A Comparison of Two Film Openings to Great Expectations

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A Comparison of Two Film Openings to Great Expectations

The story "Great Expectations" is based in Victorian times and was

written by Charles Dickens in the 1860s. This novel which Charles

Dickens wrote has been produced as a film one version by David Lean

and another by B.B.C. The B.B.C version is the modern version and the

version produced by David Lean is the traditional version. I will be

comparing these two versions of the openings to "Great Expectations".

These two openings use varying techniques to very different effects.

Both films set out to introduce isolation and vulnerability.

In the David Lean version, straight away we, the audience have the

impressions that the film is old fashioned and will use much more

traditional techniques to create images of isolation and fear in the

audiences mind. We expect the film to be black and white, to have no

special effects, to have a slow pace which would make the scene longer

than the B.B.C version, a lot of old fashioned classical music used as

background sound, the use of Standard English and more archaic

language and we expected the characters to act just like they do in

the book. We also expected the storyline to be exactly the same as the

book so it looks faithful and true.

David Leans version was made in 1946 so it is shot in black and white.

The BBC Version was made in 1997 and was in colour. Lean's version is

very similar to the novel more than the B.B.C version. Lean's was the

most effective at using most of the dialogue than the B.B.C version.

The B.B.C version used a small amount of the dialogue.

At the beginning of Lean's film there is the use of an opening

establi...

... middle of paper ...

... constant and it is first slow and up beat then its jolly music. The

music and sound effects from both films create an eerier kind of mood

and atmosphere but Lean's is more successful.

In my opinion, as a whole, David Lean's version is more effective with

the audience subjected to terror and fear. Even though the BBC version

is more up to date and in colour, I do like the black and white

version better as it is much darker, and the convict seems to appear

out of nowhere just like the original text, whereas in the BBC

version, we gradually see the convict, so we are not as surprised. The

scenery is more effective too because the setting is actually in a

graveyard and Pip is caught by the convict in the graveyard. This

happened in the novel but in the BBC version, this did not happen as

much as in David Lean's version.

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