"Let Him Have It" How effective is the end of the film in gaining the viewer's sympathy for Derek Bentley and his family?
Katie Bradford "Let Him Have It" How effective is the end of the film in gaining the viewer's sympathy for Derek Bentley and his family? In 1991, the opportunity arose for Peter Medak to direct the film, 'Let Him Have It,' the true story of how Derek Bentley, a brain damaged, epileptic teenager was tried and executed for murder in the 1950's. During the period of 1991, Medak felt that the issues surrounding capital punishment needed to be brought to the forefront of public consciousness. He was convinced, as many other English people were, that young, slightly retarded Derek Bentley was railroaded by the British justice system. The perpetual campaigning for his innocence and detailed media coverage over many years would have ensured Medak that he would receive a great public response from his representation of events. 'Let Him Have It' shows how Derek Bentley, a shy introverted character, becomes involved with a group of youths who lure him into a life of petty crime. Derek's concerns over the activities of the gang are soon dismissed when he realises, Chris Craig, the arrogant and egotistical leader, is essentially his only friend. At this point, the audience can sense it's only a matter of time before something dreadful occurs and as the story unfolds we see that their feelings are substantiated. On the 2nd November 1952 Derek and his gun-wielding companion, Chris,
Drama Coursework: Absurdism Freeze Frames We used freeze frames in drama to create many absurd scenarios
Drama Coursework: Absurdism Freeze Frames We used freeze frames in drama to create many absurd scenarios. We co-ordinated our bodies with other people to create a scene and we held our positions for about 10 seconds. We usually did this whilst we were warming up our bodies; it also helped to see if as a group we could listen to other people and develop their ideas. We had to use our facial expressions to create an atmosphere and sometimes tension. We have used the technique of freezing at a specific point many times in drama this year. In groups, we have often created sketches and frozen our positions. We had to pretend that we were on a train and we had stopped at a platform. Sheldon walked on the train and was bringing his pet elephant on a trip. Sheldon held a leash and was patting the pet on the back. I played one of four passengers; I cringed when they got on the train; as if the elephant smelt. The others did mostly the same but were moving out of the way for the elephant whilst holding their noses. My group for this sketch was: Stephen, Sheldon, Helen and myself. It was a very strange image to comprehend, but that is what abusrdism is all about. The use of freeze frames in general helps me to appreciate that every scene counts. Every aspect of the play is important, not just the important ones. It helps me to just have a little pause in time and think about what
In this essay, I will analyse how the producers of 'Shrek' have constructed the film so that it appeals to a wide audience, including the whole spectrum of generations.
The producers of the film, 'Shrek', successfully modernise a traditional fairy tale plot, by adding a subtle twist and imaginative exploration into the notion of stereotypical characters. In this essay, I will analyse how the producers of 'Shrek' have constructed the film so that it appeals to a wide audience, including the whole spectrum of generations. In particular I am going to specifically focus on the characters of Shrek and Lord Farquaad, and investigate how reversing their roles, from evil ogre and knight in shining armour, as in Snow White and the seven dwarfs to the complete opposites, adds to the effectiveness of the film. During the opening shots of 'Shrek', which opens as a heavenly light shining down on the beautiful book and its contents. This symbolises a nice story that ends happily ever after, calm and goodness. In traditional stories and fables, shadow and darkness represents danger and evil and so light is safety and pure. The producers have used this imagery to portray the film to have an angelic plot, which is usually of love rather than laughter. As the audience is introduced to the main character, the ogre himself. The film opens like a traditional fairy tale narrative, with the book and the text showing the familiar layout of a children's book. Therefore highlighting a friendly atmosphere through the large text and brightly coloured pictures. The
What means does Alan Bennett use to help us to understand the truth about Lesley in Her Big Chance?
English Literature Coursework- Post 1914 Drama What means does Alan Bennett use to help us to understand the truth about Lesley in Her Big Chance? Talking heads was a BBC drama television series produced in the late 1980s. The first six monologues were screened in 1987 and a further six were broadcasted in 1998. The monologues give us access to people's most private thoughts. The individual tells their side of the story. Sometimes they reveal a lot more than they mean to, leaving the audience to investigate their lives further and piece together clues from what they say to create a character in their mind. Each monologue shows us a varied life. They are all melancholy and dramatic. These monologues also give us an insight of everyday British lives in the 80s. Her Big Chance is about young imprudent women named Lesley. Her obsessive career as a "professional" actress takes over her whole life so it becomes not just a job, but her world. She ends up being seduced by many men and manipulated into things she doesn't really want to do, leading to her acting in an abominable manner. The most tragic element being her acceptance of this treatment, believing it is part of her much admired career. These twelve monologues were written by Alan Bennett, born in 1934. He went to Oxford University and by 1960 he was at his prime. Aspects of Bennett's life can be
Performance at Farnham Castle.
Performance at Farnham Castle We chose Farnham Castle because it provided us with an historical site and a wealth of information. Its an attractive site with the community and the performance space is unusual offering us an alternative area to explore different styles of theatre for example; Walkabout journey and procession. We wanted to devise an historical drama based on characters who lived at the castle and use the unusual architecture to our advantage. Our intention was to provide our audience with historical facts but also entertain them. There are areas that provide hidden spaces from the audience such as the well and the ruined turrets. The high wall provides enough space for costume changes or to hide the cast from the audience. The imposing steps leading up to the keep would create a creative and ideal route for the narrator to lead the audience up to the keep. The different shapes, levels and textures at the keep would give a perfect atmosphere to create scenes by improvising using the genre of physical theatre. The open space in the keep gave the feeling of being exposed to the elements. These elements did inspire the devising process. The large space also gave the opportunity for a large audience to get involved. The space did have its down points however. It didn't have access for disabled audience members. There were obviously health and safety issues for
Our aim was to create a character driven piece of drama, lasting approximately 25 minutes, using realistic situations with moments of abstraction to create a situation controlled by temptation
Initial ideas The idea of temptation was the initial inspiration for this piece of devised drama. The group took this idea from various pieces of drama that we have encountered during our AS course. Going to see 'A Dealer's Choice' allowed me to see that temptation can often cause major disruption between a group of people. As our piece was going to be very much character based, we thought that by incorporating temptation as a major theme it would allow us to show tensions between characters. Temptation being the power to seduce a person to do something they would normally not do, and diverting from universal obedience. Over the AS course we have studied 'Yerma' by Garcia Lorca and this was also an inspiration for the initial theme of temptation. In this play the character of Yerma longs for a child and yet her husband does not want to have one. Victor, a strong and handsome male character represents the temptation in Yerma's life to get what she wants. Yerma is in love with Victor and dreams of him with her child, yet this temptation to be with him is never visited because of the boundaries created by the world that she lives in. In our piece however, we wanted to create the temptation and then show how each character would approach it. One of the members of the group came up with the idea of showing the temptation through the use of an unopened box. The rest of
The original stimulus to our original ideas was the way in which children of different religions and races unite to create a harmonious society within our school. We discussed the situation within a small area, such as a school
Portfolio Inspiration, Aims and Techniques Colourblind is the story of three young women whose lives are all very different. They are introduced to the audience at their first meeting, when friendship seems unlikely. However, they overcome obstacles such as religion and race to embark on a friendship, which teaches them about life, love and loss. Each character struggles with their own personal antagonist. For this piece, we drew upon many different sources of inspiration, some being course content, the works of theatrical practitioners such as Stanislavski, to outside sources such as films and newspapers. We have been inspired by many parts of everyday life, from religion and oppression to sexuality and love. We have used both personal experiences and external influences. The original stimulus to our original ideas was the way in which children of different religions and races unite to create a harmonious society within our school. We discussed the situation within a small area, such as a school and it was agreed that this could be viewed as a microcosm of society. We also felt this subject, due to educational value, could be beneficial to both ourselves and the audience due to its large coverage in the media recently. We were inspired by other performances, such as Three Sisters by Chekhov. We studied this particular play for several reasons. Firstly, the style that
Dear Mr Smith, I am writing to you with reference to your proposed production of my play 'All My Sons'.
Mr. Arthur Miller 7th Storey of Heath Tower 5th Street New York NY 712 23rd March 2002 Dear Mr Smith, I am writing to you with reference to your proposed production of my play 'All My Sons'. I, like most authors, have standards and expectations for productions of my writing, which is why I have decided to write to you and inform you of some criteria that might help you in the production of 'All My Sons'. In the 1920's after the First World War, many countries were bankrupt because of the amount of money they had invested into the war. The USA came to their rescue by loaning them vast amounts of money to pay off debts. In 1929, share prices fell and so the USA called back for the loans that they had lent but the countries were still in debt. Many Americans tried to take their money out of the banks but the banks hadn't any money to give to customers. This contributed to the Great Depression, which made a massive increase in unemployment. One of the people who became unemployed was my father, a coat manufacturer. This was the initial inspiration of writing 'All My Sons'. Another reason that inspired me to write 'All My Sons', was the way that events during the Second World War were making Americans live and treat each other differently. I experienced the wave of patriotism and I also saw how fellow Americans were exploiting the war and making profit from other's
Plot for The Crucible
Act 1: The plot At first in the scene Parris is praying but we can not hear his words just mumbling as he is sitting beside her daughter who has not moved for days. He tries to wake her by talking to her but it does not work. Abigail the niece of Parris enters and tells him that Susanna has arrived. She than comes and delivers bad news in which Parris is not happy about, and then leaves. After Susanna leaves Parris approaches Abigail to find out what really happened the night they were caught dancing naked in the forest, and she tells him that it was not as it seemed but Parris finds it hard to believe that this is so. Whilst this conversation is happening Mrs Putnam enters to see what is happening who soon is accompanied by Thomas Putnam. Putnam's servant comes to the scene; a fat, sly, merciless girl aged 18 by the name of Mercy Lewis. Abigail tells her that they were seen and Mercy starts to get scared and at this moment enters Mary Warren who is 17 and is a sub-servant. Mary Warren tells the girls that what they did was wrong and that they will get punished for it whilst Abigail goes over to Betty and tries to wake her. Whilst this is happening betty, with a great fright, jumps out of bed and starts asking for her mother whom is dead and then reveilles that Abby had drunk blood to make a charm to kill John proctor's wife and Goody Proctor. As this is revelled she gets
Analyse how the trailer for the "Moulin Rouge" persuades the viewer to go and see the film.
Amy Candiano Miss Graham 34763 Upton Hall School FCJ Media Assignment Moving Image Analyse how the trailer for the "Moulin Rouge" persuades the viewer to go and see the film. The purpose of a trailer is to persuade the viewers to go and see a specific film that it is advertising. A trailer is an overview of a forthcoming movie due for release at a cinema, DVD or video, which attracts the audience's attention. The trailer for "Moulin Rouge" is targeted at audiences over 12. This age certificate is set by the British Film Censors Board. It persuades people to go to watch the film as awarding actors, actresses and film director are in this movie. For example Baz Luhrmann the director has directed many other accredited movies including "Rome & Juliet" and "Strictly Ballroom", therefore "Moulin Rouge" will appeal to Baz Luhrmann fans (synergy). The genre of this film is a musical love story set in late 19th century Paris at the "Moulin Rouge", meaning it is a fast and exciting trailer which creates tension and suspense for the audience. The main characters in the trailer for "Moulin Rouge" are Satine (played by Nicole Kidman) the courtesan and main protagonist for both the passionate filled playwright Christian (played by Ewer McGregor) and the lovelorn Duke (played by Richard Roxburgh). Another character shown in the film is Zidler (played by Jim Broadbent)