午夜剧场

Imagine a scene from a movie like this. The setting is a skyscraper with a futuristic design. On its rooftop, a heroine cornered by her enemies closes her eyes as if all is lost, and surrenders her body from the edge into the void—.

To "cinematize" such a scene, movie-specific perspectives would be necessary, such as a long shot showing the cornered heroine from above, or a close-up of her feet staying balanced on the very edge of the building. So, if this were to be "novelized" again, what should the writer do?

The phenomenon of turning literary works into films has attracted much academic interest, and a vast number of research books have been published. However, research on the act of turning visual works into novels—that is, "novelization"—has been scarce both in Japan and abroad. In my previous book, "An Introduction to Adaptation for Movie Source Material Purists," I discussed the "cinematization" of American literature. Since then, I spent two years researching the "novelization" of mainly American films. What became clear was that when turning visual expressions like the one at the beginning into text, surprisingly many novelizations tend to avoid visual descriptions.

Rather than reproducing visual realism, they focus on what is happening as a matter of fact and what the heroine is thinking. After all, the writing of a novelization begins based on the first draft of the script, and aims for publication before the movie's release, regardless of the progress on the filming set. What is emphasized is how to construct a "narrative" that serves as promotion without destroying the image held by the production team; writers are not permitted the overstepping of authority involved in freely creating visuals they have not yet seen. While deeply involved in the development of commercial film, they have all continued to fight a lonely battle under unimaginable constraints, both in terms of time and finances.

From the time when movies were still called serials to the present day, where CG has become commonplace and visual expression is becoming limitless, the world of movie novelization has continued its quiet development alongside film history. I hope you will enjoy this old yet new aspect of print culture through this book.

Keita Hatooka

Takanashi Shobou

200 pages, 2,000 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.