Book Post 4 - Adapting your book

Presently, I am reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. Adapting the book into a movie won’t be too challenging for the story line of The Lucky One because it is like most love stories. The movie needs to make sure that they have some important characters in the book such as Logan Thibault, Victor (Logan’s best friend from the military), Zeus (Logan’s dog), Beth, Nana (Beth’s grandma), Clayton (Beth’s ex-husband), and Ben (Beth’s son). Some of the challenges the filmmakers will have is making sure that the movie has the correct settings for important scenes that shouldn’t be cut or the story line will be wrong. The movie needs to make sure the first setting looks like Logan Thibault is Iraq and is fighting in the war. One major scene the producers will have to make sure the movie has in it is when Logan Thibault (the main character) is in Iraq fighting the war and finds a picture of a woman, the then carries this picture around with him and it eventually becomes his good luck charm. The next scene the movie needs to include is that of a small, southern town and that has a similar look to the Hamptons. It is important that the filmmakers make sure that Nana’s house/dog kennel is on an open land surrounded by trees. It truly needs to feel like they are in the country and this location is in the south.  The movie needs to show Logan Thibault with his dog, Zeus hitchhiking. When Logan first reaches the Hamptons, he encounters a police officer, Clayton who is Beth’s ex-husband.  The movie needs to demonstrate the initial encounter, and the development of an increasingly difficult relationship which becomes more complicated throughout the rest of the movie. The final scene that is critical to have in the movie is when Logan Thibault goes looking for the women in the picture and ends up finding Beth (the woman in the picture). Logan works at Beth’s grandmother’s dog kennel. This will set up their relationship and he will have to earn Beth’s trust so they can fall in love.  An important aspect that the movie needs to depict is that Logan Thibualt is hiding the secret of why he actually came to find Beth. The secret is that Logan found Beth’s picture in Iraq and kept it for good luck. Along with falling in love, comes drama.  For one thing, the filmmakers need to make sure the movie is more interesting than the book.

There are two minor parts from the book that the movie could cut out. First, is when Logan and Victor are on a boat and they get into an accident which then kills Victor. I feel like this part is not very important and it wouldn’t make a huge difference if they did cut this part out of the film. The second part the filmmakers could cut out is when Logan, Beth, and Ben all go to a pizza place to go out to dinner. This part just shows that Logan and Beth are dating and they just went out to eat with Ben.  Now, the townspeople can start talking about Beth dating a new man since her divorce. I feel like if they cut these two minor parts of the movie it wouldn’t make a big difference and then the movie could focus on more of the drama and love developing in Logan and Beth’s relationship.

Book 1 Project

Hunger Games is a sci-fi book which is about a futuristic nation which holds annual Hunger Games between twelve districts in which there is a fight to the death on live TV. Katniss and Peeta are originally from district 12 and when they get called to go to the games. They had to go to Capitol first. I think it would be really cool if there was a restaurant based off of the Capitol and the 12 districts. When you first walk in the restaurant, it would be like walking into the future. It would be so different compared to the usual restaurants most people eat at in the U.S. The waitress would be dressed in an extreme costume, as if they are from Capitol. For example, some of the waitresses can look like Effie Trinket or others can dress like Caesar. When people first walk in they are greeted with “Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!”(19)  Then, your waitress will give you a seat and you will be placed at a table were you find out what district you are assigned to.The restaurant will be split up into the twelve different districts. So, the tables you sit at is the district you are part of.  The table will have your district’s number on it. When you sit down to eat you will be able to order unique food that the main characters ate in the book. You could order one of Katniss’ meals from the book “A thick carrot soup, green salad, lamb chops and mashed potatoes, cheese and fruit, a chocolate cake.” (44)  Also, you would be able to order bread and sweets since Peeta came from district 12 and it had a bakery.  There will be many different food selections to eat. There will be crazy music playing and there will be TV screens all over with the in restaurant showing clips from the Hunger Games.  Also, on the TV screen you will see the game maker randomly talking to you.  The game maker might say something random like, “There’s been a rule change in the Games. A rule change… Under the new rule change, both tributes from the same district will be declared winners if they are the last two alive.” (244)  You will literally feel like you are at the Capitol and part of district where you are watching the Hunger Games. There will be one big gift shop where you can purchase all kinds of Hunger Games products. The districts will be decorated with the futuristic look of the Capitol within the store. You will be able to purchase certain products from each district. An example is if you are seated in district 12, then you can go into the gift shop and be able to buy unusual rocks and coal because that district is known for mining. Also, from district 12 you could get a mockingjay pen just like Katniss had in the book. Another example of items from the gift shop would be in district 11, where you could find fresh fruit and vegetables because district 11 is known for farming. Additionally, you will be able to purchase t-shirts from all of the 12 different districts to cheer for your favorite district. Also, t-shirts with some of your favorite characters from the book like Peeta, Katniss, Gale, Rue, Cato, and many more would be available.  In addition, the gift shop would sell any of the three books from the Hunger Games Series. I feel like this would be a good idea because this is something new and different. A lot of people who don’t read could still enjoy the story line of the Hunger Games series and once they come to this restaurant, they could get interested in reading the book series. It will bring a new experience to all of the current fans as well as create new future fans.