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Convers(at)ion

Mark Bumford

Poetry is what is lost through translation.
It is also what is lost in interpretation.
Robert Frost (1874-1963)

After the 2001 Inspector Morse weekend, I spent part of the journey home in the company of Philip Attwell. We discussed, among other things, the differences between, and our personal preferences regarding analogue versus digital replay of music in the domestic environment. Or to put it more simply, which sounds better, vinyl or CD?

In the production of a vinyl record, the sound signal (in the main) remains in an analogue form from the recording studio, via the manufacturing process, the home replay equipment and finally to the human ear via the loudspeakers.

During the production of a compact digital disc however, the analogue signals are converted to the digital domain where they are moulded into the disc as a four mile long spiral of ‘pits’. In the home, these ‘pits’ are read by a laser, converted back into an analogue signal which is amplified and fed to the human ear again by loudspeakers.

There are thus two processes, one in the manufacture, the other in the replay where the signals are converted from one domain to another and where conversion losses can occur.

What other conversion processes are there where losses can and do occur? One that we are all familiar with if travelling abroad is converting sterling into foreign currency and vice versa on our return. Despite the commission charged we always seem to end up with much less than we started with.

Whenever we convert from one system to another we have to use a formula to obtain an answer that may in itself be rounded up or down to be of any use, usually resulting in losses, never gains! Temperature conversion being a case in point. If I remember rightly the formula contains lots of fives and nines and either adding or subtracting thirty two. Unless of course you happen to live in the village of Oymyakon in Siberia where the average winter temperature is minus forty degrees which is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

So what has all this got to do with Inspector Morse I hear you asking? Well my convoluted train of thought having run the lines of losses incurred in the process of conversion, led me to the conversion of books into films and television programmes and to ask the question do we as readers/viewers gain or lose anything from that conversion process?

First of all the gains. Unless you happen to possess the abilities of Commander Data in Star Trek, the time taken to watch a film or television programme is a lot less than the time it takes to read the book. The characters are portrayed for us so that we don’t have to picture them in our mind’s eye. The same goes for the scenery and the setting of the story or plot.

Now for the losses. In a book the author has the time and space to portray not only the person’s physical attributes but also their character and thought processes, a difficult thing for a film director to do in the time allotted. Stories and plots are also tailored to fit in the time allotted and sometimes completely altered as in The Riddle Of The Third Mile, where the only common denominator between the book and the film was the headless/limbless torso being found in the canal at Thrupp. The film that stays closest to the book is The Daughters of Cain. That I have a ‘thing’ about Phyllis Logan and have driven Volvos for twenty four years has no bearing on my choice whatsoever!

Another question worth asking is – if you read a book then see the film afterwards, are you disappointed by the portrayal of the characters? Do they measure up to the images already conjured up in your minds eye? If you re-read a book after seeing a film, does your minds eye change the characters to suit those in the film? With Morse the above is fairly easy as the main characters remain constant, i.e. Morse, Lewis and Strange. Other books to film conversions are more difficult however when the main characters have been played by a multiplicity of actors/actresses. Richard Hannay, Miss Marple, Bertie Wooster and Sherlock Holmes (especially for Antony!) to mention a few. I will admit to a certain family loyalty where Sherlock Holmes is concerned as my mother-in-law did attempt to teach the young Brett Huggins (Jeremy Brett) to play the piano.

Do we watch television programmes for other reasons? I remember watching ‘Dangerfield’ to see if I could spot familiar places as I was brought up in and around Warwick. I have read most of the ‘Wycliffe’ books but enjoy the film versions for the scenery as I have spent many years holidaying in Cornwall. There is also of course Wycliffe’s assistant, the delectable Lucy Lane (Ouch! Sorry Phyllis).

So what conclusions have we come to? If any, apart from the fact that whatever medium Morse is portrayed in he gains brain power from alcohol and Lewis always loses by having to consistently pay for it. Going back to the original premise of the difference between vinyl and CD at a recent hi-fi show a well respected hi-fi magazine set up a blind listening test of the latest forms of digital replay, CD; HDCD; SACD and DVD together with the good old fashioned LP. The conclusions at the end of the show? Most people could tell the difference and had their own personal preferences, but as ever there was a difference in quality (there always has been) between discs of the same type. The same can be said for books converted into films, it all boils down to peoples preferences and prejudices, and the quality of the product. In the words of the writer V. S. Lean – “You pays your money and you takes your choice”.

But I know which I prefer.