Any film maker when making their own interpretation of a play needs to create a general atmosphere relevant to the original script.
Any film maker when making their own interpretation of a play needs to create a general atmosphere relevant to the original script. This would have been the case for Roman Polanski and Orson Welles when each was creating his own version of act 1 scene 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth. In their individual historical contexts they each had cinematic equipment at their disposal which Shakespeare did not have. When the later called for lightening and thunder ,he was given thunder boards, his play was performed in daylight with no special lighting effects in 16th century England. However Shakespeare did have the advantage of his audience understanding the superstitions concerning witchcraft, which unfortunately a modern audience would not have. Having noted these points Welles and Polanski follow Shakespeare's requirements for his play in their cinematic interpretations of Macbeth act1 scene1. Polanskis witches were quite normal looking, one is young , one is old and one is middle aged. They are also quite harmless looking, but that is really deceptive. One witch is blind, one dumb and one deaf ; they need and depend on eachother to stay alive. In Shakespeare's day 3 was a magic number, the witches appearances are very dramatic, perhaps due to their infirmities. The oldest witch is the most terrifying looking because she has got no eyes and her skin has grown over the sockets. It
Discuss the openings scenes of the Polanski and Welles' film versions of "Macbeth", considering their use of audio and visual techniques and their presentation of the witches. How do you personally respond to them?
Discuss the openings scenes of the Polanski and Welles' film versions of "Macbeth", considering their use of audio and visual techniques and their presentation of the witches. How do you personally respond to them? On first viewing both Polanski's and Welles' opening sequence of Macbeth you will immediately think them to be very different. However as we analyse them you will notice the similarities. Both openings occur before the credits and even though they are from different times they both include Shakespearean text. Both films reflect on their era accordingly: Welles' version, which was made in 1948, is in black and white and relies heavily on music. This is needed to liven the atmosphere when the film got more exciting or to give out eerie, sombre music when the film makers wanted the audience to be anxious or scared. Welles' dramatic crescendo at the end is typical of its time. Polanski's version has hardly any music at all and because it has colour technology it can rely on the warm, glowing orange of the sunset or the gloomy grey, blue of an isolated beach to set its atmosphere. Consequently the opening lacks the intensity of Welles' version. In Orson Welles' adaptation of Macbeth the atmosphere is set straight away by a menacing looking cloudscape. The cloudscape then changes to a landscape view. It illustrates a dead tree (which carries on from the dead/hell
Macbeth Coursework
Macbeth Coursework The witches present modern directors with great difficulties. Consider the role of the witches and suggest how they can be made as successful for a modern audience as they would have been for a contemporary audience. In Shakespeare's day, the thought of the witches scared people as they thought that they had witches living among them, casting spells on them and trying to do them harm. This fear was fuelled by the King at the time, James I, who believed strongly in the Divine right of Kings. This meant that he thought he derived his authority from God and so could not be held responsible for his actions by any authorities on earth. He felt that if he was God's representative on earth, then Satan must also have one. He wrote a book on demonology, which talked about witches powers and origins. Due to this, it would have been very easy to make the witches seem frightening to an audience of that time. Nowadays however, people do not believe in witches and are not as superstitious. This makes it much more difficult for a director to make them as frightening as Shakespeare intended them to be. Shakespeare managed to make the witches seem evil by using a variety of techniques. One way was by giving the witches scary looking costumes. This could be achieved by wearing dark, worn out clothes and having dirty matted hair. Make-up could be worn to make them ugly
Macbeth
The Tragic Hero Overall In American society, the topic "hero" is often used in entertainments such as comic books and movies. Not all heroes are a good man kind that deserves a happy ending. In The Tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is portrayed as a tragic hero, who was initially a basically good man but falls to destruction due to his tragic flaws. First of all, Macbeth qualifies to be a tragic hero because he is basically a good man who demonstrates physical prowess and bravery throughout the play. With his courage and war strategies, Macbeth was able to gain victory in the war against Norway and win himself an honor of double Thane. However, many people argue that Macbeth does not qualify to be a tragic hero because he lacks virtue as part of his innate character. For example, Macbeth agrees to frame Duncan's two innocent guards by making "Duncan's two chamberlains drunk with wine and wassail" (1.7.71-72), and to blame them afterwards for killing Duncan "When Duncan is asleep" (1.7.69). Moreover, his thoughts of murdering Duncan "If th' assassination/Could trammel up the consequence, and catch, With his surcease, success" proves him to be a greedy and virtueless person. However, although Macbeth had evil thoughts of harming others, it does not change the fact that he is still basically a good man with both moral and conscience. After murdering
The Film Versions of Macbeth
Roman Polanski, Orson Welles and Akira Kurosawa have all directed their own versions of Macbeth the play. This demonstrates the plays timeless appeal to so many different cultures. The reason for this timeless appeal is that it is relevant to so many cultures. The theme of ambition is one of the key themes of the play; it is relevant to all cultures even now as everyone holds the ambition to succeed in life, it is a part of human nature. Another major theme of the play that is relevant to all cultures is violence. Violence has been rampant throughout all times and all cultures. All people understand violence and are interested in one way or another in it. That is why Macbeth has such an appeal to all cultures. Both of these themes are still relevant today and are still seen today. At the time when the original play was created and performed the topic of witches was a big topic of discussion. Courtroom cases were held for accused witches and many innocent women were killed for allegedly being witches. This meant that the audience would have believed in witches making the scene more effective to them and it could have scared them also. Also James I would have been interested in this topic of witches so the play would have attracted him. Act 1, scene 1 automatically raises tension, this tension is caused by the witches as they are seen as evil and grab the audience's
Presentation of Macbeth to Elizabethan and Contemporary Audiences
Presentation of Macbeth to Elizabethan and Contemporary Audiences For this piece of coursework, I am going to compare and contrast how I as a theatre director, would present the witches' scenes in Macbeth to an Elizabethan audience and a Contemporary audience. Macbeth is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. The language used by Shakespeare is open to reinterpretation. Different people who read it will understand it in different ways. The text has many different meanings. This means that as the audience's changes socially, politically, economically and culturally there will be a different interpretation. The concept of 'witches' is continually open to reinterpretation. In the 16th century the audience was not like it is today. People in general believed in witches. It was thought that they were a real presence. Magic was a common subject and quite normal. However, witches were also thought to be evil and were therefore killed. An example of this was 'The Witch Trials' where James I executed hundreds of young women because they were thought to be witches. However, in the 21st century, there is a completely different concept of witches. Magic is no longer believed in. therefore, witches are now an aspect of fiction. Any outside influence that cannot be explained is not said to be magic or luck, it is explained to us by psychiatrists to be some kind of phenomena of the
Roman Polanski’s Version of Macbeth
In my piece of course work I am going to compare Shakespeare's original Act 1 scene i from Macbeth, to Roman Polanski's modern film. Shakespeare wrote his play to be performed on stage. Elizabethan stages were in open air and had no curtains and no lighting so all performances had to take place in the afternoon. This meant that Macbeth had to depend heavily on words and descriptions of the atmosphere, to paint the scene. Polanski made a film this meaning that he could use special effects, shoot scenes from different locations and at different times during the day. Polanski also had the freedom to put what he thought would be appropriate into the film as he was directing this film for a modern day audience to be entertained. Taking this into account we can see how Polanski would need to change the original script. Act 1 scene i is the opening scene in which we first meet the witches. In Macbeth's play it is situated on a Scottish heath however in Polanski's version it is set on a beach. There are many reasons why he may have decided upon a beach but I believe that it was because it is where the water meets the land making it easier for the witches to spread their evil. Also perhaps because no one can hide on a beach and this would show their confidence and belief in their evil magic. Polanski also decided to have a red sky this could be connected to the saying 'red sky in
Act 1 scene 1 of "Macbeth" the Scottish tragedy.
MACBETH Throughout Shakespeare's life, witches and witchcraft were the object of much fascination. Although some people did not believe in these superstitions most people believed in witches. Witches were believed to possess extraordinary powers. They could predict the future, fly and bring on night in daytime. This leads me on to the scene we have chosen to examine. It is act 1 scene 1 of "Macbeth" the Scottish tragedy. The director of the version we have chosen is Roman Polanski. In this essay I am going to look closely at many aspects of the opening scene including setting and sound. The scene we have chosen that opens the play is a very short scene. Although it is short it is long enough to awaken curiosity, but it does not satisfy this curiosity. I think the reason why Polanski started with the witches is because this leaves us in no doubt about how big apart the witches will play. It also indicates that the play is going to be a struggle between good and evil. As the opening scene begins Polanski instantly creates a sense of terror and unearthly feelings. He does by using a burnt orange/red sky overlooking a bleak desolate bare beach. Then the sky quickly develops from sunrise to morning. We see the witches walk along the wet sand as they leave the beach. They leave no footprints behind, jut black shadows. In this way Polanski tries to show the dark powers of the
Compare 3 film openings of Shakespeare's Macbeth
Compare the openings of 3 film versions of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Which do you think is the most successful and why? I am writing an essay to compare the opening scene of Macbeth as directed by Orson Welles in 1948, Bogdanov in 1998 and Polanski in 1971. There are many ways in which these scenes could be compared, but I decided to restrict it to camera movement, setting, props and sound. All three directors use the idea of nature as the first shot. Orson Welles uses a distant castle shaped rock, Polanski uses a sun setting on the horizon, and Bogdanov uses a beautiful green valley. This first shot demonstrates the wild and untamed beauty of nature and its sheer size. In Orson Welles' version, the scene opens with the view of some menacing clouds above the mist. In the distance we can see a castle shaped rock. The next shot shows three silhouetted figures high up on a rock face. These figures need to be seen if the viewer is to understand the scene. Showing them up high gives us a sense of their power. We can't actually see the witch's faces. This makes the viewer feel tense, as you don't know whom they are. Everything around the witches is dead or dying, which gives us a feeling of despair. It also makes viewers think that the witches make everything die whenever they go near or touch anything, which suggests that if they go near Macbeth, he will die. I think that the
Discuss the opening scenes of the Polanski and Welles' film versions of "Macbeth", considering their use of audio and visual techniques and their presentation of the witches. How do you personally respond to them?
Discuss the opening scenes of the Polanski and Welles' film versions of "Macbeth", considering their use of audio and visual techniques and their presentation of the witches. How do you personally respond to them? One of the most important aspects of a film is its opening scene. It is this that aims to engage us and it is the role of the director to make such scenes stick in the minds of their audience. How they do this is all down to style and technique. The two directors Polanski and Welles both have their own very established styles, as shown in their two versions of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The two versions of Macbeth share similarities, and yet they both have major differences. Both filmshowever use Shakespeare's original text. , but interpret the witches exceptionally differently. The Welles' adaptation, filmed in 1948 in black and white, takes a much more stereotypicalclichéd approach with to the three witches who are standing around a cauldron and smoke and flames appearing all over the place. . Polanski's version takes a very different approach, a lot of the introduction being very calm and quiet. In each version, the witches are interpreted differently and presents the witches as individuals. In Polanski's version, the witches are real people., Tthree different people women dressed in rags. We are given the impressionnotion that they are deprived from of common