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Rereading the Reel: Echoes Studios’s short film adaptations of the classics of literature

There have been books I’ve loved made into films that I didn’t. Either because the characters were not how I imagined them during the reading experience, their trampled arcs no longer reaching the depths they filled on the page, or because the story itself felt weak, watered down, or was, sometimes, nothing like the original. Now if books are precious to us, imagine how the authors feel to see their stories tampered with. We’ve all heard how much Stephen King hated Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining. Hated it because the film deterred so far and so often from his novel. Hated in so much that he went on to script his own miniseries version of the novel in 1997. The film, many would argue today, is a masterpiece. The book, some believe, is not one of King’s best.

There are authors who feel the need to have more control over the cinematic interpretations of their work. In 1960 Vladimir Nabokov wrote the screenplay for Lolita, also directed by Kubrick. There are no doubt differences to be found here too, but any viewer who knows Nabokov will see that these are the delicate touches of the author rather than the director. I suppose it was Lolita, then, who made me realize that adaptations of literary works are not meant to reflect the book exactly, in fact, it is almost impossible to do so. Films cannot do what books do. Adaptations are, rather, an interpretation of the book. A way to bring the story to an audience in a visual way, using the features of the medium to do so, often in new and interesting ways. Through lighting, camera angles, soundtracks, and, of course, the actors and actresses themselves. And varying each of these, the same narrative can reel before us in multiple ways. Films, therefore, can do what books cannot. There will, of course, be differences. Scenes and characters may fall away. Beginnings and endings, too, may differ. Even the time period and setting may be altered to suit the culture of the audience. However, what should not change, in my opinion, is the core of the story itself. And for me, what lies at the core is the theme: the message that remains on the last page, the idea that stays with us when the screen fades to black.

When I came across Echoes Studios, a group of young actors, directors, writers, story makers, I was intrigued by their projects: bringing together classic works of literature to an audience through the short film medium. I spoke with Pietro Michelini, one of the young talents behind Echoes, to learn more.

INTERVIEW WITH ECHOES STUDIOS

What were the origins of Echoes Studios? Who are you?

For a long time, Echoes was a feeling with no name, the need to reunite people who wanted to make something extraordinary with their lives. It started as a way to get a breath of fresh air during lockdown. At the time, it felt like a possibility to create something while many young people like us (aged 16 – 23) were forced to suffocate their creativity in isolation. Firstly, I made some phone calls to people I admired but didn’t know well, asking them to join me for an adventure (just like Gandalf in “The Hobbit”, or Danny Ocean in “Ocean’s eleven”). The fundamental idea was to bring literature alive again, the “ciccia” should have come with everyone’s needs and everyone’s ideas. Now those people that were strangers are the three co-founders (plus me) of Echoes: a working team that amounts to more than 30 people capable in every artistic sector, excluding ice sculpting, (we didn’t expect that even if it’s very interesting). We are students, freelancers in the film industry, university graduates and people that just want to help. If Echoes were a family, we would be the McCallisters for sure, luckily just because of the numbers!

Can you speak about your collaboration with Exformat Movie S.r.l?

Exformat Movie S.r.l. is a film production company based in Serravalle All’Adige. Corrado Measso and Sara Parisi, the company owners, were the first to believe in our cause, which is to create a new format by mixing literature and cinema. Exformat gave us access to their studios and equipment, shared their knowledge and experience, but most importantly, treated us as professionals from the very beginning, telling us when we were doing great and when we were making mistakes, which is good to build some confidence and become more and more enterprising. We are now working together to build a 3D location in CGI, inside their studio. We are going to use new technology that lets the actors move on a green screen while showing the scene on a monitor with the virtual background applied. It will be fun, especially when it comes to creating fake wind with gigantic electric fans!

What attracts you to shorts as a form?

It doesn’t matter how many pages a book has. The author will leave just some information about the things we imagine while reading, he/she can’t describe everything in detail and still maintain a fluent rhythm. Well, books and short films are very similar: often when we watch a short film we know almost nothing about the characters, but sometimes, we don’t feel the need to know more than what is already shown by the scenes. A good story for a short film that comes to mind is the story of a wounded soldier on the ground. He holds his shotgun, aiming at something far away while bombs are hitting the ground next to him, killing other soldiers. Suddenly he has to reload, as he tries to put the ammunition in the gun, he makes a bad move with his hand and the ammo falls. He touches the ground looking for the ammo, but instead he touches a flower. He is amazed by the flower, picks it up, drops the weapon, lies down, and holds the flower on his chest, closes his eyes and waits for the bombs to hit him. As an audience, we would not feel the need to know what the soldier was fighting for, or what his family looks like. This short has a protagonist and we know nothing about him, but still, we can share emotions with him. That’s key: less, is really more sometimes.

Your target audience seems to be younger generations. Is this because you feel that young people do not read enough or, in some way, are out of touch with the classics of literature?

As life is becoming more and more frenetic, activities like reading are becoming less significant in a teen’s life. We are not directly working to change that. Our aim is to show people that reading in groups could create good energy, that a book is not meant to be read always alone at home, that it could be a portal to other dimensions for a journey with whomever is listening. Streaming services and cinemas, work so well because they are made so people can share moments. Reading alone is more like having a wonderful dream. It’s more complicated to transmit how intense a dream was to someone than to watch a TV show with them. That’s why we think reading is rapidly disappearing, because it’s less shareable than TV. That’s not the case with the formula we’ve found, which is to read out aloud! It’s all about turning reading into an activity for extroverts and not just for nerds!

Ken Kesey, Ernest Hemingway, Ruiz Zafón, the authors for the works you have adapted so far have all been foreign. Given that you wish ㅡto convey a social message to your audience, is there an Italian author of the past whose work you feel needs to be heard by young Italians today? Why?

Well, that’s an amazing question. I would probably answer with Il Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, because it teaches us not to stop during a pandemic, but rather to use creativity to make something new! Or, more simply: to read some stories!

One of the aims of Echoes Studios is to promote literature through social media forms, such as YouTube and Instagram. Do you feel that the viewers who engage with and follow your work through these mediums will, as a result, find their way to the books themselves?

We try to make content which is based on the original novel without many spoilers, so that those who have already read the book can enjoy our videos, and those who haven’t can grow some curiosity for the original work. If they don’t, at least, they get to know a small portion of the novel through our video, and that’s better than nothing.

At the moment you are working on a short film based on Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s novel La sombra del viento. Can you speak a little about your process? How do you go about transmitting the essence of a great work of literature in such a brief amount of screen time? What is your biggest obstacle?

The first thing to do is to find the message that you think might be hidden in the book, then cut everything that doesn’t help you create an image, a monologue or a dialogue. After a first attempt, you try to connect those elements to make it look like a story, which is hard if you have to cut important passages of the original work. In cases of such complicated novels such as La sombra del viento, you might need some help to do so. When it comes to a final script, it’s important to write something that could be easily re-adapted in a less expensive short film.

Which directors have the biggest influence on you as film-makers?

If I have to pick one, I am a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s work Porco rosso. I also spend a lot of my free time watching Peter Jackson’s backstage videos on Youtube to learn how to direct so many people on set. Speaking for Martin Fedrizzi’s favorite director (Martin is the head of production in Echoes), it’s 99% for sure Quentin Tarantino. Alessia Frerotti’s favorite (head of graphics and creative director), might be Bernardo Bertolucci, as I’ve noticed she has many of his film posters and also mentioned him many times. Matteo Bruseghini, our director of photography, takes inspiration from Diego Romero, a famous dop that usually works with Roberto Minervini.

If you could make a wish for the future of Echoes Studios, what would it be?

A production studio the size of ten football fields, which encourages youngsters to make films, and promote art in all its forms.

Follow Echoes Studios on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/echoes.studios/

Ryan Licata
www.ryanlicata.com
Ig: https://www.instagram.com/littlekingscrolls/