Analyse and comment on the differences and similarities of the ways in which the two movie versions of "of mice and men" portray the events and characters.

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“Of Mice And Men”  Media Coursework

By Bernard Prelec

Analyse and comment on the differences and similarities of the ways in which the two movie versions of “of mice and men” portray the events and characters.

When we watch a film we are caught up in the story that it is telling and accept everything that happens on the screen as natural. In fact everything that we see has been carefully chosen and edited on the screen and within the actual storyline to have an effect on the watching audience. The camera is moved and people and objects are positioned in the frame; what people wear is carefully chosen and the settings are selected and prepared.

Because of our experiences of films seen at the cinema or on television we have some expectations about what happens in the film, we expect to know what happens next, we expect a climax and an ending. The filmmaker also shapes what we think is going to happen by the opening sequence. The filmmaker has a number of ways to help the film such as costumes lighting cameras and props the audiences position in the film will depend on the way the filmmaker tells us the story

In this assignment I am going to analyse and comment on the two movie versions of “Of mice and men”. In the old film the opening sequence is the same as the novel. But because the novel lacks action an extra scene is added to the old movie. This will engage the audience’s attention and they will understand what the director is trying to do.

Introducing the element of danger to Lennie, into the story right from the start results in a slow build up of tension all the way through the story because the viewer is always trying to anticipate when the trouble is going to happen. Also the confrontation between two of the main characters on the ranch is a clever idea because each time the two are mentioned together or in the same place tension will peak because a confrontation is even more likely at that point.

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I feel that the movie is at a much higher level in entertainment than the book it was derived from. In the movie you can actually see and hear things that you probably would not catch on to in the book. For example there are the facial expressions from the talented actors and actresses. The music soundtrack of “Of Mice and Men” is very well composed. At the very beginning of the movie, a spirited mood was set in the audience when we saw Lennie and George running away from these men who were chasing them.

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