possible adaptation ideas: portal 2

Jarad Tansley LO1b – exploring possible ideas

Exploring possible adaptation ideas for an existing creative product Jarad Tansley Cambridge Technicals Media Unit 10: Media Adaptations – LO1B 1: Choose an existing media text that you can adapt into an audio-‐visual product. I have chosen to adapt Valve’s 2011 first-‐person puzzle/sci-‐fi video game Portal 2 into a feature film. 2: Explain why the medium you want to adapt the text into is a suitable medium The narrative follows one protagonist, who goes by the name of Chell, who finds herself in a science facility controlled by a single robot. Portal 2 is a sequel to the original game that had little of a story, so while the original game had little to no story, Portal 2 revolved the game around the story, making it more suitable as an adaptable media text. The narrative type of Portal 2 seems to be single-‐stranded and episodic. The game splits the narrative in chapters, making it an episodic narrative. The story only follows the point of view of Chell, making it a single-‐stranded story. I think the narrative could be multi-‐stranded, following the other characters. The character roster in Portal 2’s story is very small, consisting of three characters: Chell and the two robots, Wheatley and GLaDOS (Whom control the facility Chell is trapped in). The voices of all the robots, as well as the voice of the CEO of Aperture Science, are provided by voice actors, some who have well known roles in television and film. It could be possible to use these voice actors in the feature film. The protagonist and main character of the game, Chell, is the only main actor who will be acting on set. I don’t think that Chell’s actor should be a big-‐name actor, as the movie is not aiming to get sales from its casting, rather it is getting it from the fact it’s an adaptation of an existing media. The locations may place a cost in the time and budget, but they are not impossible to do. While a facility like the fictional Aperture Science may not be able to be recreated in the real world, it can be recreated for a feature film with visual effects. The location itself would be under the same copyright as the game, reducing the time costs for licensing the fictional location, as Valve owns both the copyrights to the game itself and the trademarks for the fictional elements of the game, including the location, however the costs for recreating the location will be placed on our time and budget.


3: Explain the technological issues that might arise in the adaptation As stated in the above, there are technological issues when adapting the game into a movie. The fact that a place like the science facility in the movie does not exist mean that it has to be built as movie sets then expanded using special effects, which can be both costly in time and money. Making a science fiction and video game-‐based movie with a low budget will make the movie a total disaster, which will make people’s already negative perceptions of films based on video games even worse. As this film requires the budget of a feature film, it needs to appeal to a US audience to gain attention from US/Hollywood studios who dominate the film industries in many countries. The budget should mainly cover the costs of special effects, sets and lighting, as well as the cost of casting. As there was little to no violence in the original game, it was rated 12 by the Pan-‐European Game Information (PEGI) classification. that rates all video games being released in Europe. However, should this movie have certain amounts of detailed violence (e.g. blood after being hit by turrets), it may be rated higher by the film classification boards such as the British Board of Film Classifications (BBFC) or the MPAA in the US. The film may be pushed towards a rating of 15 by the BBFC, as it will not prevent most of the audience from watching. In the game, Chell does not speak any words, at any point. This will become an issue as if it is decided she will speak, it may not be well received by fans of the game, who know of her lack of speech and may not tolerate her having a voice. 4. Explain the new opportunities available to you to make this adaptation a valuable new version of the original There are opportunities available to us when adapting Portal 2 into a movie. The first opportunity is the popularity of the video game and its genre in film. The video game itself is popular worldwide, and science fiction movies are popular in cinemas worldwide, so large studios may consider adapting this game into a movie. As there is no interactivity at all in a movie, we’ll have to show the storylines of the other two characters in the movie in order to immerse the viewer even more. This gives us the opportunity for writing, to make it more than just an adaptation of a video game. For instance, we could bring in the point of view of GLaDOS or Wheatley when they pose an important part in the storyline. For instance, Wheatley replaces GLaDOS with himself and turns evil. This allows us to bring in the A movie does not require any “system requirements” as all of the 3D elements are already rendered with the movie in a digital file, rather than rendered live via complex code like the video game does. This allows us to use more effects and computer-‐generated imagery in the movie, even some that would not have been


possible in the video game’s engine, therefore allowing us to push visual boundaries in the film. One well-‐known ethical issue of this movie is with how movies based on video games are well known to be negatively reviewed. There is a common conception that movie adaptations of video games are not produced very well, leading them and other video game-‐based movies to have negative reception, however this movie presents itself very cinematically, making it possible that this adaptation may prove itself to go against said conception. 5. If you are choosing to adapt a product that has been adapted before, you must explain what your ideas will bring that are new and different from the earlier adaptation(s). While the original Portal has been adapted by its fans into short films, there haven’t been any feature films, and especially none for Portal 2. 6. Identify the core audience and one secondary audience for your proposed adaptation, paying attention to...

• Age • Gender • Interests • Spending Power • Lifestyle

The core audience for the movie would be fans of Portal 2 and/or the game before it. They are commonly male and unemployed or in the working class (E and D in socio-‐economic grouping). Because of this, they may be between the ages of 15-‐25. They would be interested in anything based on Portal however they may turn against the movie due to the common conception about video game-‐based movies. They live a commonly relaxing lifestyle, although some older fans may be in university, leading a lifestyle of studying. The secondary audience of the movie would be fans of science fiction. Like fans of Portal, they would be un-‐employed or working class, however some of them may be in the skilled working class or lower middle class, which is C2 & C1 in the socio-‐economic groups. Also like fans of Portal, science fiction fans are commonly males, however the female protagonist may appeal to females as well, due to the strong nature of her character. Like Portal fans too, they may be 15-‐25 years old, however there are fans that are older too. This fits the socio-‐economic groupings of the fans. They would show interest in science fiction movies, which allows the movie to cater to them. They may have a relaxing lifestyle, not being too busy. Some science fiction fans may collect merchandise of the media, which is common for fan-‐bases/fandoms.

possible adaptation ideas: portal 2

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