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pds cordelette
au premier rallié des deux

Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

découpage

English translation:

structure

Added to glossary by Brian Cleveland
Oct 17, 2013 15:08
10 yrs ago
5 viewers *
French term

découpage

French to English Art/Literary Cinema, Film, TV, Drama Theatre, stage
I couldn't find a category for theatre/stage so sorry if it doesn't fit well into the cinema category but wasn't sure where else to ask!

I understand what the term means, the below is a good description of it, I just don't know the correct English phrase as I'm not really a theatre expert.

Le **découpage** de la pièce

L’acte est l’unité la plus longue de la pièce. Il se termine lorsque le rideau s’abaisse (ou bien lorsque obscurité est faite sur scène). Entre deux actes, les lieux et les époques peuvent changer.
La scène est l’unité la plus courte de la pièce. De manière générale, on change de scène lorsqu’un ou plusieurs personnages entrent ou sortent.
On parle d’acte ou de scène d’exposition lorsque ceux-ci présentent la situation initiale de la pièce et le caractère des principaux personnages, présents ou absents de la scène.


Many thanks
Proposed translations (English)
3 +4 structure
4 +2 Division(s)
4 +1 breakdown
3 +1 breakdown of Structure/arrangement of the play
Change log

Oct 17, 2013 15:22: Tony M changed "Field" from "Other" to "Art/Literary"

Proposed translations

+4
14 mins
Selected

structure

Also referred to as "division", to the extent that the play/performance is divided into acts and scenes.
Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_(drama)

Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard
5 mins
Thank you
agree Jane F
16 mins
Thank you
agree Verginia Ophof
31 mins
Thank you
agree Helen Shiner
4 hrs
Thank you
neutral Tony M : But in Asker's specific source text, one couldn't say "the division of the play" (as in meaning 'the act of dividing'). I think 'structure' emphasises more how it is 'put together' than how it is 'broken down'
4 days
The playwright puts it together. I'm not sure who breaks it down. The critics, perhaps ;-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you to all responders for their input. Finally I think both "division" and "structure" are correct and I used both so as not to be repetitive."
+1
43 mins

breakdown of Structure/arrangement of the play

The second term, decoupage, has no English equivalent. The French definition is “to cut,” but applied to film the word is better described as construction. Noel Burch, in Theory of Film Practice, defines the three terms for which decoupage is inter­changeably used for as: 1) The final form of a script replete with the required technical information. 2) The practical breakdown of the film’s construction into separate shots/sequences prior to filming & 3) The underlying structure of the finished film, which has probably deviated from the original “decoupage.”
Example sentence:

a French term referring to the design of a film - the arrangement of its shots

decoupage the design of the film, arrangement of its shots

Reference:

http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms7.html

http://ww2.odu.edu/~kwinters/Courses/Film%20Appreciation/film-terms.html#d

Peer comment(s):
agree Tony M : I think it's vital to retain the idea of 'breakdown' inherent in 'découpage'.
4 days
Something went wrong...
+2
2 hrs

Division(s)

I think this word an almost literal translation, would be both technical enough, and also informally descriptive enough, to serve the purpose.

"Act(drama)
An act is a DIVISION or unit of a drama. The number of acts in a production can range from one to five or more, depending on how a writer structures the outline of the story. The length of time for an act to be performed usually ranges from 30 to 90 minutes, but may be as few as 10.[1]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_(drama)

"Act and Scene DIVISION in the plays of Shakespeare"
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/508351?uid=3738032&uid...
Example sentence:

"Oxford Companion to Shakespeare: Act and Scene DIVISIONS ... Of the original quartos of Shakespeare's plays, none is DIVIDED into numbered scenes ... "

"ACT/SCENE DIVISION ... Though modern editions nearly always divide Shakespeare's plays into acts, among the early texts, only the First Folio has act DIVISIONS, and does not use them consistently."

Reference:

http://www.answers.com/topic/act-and-scene-divisions

http://shea.mit.edu/ramparts/commentaryguides/what_is_a_folio1.htm

Peer comment(s):
agree Helen Shiner : This looks very convincing, too.
2 hrs
Than you.
agree Arlene Lokomowitz : Also confirmed in "le Grand Dictionnaire TERMINOLOGIQUE" : "Représentation des divisions d'un ouvrage, pour en faire apparaître les parties principales et les articulations. Ex. Découpage d'une brochure en chapitres ou découpage d'un scénario"
3 days 12 hrs
Thank you.
neutral Tony M : But in Asker's specific source text, one couldn't say "the division of the play" (as in meaning 'the act of dividing') — the meaning would be 'how the play is divided up' — only that would be a clumsy and unnatural way of saying it.
4 days
Something went wrong...
+1
13 mins

breakdown

I understand the problem, Brian, and I think probably we wouldn't express it in quite the same way in EN. As so often FR uses a noun where in EN we'd more likely use a verb, something like 'How a play is broken down' etc.

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Note added at 4 days (2013-10-21 22:03:03 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Often seen in the credits of US series etc.: 'découpage scénario', which may or may not accurately equate to 'script breakdown' (that point would need to be checked, since in cinema scripting terms, a 'breakdown' is something different again.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 76 jours (2014-01-01 20:28:38 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

This Dictionnaire général du cinéma gives a helpful discussion and explanation, suggesting 'script' or 'shooting script':

http://books.google.fr/books?id=unPhu6dHnCkC&pg=PA298&lpg=PA...

(I found this while searching for something else, so you'll have to scroll through the alphabet to find it)

See also this earlier KudoZ from 2004:

http://www.proz.com/kudoz/french_to_english/advertising_publ...
Peer comment(s):
agree Verginia Ophof
32 mins
Thanks, Verginia!
Something went wrong...
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