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MaKayla Grant

ENG-11011

Reflection of Supertoys Last All Summer Long

Prof. Stephens

October 30, 2018

Supertoys Last All Summer Long Reflection

The short story my group selected to adapt into a screenplay is Supertoys Last All

Summer Long by Brian Aldiss. The group consisted of Paige, Summer, Colt, and I. We chose to

translate this story because it was intriguing and had a decent length to it. The group made the

choice to keep the translation literal for the reason that the story itself was already so interesting

that we did not need to change a whole heap of it. Cahir (2006) said, “The screenwriter must

make decisions regarding what should be included and omitted from the source literature.” While

writing this screenplay my group and I came to a verdict that it would be easier to write by each

character. As of this result, it made the story flow from each character rather than seeing

different types of writing styles within each scene.

The character I was responsible for writing for was Monica, the mother of David and

wife of Howard. While Paige wrote for Howard, Summer wrote for David, and Colt wrote

dialogue for Teddy. My role during this project was to write my character’s dialogue. While also

writing this dialogue, I assisted with writing the general screen directions and the camera angles.

I feel that because we split up the work, it made the project easier. I say this because we each

only had to worry about our character rather than multiple scenes.
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During this project we had various achievements, but also some obstructions. Our

achievement as a group was finishing the screenplay. This took a little bit of time since we each

needed to have our parts written to create the final piece. The setbacks we faced were some of

our group members missing class and some not having their work done by a certain date we set.

And because of this, we had to create a ‘plan b’ just in case they did not return or finish it.

Throughout this project, I understood the process of translation deeper and every detail

that goes into it. Before I did not completely comprehend what each translation meant and how it

was translated. I also learned that it takes a great deal of thought and work to adapt a film from a

short story from a screen writers’ point of view. I now have a greater appreciation for translated

films and the director/screenwriter who writes them.

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Reference

Cahir, L. C., & Welsh, J. M. (2006). Literature Into Film: Theory and Practical Approaches.

Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.