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    "A Study Guide for ""1984"" (lit-to-film)"
    "A Study Guide for ""1984"" (lit-to-film)"
    "A Study Guide for ""1984"" (lit-to-film)"
    Ebook45 pages36 minutes

    "A Study Guide for ""1984"" (lit-to-film)"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    "A Study Guide for ""1984"" (lit-to-film), excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateDec 13, 2018
    ISBN9780028665931
    "A Study Guide for ""1984"" (lit-to-film)"

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      "A Study Guide for ""1984"" (lit-to-film)" - Gale

      18

      A Study Guide for 1984 (lit-to-film)

      1984

      Introduction

      The science-fiction film 1984 is an adaptation, directed by Michael Radford, of George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-four. The movie was filmed in London and on other locations mentioned in the book during the spring and summer of 1984, the time of the novel's setting; it was released at the end of that year. The film was well received critically but was not particularly exceptional at the box office. Nineteen Eighty-four is the most profound exploration of totalitarianism ever written, all the more so because it exposes the seeds of totalitarianism as they exist in Western democracies, not only the fully realized systems in Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia. It follows the destruction of an individual at the hands of the state. The novel was written in 1948 and published in 1949, and though it is set in 1984, it is composed of fragments of the culture of the time of writing. It was well received as an anti-communist work. Radford's film does a masterly job of recreating the imagined world of that past era in its visual style. At the same time, Radford refers to the culture of the real world of 1984, subtly referencing contemporary motifs like rock concerts and music videos.

      Plot Summary

      Orwell's book is titled Nineteen Eighty-four. The same title is displayed in the film itself, but reference materials generally refer to the film as 1984.

      The two different forms are used here to distinguish the novel from the film.

      FILM TECHNIQUE

      Radford conceived of 1984 as a science-fiction film set in 1948 and so wanted to film in black and white as most films of that era were. This was ruled out by the production company, Virgin Films, as being counter to commercial appeal. Instead, Roger Deakins, the cinematographer, subjected all of the original prints to a chemical process called bleach bypassing to desaturate the film's color pallet. This reduced pigment while leaving all of the silver in the film, which produced a rich and unique look for the film. This was the version originally shown in theaters, as Radford intended. However, for the film's initial, and by far the largest, DVD release in 2003 (formatted for North America), the film's color saturation was digitally reversed to normal levels. The intended washed-out color pallet was retained in the British 2004 DVD and in the 2013 release. A limited 2015 Blu-ray release also kept the desaturated pallet.

      Radford commissioned an orchestral score from the composer Dominic Muldowney. The score was an integral part of the project. It was meant to present music as it might have existed in Oceania. A large number of propaganda films produced in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia had scores that were derived from the dramatic music of the nineteenth century, which aimed to keep something of the emotional power of music but reduced it to mere manipulation, without any of the beauty or creativity that is characteristic of art. This is what the soundtrack for 1984 tried

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