between them. Ultimately, both art forms are carried out to entertain an audience. Film, a fairly recent art form that started in the early 20th century, is an innovative and quiet young medium. However theatre is considered to be a fine art and it involves the live performance of characters. Theatre has existed for years and began during ancient religious ceremonies in Greece many centuries ago. Even though both mediums share some similar aspects, the performance of the actors, the directing, and the producing and setting of both mediums are completely different and I will be discussing those aspects in more detail.

Theatre can sometimes be thought to be out-dated and out-stripped by the technological capabilities of film, others believe that film is too often a sell-out and the use of special effects have become so frequent and easy to create, that film is more of a commercial medium rather than an art form.

Michael Billington, a famous film and theatre critic, claimed that “theatre allowes its audiences to enjoy the pleasures of language, which is an endless verbal pleasure” whereas he described the lanuage of film as “banal”and unoriginal. He also believes that theatre is more responsive to the ti...

... middle of paper ...

... big due to the extensive budget he had for the making of the movie, but was in innovative? Or was it just your mainstream Hollywood war scene? I surely wasn’t surprised when I watched it. I found it boring and I felt like I dragged on.
Since its first performance at the National Theatre in 2007, “War Horse” has beck me an international phenomenon, seen by over 4 million people worldwide and receiving numerous awards, including two Olivier Awards in London, five Tony Awards in New York and three Dora Awards in Toronto. “War Horse” is currently in its sixth year in London and is on a major tour of North America, which continues through 2014. The show is also on a UK/Ireland tour and a German language production is playing in Berlin. But does anyone still talk about the movie? Meanwhile, the theatre performance is still going on, becoming more successful by the day.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Straight White Men

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    The duration and cost of the production have been compared to other media which provide entertainment, such as television and film. A theatre performance is more expensive to attend than cinema. The play only lasted for 85 minutes, a film can go on for two hours or even more. This can have a big influence on why people would choose one medium over the other. Accessibility has also to be taken into account when investigating the relevance of theatre in the 21st century. Television is a medium which can be accessed from home, and usually doesn’t cost a lot of money, whereas theatre costs money and is harder to access. Although the production was Australian, the actors talked with an American accent. Bearing in mind that the play was written in America, which could make it harder for an Australian audience to familiarise with the dilemmas going on, on stage, while the themes discussed seem to be more relevant there than in Australia. Overall this play doesn’t contribute to the relevance of Australian theatre in the 21st century, due to the many other sources people can access for entertainment, and because the play seems to be more relevant for an American audience rather than an

    Read More

  • Brecht

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    “ ‘Theatre’ consists in this; in making live representations of reported or invented happenings between human beings and doing so with a view to entertainment.

    Read More

  • Classical and Post-Classical Hollywood Cinema

    2472 Words  | 5 Pages

    During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.

    Read More

  • Hollywood Propaganda: The Glorification of War by the Film Industry

    2268 Words  | 5 Pages

    War has been present since the beginning of human history. Likewise, war movies have been present since the movie industry began. Just like most other genres of film, war films have been created as a form of entertainment to profit a person or organization. More people are willing to spend their money and time on a feeling of action, excitement, heroism, and patriotism than gruesome and horrid images of real and common human destruction. Propaganda has been used by governments for a very long time and when motion pictures came into existence, governments almost immediately saw the new medium as an opportunity to influence the public. Governments such as the United States of America, cooperate with the movie industry to use this influence to promote a positive perception about war in order to gain support for wars. The movie industry portrays war in an exciting, glorified, romanticized, and heroic light and often demonizes the enemies; this causes an unrealistic public perception of war which leads to greater positive public opinion and support of real wars.

    Read More

  • Black Swan Analysis

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... In final analysis, the motion picture is the one that goes deeper inside the spectator’s mind. Other mediums such as still picture and theatrical play also provide the visual and aural elements for the spectator, yet they seem to be inferior to the motion picture in that they lack the reality, affinity, and creativity in terms of use of time and space. The levels of emotions such as attention, memory, imagination, emotion, and unity, which were introduced by Munsterberg, indicates how the spectator perceives the elements of the film and ends up with it.

    Read More

  • Comparing Shakespeare's and Zeffirelli's Hamlet

    1657 Words  | 4 Pages

    Theatre is restricted to geographical span, whereas motion the opposite is true. In film the director has freedom to shoot each scene at different locations and at different times, later putting them together for the final product. The result for the movie is that the audience is easily able to recognize the time of day and place. Stage performances are less clear, and unless one is familiar with the play they must often simply wait for actors to deduce where and when the scene is t...

    Read More

  • Do the Right Thing Scene Analysis

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print

    Read More

  • The Big Sleep: Movie vs. Novel

    1588 Words  | 4 Pages

    Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.

    Read More

  • How Cinema and Theater Convey Pleasure in the Acts of Search and Lust

    1863 Words  | 4 Pages

    While Shakespeare doesn’t have the cinematic luxuries of lighting and shadow at his disposal, he proves that Mulvey’s argument that desire is expressed in voyeuristic and scopophiliac fashion, but also that these innate desires of an audience transcend mediums and can in fact be fulfilled and appreciated in written form as much as within the intricacies of modern film.

    Read More

  • Live Theatre Characteristics

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    are heavily influenced by theatre and Broadway therefore, people are more aware of live theatre and often attend plays. Cities such as Modesto, Turlock, Stockton, etc. have little knowledge and are less aware of live theatre. As a result, people in such cities prefer entertainment in movie theatres. The entertainment levels differ between live theatre and movies depending on how that particular entertainment is presented and how the audience recognizes it. The main goal of live theatre is to entertain the audience either through comedy, tragedy, romance, and action through the use of costumes, effects, props, and lighting to achieve the highest possible entertainment level for the people in order for them to come watch more theatre and drama. On the other hand, some people prefer movies to be more entertaining due to enhanced sound and edited picture. Movies are mainly offered everywhere meanwhile, live theatre is harder to find especially local. I would advise people to try out and attend live theatre plays and give it a try. It is a great experience for family and friends. I am glad that I took this course and had the chance to explore theatre and drama. I will definitely attend live theatre plays in the future. It is a different form of entertainment compared to movies. Theatre is composed of many emotions and will leave the audience feeling some type of way. In my opinion, theatre is a form of exceptional art. I had different empowering emotions and experience with these three events. Theatre is truly a memorable art of

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Film Lone Survivor

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    Due to the film’s quality and interest it became an award winning film. The film had excellent sound effects such as the battle scenes. The image quality was also outstanding; it used many different angles to depict the actor to make you feel involved in the scenes. In the action scenes the most common viewpoint used was a close up shot which allows the audience to see and feel the intensity of the scene. The second viewpoint mostly used was a tracking shot due to the actors c...

    Read More

  • Avant Garde Theatre Essay

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Theatre as we know it now was born more than two thousand years ago and has gone through many streams until it reached the current modernity. Among these streams is the avant-garde theatre. This theatre achieved a break in the traditional theatre and became the forefront of a new experimental theatre. Therefore it is necessary to ask how this theatre started, what impact it had on society and if this type of theatre is still common in our modern era.

    Read More

  • Theatre In Changing Society

    373 Words  | 1 Pages

    Theatre will always survive in our changing society. It provides us with a mirror of the society within which we live, and where conflicts we experience are acted out on stage before us. It provides us with characters with which we identify with. The audience observes the emotions and actions as they happen and share the experience with the characters in real time.

    Read More

  • Performing Arts Essay

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    Movies are made with a broader audience in mind, and are used as a means of “escaping” and unwinding. They are made with a combination of a script and the world as their stage essentially. There are multitudes of different genres of movies, from romance, horror, action, suspense, the list goes on and on. Movies take place all over the world, in a myriad of different environnements. Movies seem to captivate emotion differently than plays, and I believe that is due to the polished look of a movie.The scenes and camera angles and timings are all rehearsed and edited to perfection. A play is a live performance, to a select audience, shown with more intimate intention. It’s typically showing for a select few nights, at one theatre. Compared to plays, the ultimate attraction to movies comes from the fantasy and relaxed elements a theater provides. You get to immerse yourself in characters that aren’t real, relate to situations that aren’t happening, and let your mind wonder. The movies are showing every day, at all times of the day, all around town. Movies have become “classics” and “Masterpieces” like old musicians and art pieces. Due to the era of technology movies are regarded more than just a longer TV show. People relate to them personally and hold great movies as works of

    Read More

  • Importance Of Theatre

    1376 Words  | 3 Pages

    Theatre is a more language driven medium, while movies and television are driven by what you see. Theatre relies solely on excellent script, and acting. Theatre has a live element, a more heightened sense of realism. Some argue that we are losing the very essence of theatre, its live-ness, because of recorded media seeping into plays and performances (Trueman). With technology things can more easily go wrong. Lyn Gardner says that if the show relies too heavily on technology, it can cause performances to be canceled completely due to technical glitches that instead of adding to performances, the technology has become the show. The spectacle has began to make actors obsolete, leaving the audience to feel alienated and passive to the performance rather than part of it as they should feel

    Read More

More about The Transition Between Film and Theater: War Horse

Open Document