Lady Macbeth stands there for a while, there is a BCU on her dark brown eyes at this point. She gives the door an exhausted look. We cut to the door and back again. She then looks evilly at the agent and his secretary. She leaves moodily disturbing the dust as she slams the door on the two remaining band members. The secretary sighs.
SCENE 2
Two pairs of hand clapping to a rhythm while saying the words “Where shall we three meet again, in thunder, lightening or in rain?” There is a green and white speckled lighting like the pattern a tree makes. It keeps cutting to the grass and the wind. Another hand strokes the grass as the other girls continue their lines. “When the hurly burly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won, that will be ere the set of sun.” Distant children’s laughter is heard and we cut again o the stroking hand. She grabs the grass suddenly and pulls, tugging with it mud and roots. She brings it up to face height, her arm outstretched. She is an African child, about seven or eight.
She looks quite solemn, her eyes are bright blue just like Macbeth’s this is to show that they are connected in some way. “Where the place,” she says quietly. Two other faces appear affectionately by either side of her, one says “Up on the heath,” then the other says “There to meet with Macbeth.” They are wearing innocent looking white dresses, stiff with starch. They sit on their knees so that you cannot see their bear feet. The dresses have no sleeves. The camera focuses on one of the witches’ hands. The grass is moving slowly and twisting. Withering very slowly. Her hand is held in a weak fist. She whispers “Fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air.” We are still focused on her hand and she clenches her fist tightly. A drop of thick red blood falls from the side of her hand to the ground followed by the remaining pieces of grass. They are as dry as hay.
In the reflection of the blood you can see the witch’s eye. It gets clearer and clearer, increasingly colourful. It almost seems to be real and not a reflection. Suddenly it blinks and when it opens again you are looking into the eye of Macbeth. I do this to show the witches’ power over Macbeth and also their prophesy of blood.
SCENE 3
Macbeth is angry. He walks fast and just misses the cars around him. It is very noisy and we can hear in the background, Banquo running. All we can see is Macbeth’s eye. In the eye we can see the cars, then the small green where the witch children were playing. Now we can see the side of his face. He looks angry, he is frowning and looks close to tears. Banquo is dodging the cars. The fact that Macbeth arrives at the scene first is to show his importance over Banquo. He has stopped now, at a pedestrian crossing. He takes time now to look around and we zoom out a bit. We can see Banquo behind him. Macbeth looks around and say to himself, “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” He turns and we focus on Banquo. He arrives sympathetic at Macbeth’s side.
We are now right back and we can see them standing at the corner of the green or heath. We circle them, we go from the inside of the green where we hear child’s laughter and sunlight to the roadside and behind the friends. It’s darker and louder and smoggier. A guitar base track in the background is strumming out a rhythm. They step over the small metal barrier and the usual children’s laughter and greenish lighting shows the magical significance of this place. Banquo and Macbeth walk towards the girls who have just come into the shot. Banquo and Macbeth do not notice the witches and the witches do not seem to notice them either. The witches are doing a three-way hand clap.
Now we focus on the two boys again. Banquo say, as if continuing from a joke, “How far is it to Forres?” They both laugh. Banquo looks around and they sit on the grass still laughing. It starts to fade until they look at each other and they burst into hysterics again. It is obvious they are very close.
The witches now are in focus they are closer than they were before. Banquo says quietly into Macbeth’s ear as he gets up “We spin around them until we are behind them,” his speech beginning “What are these? So withered and so wild in their attire.” He looks at their unclad feet and grubby fingers. Banquo says, louder this time, “Live you? Or are you ought that man may question?” He says the rest of this speech to them. They turn as he says this. We carry on and do a full circle around the boys until we are behind the witches. Now they are even closer. They are all looking at Macbeth. Banquo is closer but out of focus. Macbeth looks bemused and says, “Speak if you can, what are you?” They are holding hands in a line. The one in the middle, (the most powerful), walks towards Macbeth while the other two go towards Banquo.
She takes his hand and bids him to sit. Banquo is in the background doing a handclap routine. The witch sits in silence while she picks up a daisy and pierces the stem with her nail; she pulls another daisy from the grass cushioned floor and continues to make a daisy chain. Macbeth then repeats the line, “Speak if you can what are you?” only this time he looks at her more closely, says it softer and more gently. He is curious and interested. “Hail Macbeth, Hail to thee Thaine of Glamis” comes the rhythmic distant reply from the other witches with Banquo. Banquo is bewildered but not scared, he thinks the witches just know his name because they have seen advertisements for their band. Macbeth on the other hand looks back at the witch and we can hear “all hail Macbeth, Hail to thee, Thaine of Cawdor” All we can see are Macbeth’s almost disbelieving eyes and the witches concentrating piercing eyes reflecting in them.
We now spin around them as “all hail Macbeth that shalt be King hereafter” is spoken. He breaks the stare by looking away as he shuffles backward breaking the Daisy chain that the witch is attached to his wrist and held in the witch’s hand. It hands there limply unnoticed at his side, like the control that the witch is slowly putting over him, limp at his side, unnoticed. Banquo laughs at him with the other two witches, goes to his side and starts his speech “good sir why do you start and seem to fear, things that do sound so fair,” to Macbeth. Banquo thinks that this is a game, some thing made up by these young children and he starts to play along, “that he seems rapt withal- to me you speak not.” He continues in this way, egging Macbeth on, while the witches group together again. Macbeth is standing alone by himself. The witches hold hands in a circle around Banquo and skip. They say these last few lines in the same tune from “Ring’a’ring’roses” they turn to run away after this but Macbeth says “stay you imperfect speakers” all the way to “Speak I Charge you”. They all sing ring a ring a roses (the original words) while standing in the places they stopped, spread out on the green distant girls laughter comes and goes.
At “they all fall DOWN” we have a close up of the main witches eyes then of Macbeth’ eyes then of the main witch, when “Down” is shouted the witches suddenly vanish leaving the boys back in the roadside and the noise of the cars and guitar bass again is Deafening. We zoom right out matrix style.