How are the scenes throughout Macbeth portrayed?
How are the scenes throughout Macbeth portrayed? The scene begins at dawn with a blood red sky creeping over a desolate beach, creating a strange eerie atmosphere. The red sky, traditionally symbolic of danger, stands as a warning of evil to come, as in the saying 'Red sky at night shepherds delight red sky in the morning shepherds warning.' The whole image is quite unnerving. A gnarled stick then emerges on the screen, it appears unnatural and disjointed having no apparent owner. The distorted form is reminiscent of a witches finger. Much of the scene is carried out in absolute silence, creating an atmospheric tension broken only by the cry of a seagull, reminiscent of the cry of a human child, a disturbing sound. Nearing the end of the scene music begins to evolve, it follows a disjointed atonal rhythm, denoting the presence of evil. The speech of the witches is in riddle form, they chant and at times speak in union asking rhetorical questions. Polanski has the last line and most dramatic line of the scene played first, 'fair is foul and foul is fair hover through the fog and misty air.' The latter line is particularly significant the witches on leaving appearing to float away, leaving no footprints in the ground, before being totally enclosed in the mist. It is asthough they are the bearers of the chaos the first line alludes to. The descending mist makes all that
Jaws
GCSE English Media Essay Coursework The film Jaws was directed by a popular director called Steven Spielburg. Steven Spielburg directed some great well known films, e.g. E.T, Close Encounters of the 3rd kind and this film is a good example. The film Jaws is about a gargantuan great shark which is a man eating shark. The shark attacks many people in different terrifying and horrifying ways throughout the film and the shark slaughtered many people throughout the film. The film shows us our natural fear against the shark. The film was set in America in a place called Amity Island on a particular day, the day was July 4th. The reason why it was set on this particular date is because on this date it is the American Independence Day. During this national day people celebrate America's independence. This film is still such a popular film because sharks are one of our worst dreadful fears in life. In the film the music is very interesting the music can make you think what's going to happen in particular scenes in the film. For example the second attack on the small young boy who was paddling on a craft and when he was about to get attacked the music gets louder, faster, thrilling, much effective and that makes the audience think that the shark is near by and is going to attack. When the music is really loud and fast the shark attacks but we don't see the shark. When the
Imagine that you are the director of a production of Macbeth. Write a an imaginary transcript of the sort of conversations/advice you would give to your actors in preparing to stage act 2 scene 2.
Imagine that you are the director of a production of Macbeth. Write a an imaginary transcript of the sort of conversations/advice you would give to your actors in preparing to stage act 2 scene 2. - Now David and Kelly. This is a very important scene and there are a lot of things to consider. - "Kelly you are the key into building tension at the beginning of this scene. The words need to be spoken in anticipation, you are awaiting your husband and are unsure whether Macbeth, (David), has done the 'deed', perhaps you could pace up and down the room." "This needs to be good, because it shows the point at which both your characters change." "Macbeth after Lady Macbeth (Kelly) has spoken the first opening paragraph, - That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold; - What hath quench'd them hath given me fire. - Hark! Peace! - It was the awl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman, - Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it - The doors are open; and the surfited grooms - Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg'd - Their possets, - That death and nature do contend about them, - Weather they live or die. The phrase you speak after this, 'who's there? What, ho' needs to be quick, but with a pause after 'who's there?' Ok Macbeth? "The audience already knows that you, (nods at Macbeth) have been persuaded by your wife to murder King Duncan, in only a
Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 1
Robert Nixon GCSE media - Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 1 This scene of Polanski's film "Macbeth" features 3 witches. He has to try and convey this to the audience that they are real witches, and has to make them appear that they are not normal people, because people would not understand who or what these people are, but also not so they are stereotypically like a witch that the audience would find them comical. In Shakespeare's time, witches were believed to exist as real people that lived in communities in England and Scotland, so when it was performed on stage in those times, it was not hard to convince the audience they were witches. Then, witches were perceived by society as evildoers and were responsible for crops failing or other such things that they could not explain, so they used witches as scapegoats to blame it on. Many thousands of people were executed for such deeds, despite there not being any proof of them doing anything. Nowadays, witches are perceived very differently than the way they used to. They are now regarded as figures of a comical nature, often imagined to have pointy hats, broomsticks and pet cats, and appear in such things as fairy tales and pantomimes. This is why Polanski must be wary of these stereotypes, as he wants the audience to realise that these are people who are evil, and not something to be laughed at. Polanski had a lot of material from the
Shakespeare coursework - Macbeth. The supernatural is vital to the plot and the actions of the characters in Macbeth. As a director of a film version, how would you put across this influence to your chosen audience?
Shakespeare coursework - Macbeth. The supernatural is vital to the plot and the actions of the characters in Macbeth. As a director of a film version, how would you put across this influence to your chosen audience? In this essay I am going to explain how I would go about directing the first two witches' scenes in Macbeth. I will sum up why I am doing a certain action, for example the symbolism it has and what relevance it has to the witches. First of all I need to know some background about the impact of witches on peoples lives at the time in which it was written. Macbeth was written in 1606 in the time of the Elizabethans when the supernatural was in the forefront of many peoples' minds. Witches were the objects of morbid and fevered fascination. In each village of Elizabethan England the 'evil' goings on were blamed on the old spinster who owned a black cat and never came out of the house. The witch. They were punished or interrogated by being forces to sit on a stool and then 'ducked' in the river. If they floated then they were a witch and if they sank then they weren't a witch but most died of drowning anyway. There were many famous witch hunts at this time and everyone was scared of them. In 1604 an act of parliament decreed that anyone found guilty of witchcraft would be executed. Many people who watched Macbeth saw the witches as a sign of evil and hatred.
How do different productions of "Macbeth" convey the themes of the play and portray the witches?
James Gallimore How do different productions of "Macbeth" convey the themes of the play and portray the witches? In Shakespeare's "Macbeth" the opening scene conveys the themes of reality, illusion, fate, destiny, good and evil. These themes can be conveyed through the way the director, producer and editor produce the film. In Orson Welles' version of "Macbeth" is a horror. The mise-en-scene in the opening scene is the cauldron, the rocks and the witches. The cauldron connotes the themes of supernatural and evil. The witches connote evil and the supernatural. And is iconicity because of the way the witches are shown as old women with screeching voices suggests they are evil. The scene starts with mist which is slowly zooming out. This connotes the idea of mystery, which links with the theme of evil. This then dissolves into a shadowed set consisting of 3 figures (the witches) and some rocks. The dissolve links the two scenes because it merges them together and links the witches with mystery and evil. There is a zoom into the mist, which creates turmoil and confusion, and then this fades into the cauldron, which is bubbling. This connotes the idea of creating life from water, which would be supernatural. The cameraman keeps using zooms and jump shots to create confusion and this is put
Analyse each Directors choice of setting for the three films (all versions of Macbeth) - Explain what you think the director is trying to achieve in each case and how effective you believe him to have been - Refer to the idea you think the director has ab
Analyse each Directors choice of setting for the three films. Explain what you think the director is trying to achieve in each case and how effective you believe him to have been. Refer to the idea you think the director has about the play. In this essay I will analyse the opening scenes of three versions of Macbeth. The three versions are directed by Orson Welles, Michael Bogdanov and Trevor Nunn. Each expert in their directorial field. The directors brought their own interpretations of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The main feature of Orson Well's interpretaion was the use of black and white film. A feature of Michael Bogdanov's version was the modern set. He chose to bring the story into the twentieth century and chose a set which reflected this. Trevor Nunn's interpretation although on film was actually like a theatre production. In the following paragraphs I intend to show how the directors use of Lighting, set, costume, camera shots, pace, mood and script for the opening scenes will set the tone of the play. The Michael Bogdanov setting has to be the strangest of the lot instead of a dark and misty day, which we expect it, opens with a bright hazy day this confuses us because we expect the opening to be much more moody and dramatic to reflect the evil in the play. There is a panning shot of a junkyard then we zoom down into it where the opening scenes are set. By
Show how two different directors present the opening/witches scenes.
Macbeth William Shakespeare Show how two different directors present the opening/witches scenes. We watched two different versions of Macbeth. One was the BBC Shakespeare and the other one was a production called Middle English! While both productions told the story of the original play by William Shakespeare they were different in a number of ways. The BBC Shakespeare presents a traditional version of Macbeth. The director starts with a long shot of a bleak, empty landscape. As the camera zooms in it starts to focus on a granite platform with three objects lying on top. The rock-like platform is bathed in swirling mists and there is a greyish lighting used with occasional flashes of light to represent lighting. There are also loud percussion noises to represent thunder. This is because in Shakespeare's play the opening scene has stage directions for a storm and the first lines spoken by the witches also support this idea "When shall we three meet again in thunder, lighting, or in rain. As the camera goes in for a close up the mysterious shapes begin to move. Along with their slow movements they start to unfold and to rise and the music increases in volume and pitch as if reflecting the movement of the shapes. It soon becomes clear that these bundles of rags are in fact women. They are the weird sisters or witches in the play and they are shown in this version as old and
How effectively do Roman Polansk, Orson Welles and Trevor Nunn Use a combination of sound and vision to create an atmosphere of evil and the supernatural at the beginning of their respective versions of Macbeth?
Comparing 3 versions of Macbeth Introductions How effectively do; · Roman Polanski * Orson Welles * Trevor Nunn 1) Use a combination of sound and vision to create an atmosphere of evil and the supernatural at the beginning of their respective versions of Macbeth? 2) What differences in interpretation do you notice? Roman Polanski This is a modern representation of evil. The scene starts with a time lapse sequence, beginning with sunset into night, pulling through to sunrise. This style of scene opening makes it clear to us that the ritual has to take place at a certain time; early morning. A seagull breaks the silence, giving the scene an isolated feel. A title saying, `the tragedy of Macbeth' appears as the opening scene comes to an end. The camera moves to show a crooked stick make a mark in the sand, and then three pairs of hands begin to dig a hole in a very hurried way. This gives a mysterious effect as it isn't obvious at this moment what exactly is happening. The camera now shoes us the three witches that are digging the hole, they are breathless which gives the impression they aren't in the best of health. We see a full facial view of the witches as they begin to chant their rituals. They are traditional looking witches, one has a crooked nose and they have bent figures, mumbling voices, facial warts and black clothing. The oldest
How effective an adaptation of the play Macbeth is the film ‘Macbeth on the Estate’?
How effective an adaptation of the play Macbeth is the film 'Macbeth on the Estate'? Macbeth on the Estate is a modern adaptation of Macbeth. It is set on a modern, run-down housing estate in Birmingham. The major changes from the play are the setting and the characters. There are much fewer noble qualities about the people and places shown. Instead, the setting is very run-down and poor. The characters are also corrupt and indulgent. A lot of the blame for the bad things that happen in the play seems to be given to characters. For example, the possibility that the witches control Macbeth, and he is not in control is implied to be untrue by suggesting that the effects that seem to be supernatural are simply caused by drugs and the poor conditions. There are also some things done that cannot be done in a theatre, such as camerawork to direct the audience. I believe that the film is a reasonable good conversion of the play into a modern film. I believe that it managed to portray the meaning of the original in a modern way that is easy to understand for modern people, as well as making suggestions about the story. I like how every aspect of Shakespearean world was converted into something of the modern world, for example the castle being converted into a social club. What I don't like about it is the fact that the language wasn't changed from the original text. Although it is