Search results
It may well be the original books-come-to-life cartoon. We start again at midnight, and the book covers do their thing. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Fu Manchu, The Phantom of the Opera, and Frankenstein make an appearance, along with other famous literary characters.
- Writing My Picture Book
- If You’Re Adapting…
- Children’s Picture Books Are Very Specific
- Things I Talked Over with My Script Editor
- The Writing Process
- Big Changes
- Different Points of View
- Little Changes
- We Did It!
- Quick Summary If You’Re Embarking on A Picture Book Adaptation
After multiple failed attempts, I finally managed to write a story that we were all happy with. I called it ‘Hopscotch and the Christmas Tree’. With great joy, we found a publisher, Tiny Tree, who loved it as much as we did and thankfully, they were both eager and willing to publish it in time for Christmas that same year. Our talented illustrator ...
A novel into a film, the chances are you’re going to have to cut out a lot of detail. If you’re turning it into a TV series, however, you’ll need to add more detail. A play for the screen, you’ll probably have to make it more visual, add more action, increase the number of locations, and reduce the amount of dialogue. A short story, an article or a...
Firstly, they’re extremely short – usually in the region of 500-700 words long. The characters don’t usually have a backstory, and the reader has to infer their motivation (in other words, make it up for themselves). There may not be very much if any, character conflict. The stories are often magical, but not necessarily logical. And there might be...
How can we make the world bigger?What are the big set pieces?Is there a clear, overall goal?Are the characters properly motivated?Is there enough conflict between the characters?The theme of my ‘Hopscotch’ series was the ‘Science of Happiness’. So, we asked, was the ‘happiness lesson’ neatly woven into the storyline – not in a preachy way, but in an organic way?First, I simply lifted the words from my picture book and used them as the initial structure of my film. I broke it down into individual scenes then added detail. Next, I invented a wonderfully filmic opening – as I wanted it to feel visual – grand – special. I worked on the overall goal and created plenty of drama along the way. Time for feedback....
I loved my beautifully crafted, fun, Christmassy opening sequence. But others worried that we needed to quickly introduce each of the 6 ensemble cast members. This made total sense – it was a big cast, and it could be confusing, but I was sad nonetheless and dragged my heels. I also begrudged being given an alternative suggestion. I was the writer ...
Another big change was the appearance of Santa. Or at least it felt big at the time. Santa doesn’t appear in the book; however, script editor Mark had the fun idea of introducing a special visit from Santa at the end of the film. It was a lovely idea and fitted the film perfectly. For some extra magic, I wanted Santa to arrive on his sleigh, flying...
There were many small changes and tweaks to be made. A lot of these related to getting the script into the right shape for several different voice recordings. One peculiarity of animation is the necessity of writing every little grunt, groan, chuckle and reaction into the script. Because all these things need to be recorded by the actors and if the...
So, after 14 rewrites, several months of production, which took place in multiple countries across Europe, we finally had a finished film. Seeing my picture book come to life and brought to screen, thanks to the help of dozens of people, was utterly thrilling. And I can’t tell you how proud I was of the end result. The script was enormously fun to ...
If you’re adapting your own work, make sure you get input from someone less close to the source material.Think hard about the medium you’re going from and the medium you’re going to. Do you need to expand or condense your story?Are your characters fully rounded and properly motivated?Is there a clear goal?May 29, 2024 · She was created by Marjorie Henderson Buell in single-panel gag cartoons for the Saturday Evening Post, which eventually turned into a daily comic strip and a series of popular comic books....
Mar 23, 2005 · "Martha Sigall, the doyen of animation, introduces us, in a highly personal and spirited fashion, to the lives of the famous artists in the cartoon world. Most of us have worked with these geniuses but only in their mature years.
- (22)
- Martha Sigall
Mar 21, 2005 · Living Life inside the Lines is not only destined to become a mandatory, one-of-a-kind source for animation writers, scholars and fans, it is also the best book yet written about Hollywood's Golden Age of Cartoons.
- (22)
- 2005
- Martha Sigall, Jerry Beck
- Martha Sigall
Sep 25, 2008 · Some really great animated movies – and some incredibly lousy ones – have been made from children’s picture books. Surprisingly, many of the best adaptations, the ones that are most true to ...
Jun 20, 2023 · The Little Mermaid, The Great Mouse Detective, The Princess and the Frog — they were all based on books. We ranked which ones most respect the source stories.
