Describe in detail how I would if I had the chance direct Act2, scene 1, Macbeth - I will include lighting, camera angles and props.

For the language used by Macbeth towards everybody else, I would have him act normal but have some nerves just showing through so that you can see it is eating away at him more and more as the minutes count down. When he is alone sitting at the table, I would have him acting insane and weird as he is talking to himself and have sweat dripping down his face to see the pressure showing through. These should combine together enough to convince you that he is becoming psychotic if he isn’t already. This should help to build up tension and add to the ever-growing atmosphere of the scene. When he is talking about the dagger, he would be told to use exclamation in his speech to give the impression that he is totally surprised of the fact that there is a dagger infront of him in his hands. The use of this extra language would help to make him come across as insane and metal.

Another important feature in the scene would be the lighting. The lighting is important as it could give the scene that extra sense of evil and betrayal if used correctly. In the scene you obviously need to see the characters and later on when it is just Macbeth you want the feeling of darkness which in turn would mean less lighting. To do this I would have candles around the place when everybody is awake and laughing but when Macbeth is alone I would have only one or two alight to one side of him. This would cause a shadow over Macbeth leaving one side dark and mysterious and the other side bright. Hopefully the audience can then see the split personality of Macbeth, the good side and the evil. This represents the side that doesn’t want to go through with the murder and the side that is about to complete the task at hand. To add to the lighting I would have the sounds of men snoring and an owl outside the castle. This would represent the fact that Macbeth is trusted and nobody thinks that he would betray all his friends and the owl is there to show that it is night time and everything else is asleep.

        To add to all the language and lighting there is the positioning of the cameras and props. To get the feeling of evil in the room the cameras would be set in a position close to the floor looking up to show the viewing audience that he is bad and trouble. Having the cameras low makes Macbeth look big and evil and on top of things, whereas if I were to have them high when everyone is awake, it would give the impression of all is well and peaceful. The two different angles will come together to again show the two sides of Macbeth. Also props such as the dagger should be shown from a low position, as it is a weapon of evil and murder. Macbeth himself during this scene should be dressed in what he would normally wear such as rich, smart clothes to give everyone else the impression that there is no difference in him, aswell as giving the impression of importance to the King, King Duncan his supposed friend.

Every prop, camera angle and piece of language used implies to us that Macbeth is about to commit a crime of treason and murder. If any of these extras or implications were to be over looked or left out then an important impression may be left out leaving the viewers one step behind the play. Shakespeare didn’t have any of these luxuries, but he managed to pull off the scene but it meant that the audience had to visualise in their head a lot of aspects that I would be able to show them through special effects.