Word Count Vs. Page Count

Finishing up my term, I have had to write several final papers and projects of course. For as long as I can remember, when I was assigned a paper it is usually accompanied with a good old page count. "Write me 4 pages!" "Write me 5 pages!" "Write me 8 pages on this subject!" But every once in a blue moon, a teacher gives an assignment and says something that always takes me off guard at first. "Write me 800 words." My reaction is usually unsure. Since it is so rare to be asked to do something by word count I do not have a very firm grasp on exactly how long that is or really how much effort I need to put into it. But I have recently realized that I far prefer to be asked to meet a word count than a page count.
When I am usually assigned these assignments it is often about something I am not very enthusiastic about. Being a graphic design major means I am not all that interested in writing about most academic things, but to each his own. But I have found that when I am writing about things that i do not care much about and am just trying to finish the assignment and my end goal is to fill the space on my screen with text then the way that I am thinking about the assignment is "I will be down if I just say a lot of things whether they are important or not".  But when I approach an assignment where my end goal is reach a certain amount of words then i had noticed the way  thought about the assignment was different.  Instead of trying to fill all this space with just stuff and whatever it was that came to mind, I was actually breaking down my ideas.  By doing this, when I am assigned a 1,200 word essay instead of thinking "I need to come up with 4 pages of content" I think "Ok, If I can come up with maybe 6 topics to touch on then I only need to talk about each one for about 200 words give or take". And 200 words is child's play! I often myself exceeding my personal limit.
I also noticed when I started approaching my assignments this way, I found that the pages numbers came flooding in. Before I knew it I had written 5 pages easy. So now that I am a little acclimated to how long word counts are, when assigned a page count I convert it to a word count and commit myself to that number and just write away.

Broadchurch Remake

Earlier this year, a show came out called "Broadchurch" on the BBC.  It was a British miniseries about a small town (called Broadchurch) where nothing really ever happens until one day a young boy is found dead on the beach and the following investigation rocks the foundation of the community.  The story and the characters are so rich and full of twists and turns.  The writing of this show carries so much emotional impact that I often cannot think too much about it without having emotional relapse.  Everything that happens is meaningful and the whole story ultimately comes full circle.  Plus the cinematography is so good each shot looks like a well crafted photography, the muse-en-scene of which only adds to the story making for even more engrossing viewing and emotional impact.  The mystery is very suspenseful and satisfying that it leaves you guessing right up until the reveal of which is nearly impossible to see coming.  Needless to say, this eight episode long mini-series is one of my favorite shows and I hold it in very high regard as one of the best storytelling's I have ever seen.

The show did so well actually that what was supposed to be a stand alone story was green-lite for a second season.  My excitement for this news lead me to do a little research and I found that the second season is still begin written and kept under heavy wraps.  However my research also lead me to find some more news about the show...It was receiving an American remake.  My initial thoughts were skeptical; I wondered why something so perfect needed to be remade.  Why not just air it more accessibly in The States and get more hype for the coming second season?

A few months later a trailer was finally released for this American remake of Broadchurch, now called "Gracepointe" (My first qualm).  I was open and watched the trailer and found all the story elements I recognized there, the parent looking for her child, the dedicated cop vowing to solve the case, the new reporters doing anything for the story, and all the emotions came flooding back.  But something was strange.  These emotions were not excitement to see the show, no.  What I was feeling was nostalgia.  I got a quick look back into all the story elements I loved, it was the exact same story and I already knew how it would happen.  In fact, the trailer did such a good job of reminding me of the original that this started to look more like a shot for shot remake.  It even featured one of the same actors reprising his role with an American accent.  The original writer even said that he was very heavy handed in the production of his masterpieces American counter part because the project has meant to much to him.  

And this i sphere my problem with remakes comes in.  This rehashing of the story adds nothing new, it's just going to be the exact same thing.  And when you make a lifeless carbon copy like that it means you are not capturing what made it great in the first place, you are just copying what someone else did and not adding anything to it.  The office is a great example of how to do remakes.  It is based off a British series but the American version took elements of it and characters then took their own spin on it.  As opposed to the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Pyscho which was panned as a shot for shot rehash.  This Gracepointe show is join to take all the plot points of its original substance but going to lack its powerful emotional impact and that is just a shame.  I want people to get to know Broadchurch and its citizens and get to know their struggles and enjoy the show but this second rate remake will take the originals place in the eyes of most American viewers.