Evaluate the ways in which ideas were communicated to the audience
Name: Michael Sims Candidate Number: 8178 Centre Number: 56515 Evaluate the ways in which ideas were communicated to the audience We constructed War Spectacular to be an abstract piece made up of a number of unconnected scenes; this structure enabled us to tell numerous different stories, all with their own message. We realised early in the devising process that in order to keep this piece objective we would have to keep all of the scenes and settings non-specific, if we used the real names of locations, religions or people it may have caused offence to the audience, thus drawing away from our message. There were many different messages we wanted to convey to the audience; however there was one theme which ran throughout the piece, ultimately connecting the disjointed scenes; we were showing the different 'faces of war'. The first 'face of war' which we wanted to show was the human element of war. The original concept for the play was to show the affect of a conflict upon two families, show their struggle, and ultimately their collapse. Although this concept was scrapped the themes were kept for use during War Spectacular. If we were to show the human and emotional side of war it was obvious that we needed to use a group of 'real' characters (opposed to the more abstract characters which would use throughout the play which would lack exposition and depth) who would
How did rehearsals and the production process contribute to the final performance.
Our initial discussions concerning our stimulus Nighthawk by Edward Hopper was focussed on how we could use the loneliness ever present in his paintings. We choose Nighthawk especially because we wanted to reflect how distant the people seemed in the Bar. Our first devising technique was to choose a part of our image to act out in tableaux; we choose the cigar in the sign of the bar. We used the time period of the painting to reflect how the social culture regarding smoking was fashionable, and how the working man could come home to relax with a cigar. We then devised another tableau to contrast the time period with present day beliefs and fashions regarding smoking, and in this we showed how unsocial it had become. The overall direction we got from this exercise was how influential people were around the 1970's, and we wanted to reflect the concept of office work and how monotonous it was. We firstly created a character that suffered from loneliness, (Richard) and wanted to show what effects this illness had on his life. We looked to frame the piece around him being submitted to a mental institute, and decided to improvise a scene involving Richard and a psychiatrist, where Richard was exposed to multiple probing questions piecing together why he was there. We were not happy with how the idea looked, and felt that someone with a mental illness being to submit to a mental
Blood Brothers evaluation.
Blood Brothers evaluation. Written by Willy Russell Performed at the Phoenix Theatre, London Performance date 27 March 03 The performance was melodramatic with big hand gestures and with altered voices. Being melodramatic and the big gestures made it clearer to see what was happening on stage especially as the audience was seated so far away from the actions of the characters. The narrative was set in an old road in Liverpool with Liverpudlian accents, so the actors altered their voices to cockney accents to create a believable setting. The staging was well thought out because the stage was narrow and the seats were plotted around the stage with three floors and lots of seating. It had a rich and luxurious feeling to it and the audience must have felt the same way too, especially with the binoculars built into the seats. The cyclorama (hanging cloth/sky cloth) had a big affect on the audience because it created an illusion of stars and night, which is not commonly used on most stages so it was particularly impressive. The thing that makes or can make musicals in this genre more attractive are props because they add colour, they make it more realistic, added connotations and helps you to tell what is happening by symbolic representation. The set disappointed me because you could see people controlling the light and
Alfred Hitchcock is commonly known as "the master of suspense!" - does he achieve this in the "climbing frame" scene in the film "The Birds"?
Alfred Hitchcock is commonly known as "the master of suspense!" Does he achieve this in the "climbing frame" scene in the film "The Birds"? "The Birds" is a melodramatic film produced in 1963 based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a British-born film fanatic. Rod Taylor (Mitch) and Tippie Hedren (Melanie) star in "The Birds", which is one of Alfred Hitchcock's abstrusely unnerving psychodramas. The action takes place in a small Californian town, known as Bodega Bay. Before long the town is attacked by marauding birds, and Hitchcock's skill at staging action is brought to the fore. What really unnerves the audience is not the birds skirmishes, but the anxiety and the eerie quiet between attacks. Hitchcock's dominant suspense thriller sees Melanie taking fate into her own hands to hook up with a rugged fellow (Mitch) in the coastal town of Bodega Bay, after he had purchased some love birds. This film gives light to some of Hitchcock's most unnerving images such as a seagull casually gliding into a shot aloft a blazing petrol station and when Melanie was on a playground bench, unaware of the menaces flocking to the playground climbing frame behind her. This essay will go into great detail about the ways in which the "master of suspense" creates tension and suspense in the infamous "climbing frame" scene. The climbing frame scene
Alfred Hitchcock is commonly known as "the master of suspense". Does he achieve this in the "Climbing Frame" scene in the film The Birds?
Alfred Hitchcock is commonly known as "the master of suspense". Does he achieve this in the "Climbing Frame" scene in the film The Birds? The film we are going to be reviewing is called "The Birds" and was directed by Sir Alfred Jacob Hitchcock. This apocalyptic thriller was distributed in the year 1963 by Universal Pictures, and had been based upon the story written by Daphne Du Maurier. This film is filled of chaotic attacks of ordinary birds, and not of birds of prey, and we are looking at one particular scene, "The Climbing Frame Before this scene, you find that the movie is set in Bodega Bay. Melanie (acted by Tippi Hedren) finds out that Mitch (acted by Rod Taylor) lives in this town of water. She goes along to this village and sees him to deliver some lovebirds. As she approaches the port of the lake she is attacked by a gull. This is the first sign in which we establish that the suspense has started. We find out that, "the birds" is not an ironic title for the film but is explanatory before you have either seen the cover or the whole film. After this part of the movie, Melanie has decided to stay in Bodega Bay with the consultation of Mitch. She has dinner with Mitch's family and this is when the second attack occurs, as more birds fly in through the fireplace. This creates tension, because I had never imagined that the birds could come in through the
How is suspense created in the elevator scene in the film speed?
How is suspense created in the elevator scene in the film speed? The director of Speed, Mark Gordan, uses a range of techniques to build tension and suspense in the film Speed. Camera Angles We see a group of business people leaving a meeting and getting into the lift. The camera angle is at eye level to help the audience feel as though they are looking into their eyes, almost as if they were there with them. This is useful in order to help the audience identify with them and develop feelings for their situation later. After the first two explosions, the camera angle changes to looking down on the passengers. This makes them appear smaller and vulnerable. In contrast to this, the shots of the lift shaft are long shots to contrast the dizzying drop to the basement. There are also various close-up shots of the passengers, suspended in limbo in the lift shaft. This enables the audience to see the fear and anxiety of their faces. We also have close ups of Harry and Jack showing them sweating to help convey the sense of urgency. Camera Techniques We see the finger of the bomber pushing a button on the detonator. The figure is anonymous. Unlike the eye level shots of the passengers that we are invited to identify with, this technique leaves the bomber as a dislocated figure, removed from view and leaves the audience with no means of identifying with him. This ensures our
Compare and contrast the film adaptation of 'Billy Liar' with the stage play. Discuss the ways in which they differ and how each affects the audience.
TWENTIETH CENTURY DRAMA GCSE COURSEWORK COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE FILM ADAPTATION OF 'BILLY LIAR' WITH THE STAGE PLAY. DISCUSS THE WAYS IN WHICH THEY DIFFER AND HOW EACH AFFECTS THE AUDIENCE. The play, Billy Liar was written in the early 1960s by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse. The play was set in Northern England in places like Manchester and Sheffield. The story is about a teenager, Billy Fisher who is a lonely and discontented with life. He does not have many friends and imagines being real high class and having a luxurious life. He is always getting trouble for causing mischief and telling lies. Billy lives with his parents, Alice and Geoffrey Fisher and his grandma Florence. He has three girlfriends, Liz, Barbara and Rita, two of whom he is engaged to. Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse directed both the play and the film. The play and the film are quite similar, but in the film there are a few additional characters and scenes. In the play there is a lot more dialogue than action and also it is set in the same place (lounge) whereas in the film there is a lot of talking and action. The film is not set in the same place but instead it follows the characters. The majority of the audience would probably prefer to watch the play as a film instead of watching it in a theatre because in the film there would be more special effects and it can be watched in a big screen. There
How does Peter Medak gain the viewers sympathy for Derek Bentley in the film 'Let him have it!'?
What is bias? Bias is when a person is one sided. Like only believing there is one side to a situation and that that IS the correct side to the situation. Well you could say Peter Medak was bias while making this film because he only shows us his view of what he thinks happened in the Derek Bentley situation and by doing so makes us believe that his view is right. Peter Medak is famous for directing recent films like species II and Romeo is bleeding, but we have been looking at his earlier work 'let him have it'. Unlike his recent films it was based on a true-life experience that happen in 1953 with a boy called Derek Bentley. In 1953 Derek Bentley, a London boy, was hanged for the murder of a policeman. But how he came to be in this situation was because of his newfound friend Chris Craig. Chris become Derek's best friend after he is brought home from approved school for trashing a neighbour's shed. He influences Derek in to do stupid things like robbing the butchers, which goes horribly wrong and is the beginning to a trail in court for the two boys. But why did peter medak want to make this film? My opinion would be that he wanted to show the rest of the country his view about the trail and the hanging. There is also another question on my mind, should Derek have been hanged? My opinion to this question would have to be that the hanging was unreasonable and that the case
How does Hitchcock create and maintain suspense in his 1960s film 'Psycho'?
How does Hitchcock create and maintain suspense in his 1960s film 'Psycho'? Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is a classic thriller, one of the best movies of all time, and was a groundbreaking film when it was made. It was known as the "mother of the modern horror movies" because it single-handily ushered in an era of inferior shocking killings, blood letting graphics and screen "slashers". "Psycho" was produced by Universal studios and released through Paramount in 1960. Hitchcock was the director and producer of the movie and was given a budget of $800,000; he deliberately wanted the film to look cheap and so he had to use the crew who shot his television show. In the time when the movie was made there had not been many scenes of women with hardly any clothes on and this came to a huge shock to the audience, as having just a bra on was a very rare thing. However Hitchcock explained the reason for filming a woman only in her undergarments in the opening sequence of Psycho: "Audiences are changing....The straightforward kissing scene would be looked down at by the younger viewers....Nowadays you have to show them as they themselves behave." We also see the camera taking us into the toilet, the toilet is known as a very private place and not many films have shown someone when they are in the toilet, they normally show a person either going in the toilet, or coming out the toilet.
How does Hitchcock create suspense and tension in the film "Psycho?"
How does Hitchcock create suspense and tension in the film "Psycho?" Alfred Hitchcock's fantastic thriller "Psycho" was made in 1959 and was released in 1960. Horror movies were very popular in those days. Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights to Psycho, he then sent his assistants out to bookstalls to buy up as many copies of the book as they could. Hitchcock wanted Psycho to avoid the ending being common knowledge. This also made more people come and watch the movie in the cinemas, which would've increase the rate of the movie and money. Alfred Hitchcock creates tension and suspense by lighting, music, camera angles and shots and also by the clever use of limited dialogue. Throughout this essay, the different techniques Hitchcock used to create tension and suspense will be examined. Hitchcock used several techniques to promote Psycho. An example of one of these would be the publicity of the poster. The poster made the audience think opposite to what the film was really about, this was what exactly Hitchcock wanted. However, Hitchcock wanted the ending of the film to stay a secret. Hitchcock insisted that no one would be allowed into the cinema once the film had started. This led to huge queues and lots of publicity. The actors were made to swear an oath of secrecy when filming. This was because he wanted to direct a film that would be new to the audience and create suspense