Film Analyses - Kenneth Branagh's "Much Adoabout Nothing".
Much Ado about Nothing
Introduction to Shakespeare's comedies
Prof. Dr. Norbert Greiner
WS 2001/2
Film Analyses
Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado about Nothing"
HOW TO FILM THIS PLAY
Ilkhan Akyürek
Fibigerstr. 163/307
22419, HH
Tel. 0179-3206737
CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTON
. Synopsis of Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado about Nothing"
2. Adapting Shakespeare
3. Shakespeare into film
4. Setting the scene
KENNETH BRANAGH'S ADAPTATION
. Openings
2. Identifying the characters
3. Director's role in shaping character
I. Claudio
II. Hero and Claudio
III. Margaret
IV. Don John
V. The Watch
THE LOOK
. Using Settings
2. Dealing with the audience
3. The use of camera
4. The Sound
CONCLUSION with credits on Kenneth Branagh
Terminology
References
PREFACE
"Much Ado About Nothing" has to be one of my favorite films. Director/star Kenneth Branagh really accomplished what he set out to do, bringing the true joys of Shakespeare to a wider public. This particular play, and movie, has a universal appeal, interweaving romance, comedy and intrigue. The storyline is still relevant today, so much so that it is easy to forget that you are watching Shakespeare.
The characters, and most of the performances, are the keystone to the movie's success but there is so much more to it than that. There is a special atmosphere to this movie. Quite simply, "Much Ado about Nothing" is one of the most visually stunning films I have ever seen. Therefore, I would like to illustrate how to film a Shakespeare play by following Kenneth Branagh's point of view.
Synopsis of Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado about Nothing"
The hot Italian sun beats down on a beautiful villa set in the idyllic Tuscan countryside. Leonato, Governor of Messina (RICHARD BRIERS) and the women of his household sprawl on the hillside relishing the summer heat.
Suddenly, Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon (DENZEL WASHINGTON) and his victorious army are seen approaching in the distance, returning from the wars. As the horses gallop towards the country estate, the women rush back to the house, and pandemonium reigns as they excitedly get themselves ready to meet the returning heroes. The men are warmly welcomed as they emerge through the archways of the villa, and seductive glances are exchanged. The wars are over. All can now devote themselves to a period of rest, revelry and matchmaking.
Don Pedro's close companions are the two lords Claudio (ROBERT SEAN LEONARD) and Benedick (KENNETH BRANAGH). Both men find themselves drawn into romance during their stay in Leonato's household. Benedick is a proud and confirmed bachelor, famously engaged in a constant -war of wits with Leonato's niece, the strong-willed
Beatrice (EMMA THOMPSON). However, their spirited parrying of words and vigorous skirmishes of wit hide a deeper attraction. Leonato's daughter, the lovely and innocent Hero (KATE BECKINSALE) is wooed by the young lord Claudio, only to experience despair when Claudio is deceived into thinking she has betrayed him on the very eve of their wedding.
At the heart of the mayhem is the evil Don John (KEANU REEVES), Don Pedro's bastard brother, who creates the intrigue because of his jealousy of Don Pedro. The villainous plot is eventually uncovered by a chance meeting between one of Don John's drunken conspirators and the local watch; a comic collection of miscreants led by the inept and exceptionally inarticulate constable Dogberry (MICHAEL KEATON).
Meanwhile we watch the amusing progress of the unlikely romance between Beatrice and Benedick, created by the affectionate manipulation of their friends.
Adapting Shakespeare
When dealing with adaptations from a Shakespeare text, as in the case of "Much Ado about Nothing", we are faced with a specific problem. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, theatre directors have usually adopted an approach to staging the plays, which did not exist in Shakespeare's time. They will have sets, often quite lavish, which show the change of scene, period costumes for the actors, special lighting effects. The idea of having sets and backdrops means that between each scene there is a pause whilst the scenery is changed.
In Shakespeare's time, the flow of the play was far more like the flow of a film - as one set of actors left the stage another would appear without pauses between scenes. So the theatre audience of Shakespeare's time would not have expected any pauses in the action, like the film audience of present time.
Anyone who adapts a literary text into a film obviously faces problems. These problems can arise not simply from the text itself but also from the attitudes of the audience and the critics.
Let us start with the text itself. One thing that we need to bear in mind is that the plays were originally intended as scripts for actors and not as texts for readers. You are probably studying the text in a lot of detail. Unlike a poem, which is normally written for close reading, a play text is not written for the same purpose. It always assumes that part of the impact will come from what happens on the stage itself.
Shakespeare into film
Common problems of making a film of a Shakespearean text are:
- Problems with the language, including difficult words and expressions, people's names etc.
- Problems with the setting and context of the play - How do we make it relevant to contemporary society? How do we cope with very different conventions of courtship and love? How do we "translate" the humor of the play?
- How do we market and sell such a film when the wider audience will not know the original text. After all "Much Ado about Nothing" has nor been filmed before.
Key decisions were made in preparing the text for filming hearing in mind the obvious truth about film:
- You can easily cut from location to location without having to establish it verbally.
Actions can speak louder than words:
- Cutting some characters' lines will obviously change the balance in favor of others.
Setting the scene
The opening, or exposition, of any film is important, not only because the story begins there, but also because it usually establishes the style of what is to follow.
As you watch the first five or ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Key decisions were made in preparing the text for filming hearing in mind the obvious truth about film:
- You can easily cut from location to location without having to establish it verbally.
Actions can speak louder than words:
- Cutting some characters' lines will obviously change the balance in favor of others.
Setting the scene
The opening, or exposition, of any film is important, not only because the story begins there, but also because it usually establishes the style of what is to follow.
As you watch the first five or ten minutes of "Much Ado about Nothing", you will be able to identify the different elements that help create the mood or atmosphere of the scene. To make this task easier, the chart below gives an idea about the preparation of a film director, who sets the main elements of film, before starting the actual shooting.
KENNETH BRANAGH'S ADAPTATION
The following statements by Kenneth Branagh, who is the producer/director and leading actor in the film, are taken from an interview in the Back Stage with Branagh (DVD release of "Much Ado about Nothing")
"The play is one of the greatest romantic comedies ever written. Like many of Shakespeare's comedies, it is very earthy and lusty. People seem to fall in love through a fury of summer madness. My intention was to make explicit in the film what is only implicit in the play"
"I wanted this to be a fairy tale-beautifully dressed and lovingly photographed-that can also be very frightening at times. Like all good fairy tales, there is a strong dark undercurrent to the story. It's also very, very funny."
Openings
Starting a film is always difficult, even more so when there is a complicated plot and relationship of characters to establish (and, in the case of "Much Ado about Nothing", the setting of the play is the Italy of Shakespeare's imagination).
Look at the opening of the film. Beatrice's voice is heard speaking, "Sigh no more ladies", whilst we see the words writ large upon the screen underscored by music.
- Consider the effect of this bearing in mind that we have already mentioned that the language could pose a problem. The actress reads the poem in Off-tone, it is also the first person's voice to hear. This, of course, helps the character to establish sympathy with the audience.
- We then go to an artist's watercolor view of the villa. Consider this image in terms of an "idealized" setting.
- We then go to the real image of the villa, which is even more stunning than the picture. In a way, the image of the real villa corresponds with the "fairy tale" setting of Mr. Branagh's statement.
- The whole opening section - the soldier's arriving, the bathing and preparations for the returning army to meet the Governor's family and entourage - is invented to simplify the background story as an entrance to this "fairy tale" society.
Identifying Shakespeare's characters
The audience enjoyed Shakespeare's drama for nearly 400 years. Some people think this success is because the plays are about things, which will always be part of human life and experience, which are relevant whatever century the audience live in - emotions such as jealousy, ambition, justice, love or hate. There is an alternative theory that the plays are written in such a style that each age can interpret the plays in its own way.
One example of this is how the heroes, heroines, villainesses and villains of the plays have been viewed in many different ways through the years. Some of the characters that have been despised or thought of as evil in past ages have been liked and admired in the twentieth century.
Whether we like or sympathize with a character or not depends on many things such as:
- Whether you recognize the type of person, a character represents (good, easily led, corruptive, hero, villain, etc.).
- Whether you identify in any way with a character - (you may admire the character; feel she/he is unlike you, or perhaps similar to you).
- Whether you have inside information (knowing things about a character can affect your level of sympathy).
Director's role in shaping character
When watching rather than reading a
play, our sympathy for a character will partly be in
response to directorial interpretation. How does a
film director build up a character and shape the
way an audience feels about her/him? Who are the
heroes and heroines, villainesses and villains in the
film? What identifies them as 'goodies' or
'baddies' Is it easy to classify every character, and label them in such simple terms? What do we risk by referring to characters as either good' or bad'? Given that a director can manipulate the way we feel towards a character, would it be possible for her/him to influence an audience's feelings so as to make them like the most evil villain or dislike the saintliest heroine?
Consider the problems posed to the director in depicting the following relationships and events in the film's storyline:
- It is a love story between two sets of people. One set of loves, hero and Claudio, are already established at the start of the film. One set, Beatrice and Benedict, are 'difficult' people but obviously suited.
- Beatrice and Benedict are 'set up' by their friends and all goes well with them until the problems with the relationship of Hero and Claudio.
- Hero and Claudio are 'set up' by the jealous half brother of the Duke-Don Pedro.
- It is the resolution of the Hero/Claudio relationship, which brings Beatrice and Benedict back together.
Claudio
A conscious decision was made to strengthen the character of Claudio in the film.
Consider the use of camera on him, music, which accompanies him and his 'framing' in the film. With these film techniques, his character was made less arrogant than in the play and more sympathetic in the film.
Hero and Claudio
Some of the smaller complications and byways of the plot concerning Hero and Claudio are ironed our e.g. In the Masked Ball Sequence, Claudio is led to believe by Don John that Don Pedro is wooing Hero on his own account but this is nor left to develop as it is in the play but tied up at that moment. This affects the narrative drive of the film, in a sense, by adjusting it to the expected Hollywood Love genre. On the other side, the portrayal of Don Pedro, Don John and Claudio differs by camera and light use.
Margaret
The part of Margaret in the film is dramatically changed. We hardly see her except in the general household scenes, briefly at the ball and at the end as one of the veiled women.
Likewise, we only see her in long shot when Borachio is pretending he is making love to Hero at the window. This scene was made so graphic, although in the play Hero is only accused of merely being seen talking to another man. Here we can witness the change of cultural expectations. Elizabethan ideals of Honor and Courtly Love are very different to our own. Claudio and Don Pedro actually witness the love scene and react to it. This is done to strength the misbehaving of Hero. Otherwise, the audience would not be convinced about Claudio's reaction.
Don John
The character of Don John speaks very little in the piece, yet he is often focused upon and we see him at his most malevolent in the interior settings of the villa. We see him massaged in the firelight striding through dark corridors. These dimmed light effect strengths his evilness, which is meant to be achieved by seeing, but not only hearing him.
The Watch
Now this really is the weak link, Keaton took Dogberry and ran riot. This Dogberry is obviously related to Keaton's previous character Beetlejuice. Both disgustingly over the top, though the latter was meant to be.
The way Dogberry treated Ben Elton's character (his sidekick Verges) was like something out of a Punch and Judy show.
On the other hand, in the original play the watch scenes happen all together, but they were split in the film. As I explained before, this is the comfort of film director, who can cut scenes from location to location
THE LOOK
Using settings
Comparing the tone of the scenes
set inside the villa with those
outside the villa, or the scenes set in
daylight with those set at night,
one can easily link with the
themes of deceit, deception,
revelation and resolution in the
film (Considering specifically the
masked ball, the wedding in the
open air, the veiled women, the
capture and unmasking of the
villains).
Kenneth Branagh, and his regular production designer Tim Harvey, put great care and planning into the overall appearance of the film. The 14th Century Villa Vignamaggio in Tuscany became the films production base as well as the location of the film. "Much Ado..." was shot over seven weeks, making the most of temperatures up to 32 degrees. Branagh believes that the sun changes the way people act, and wanted to go back to nature in this way.
The Villa's gardens, chapel and bathhouse were created for the film. One thing I particularly like is the symmetry of the whole visuals. This is not merely reflected by the layout of the gardens but by the way the actors were filmed. It was only on a later viewing of the film that I noticed that the congregation, at the first wedding, is sitting in the shape of a bell! It is staged, but not in unnatural way.
Dealing with the Audience
There are sections in the film where certain characters- -are pretending situations for other characters e.g. the revelations of Beatrice's lose for Benedict as revealed by Don Pedro and Claudio in the garden. The audience has to know the actors are pretending, the characters they are duping must not. This is more easily established in the conventions of the theatre. However, it is well done in the film
Soliloquy is very difficult to do on film, again when Benedict and Beatrice are addressing the audience in the cinema; it reaches the audience with help of perfect camera usage.
The Use of camera
There is a very spectacular shot at the end of the film where the whole last section of the dance from the archway into the garden and eventually up to a huge shot of the landscape is done in one take. A cameraman holding the camera and traveling with the actors did this.
When the song is sung in the garden at the fountain there is another "steady cam" shot mainly around the fountain. By adding depth to the scene, this shot strengths emotions, which are established by the song.
The montage of the happy Benedict in the fountain over Beatrice on the swing intensifies the feeling of their love. This is done by rapid cuts between the scenes.
Branagh (and his Director of Photography, Roger Lanser) also makes the most of overhead shots, including that wonderfully joyous dance scene that closes the movie. In the documentary 'Chasing The Light' (made for the BBC who co-funded the film) we see the filming of this sequence. It took 15 takes in 32-degree heat to get the perfect shot. Imagine being Steadicam operator Andy Shuttleworth carrying that heavy load for all that time. One aspect of movie making that few of us would envy. By the way, the documentary was called "Chasing the Light" because they only had a certain time to film the shot over the roof of the villa. If they left it too long, they would have been shooting straight into the sun.
The Sound
If there is one thing Patrick Doyle's music for "Much Ado about Nothing" conjures up in the mind, it is summer. It is very bright, very cheery, very buoyant, very... summery! The motion picture soundtrack starts with "The Picnic", read (very well!) by Emma Thompson, but it is the second track, the overture, that sets the mind racing. It presents the two main themes in a sumptuous arrangement.
These two themes ("Sign No More Ladies" and "Pardon Goddess of the Night") form the basis of most of the rest of the score. There are a few standalone cues, mostly seeming to consist of pseudo-renaissance music, which is mostly quite good, but there is perhaps just a little too much of this, when more music in the big style of the overture would have been most welcome.
The two songs I mentioned are both superb - Doyle himself sings them (very well). Of course, Shakespeare's original text is used. According to the liner notes, "Sigh No More Ladies" stems from an unused theme from Doyle's previous collaboration with Kenneth Branagh, Dead Again, but sounds about as far away from that particular score as you are likely to get. "Pardon Goddess of the Night" opens with a deep male chorus, and unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to make out what they are singing. The first half is easily the darkest music on the soundtrack, but then the full orchestra takes up the melody and suddenly everything is cheery again.
Patrick Doyle's work for Kenneth Branagh has all been of a high standard, and "Much Ado about Nothing" is considered by many to be his best score.
CONCLUSION
With Henry V, Kenneth Branagh made a stunning motion picture directorial debut, setting the cinematic world on its collective ear with a rendering of the story that many consider the equal of, if not superior to, the legendary Laurence Olivier production. Four years later, Branagh has again taken Shakespeare to his pinnacle. Much Ado about Nothing is a much different sort of picture, but no less impressive.
For those who do not find Shakespeare's comedies funny, this is the film to see, because it is hilarious. It is not just the lines that create laughter, but also the manner in which they are set up and delivered. Expressions and actions often play a large part in the comedy, some of which is decidedly physical. These are the kind of things, which do not appear on the written page. The film also contains its share of drama, and the pathos and poignancy come as easily and naturally as humor.
The life and vitality of this production are amazing. Things move along with a breezy energy that makes it impossible not to be caught up in the experience. Cuts and edits to the unabridged play are partly responsible for the up-tempo pace. However, while Branagh is not entirely faithful to the original text of Much Ado about Nothing, his film takes pains to capture the play's spirit. Only Shakespearean purists are likely to recognize what has been excised.
As might be expected, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson turn in sparkling performances. To date, neither has done better work. When they are together, the chemistry is apparent. Here, as in Dead Again and Peter's Friends, it is a high point. Branagh and Thompson are worthy contemporary rivals of any of the silver screen's great husband-and-wife couples.
Denzel Washington, not a name one might initially associate with Shakespeare, delivers Don Pedro's lines with a comfortable ease that might surprise those who associate him only with contemporary films. Keanu Reeves, as Don Pedro's bastard brother, Don John, is not as bad as one might reasonably expect (given his lackluster track record), principally because he does not have many lines. Robert Sean Leonard's range is occasionally stretched, as well. Any time he is supposed to cry, the tears do not quite come. Veterans Richard Briers and Brian Blessed, along with newcomer Kate Beckinsale, fill out the supporting roles with typical British flair. Michael Keaton is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser as the over-the-top Constable Dogberry. He is like something lifted from Monty Python, complete with The Holy Grail's galloping around on a non-existent horse. Somehow, I do not think Shakespeare envisioned the character like this.
Much Ado about Nothing is a gem of a movie - a real find in 1993's sea of mediocrity. Branagh has successfully used a mixed cast of "names" and "unknowns" to breathe life into this lavish production, and never has Shakespeare been more warmly received. I am not sure if "feel good" has ever been used to describe a picture based on the Bard's work, but the expression fits. This film cements Branagh's status as a great director of Shakespeare, and perhaps of film in general, as well.
TERMINOLOGY
Angle: The position, from which camera photographs action. Camera point of view.
High, low
Coverage: The camera angles, a director needs for dramatizing values in a scene and for effective editing. For example, a full shot, over-shoulder shots, close ups.
Editing: The selecting of significant event details and the SEQUENCING of such details into a comprehensive whole.
Frame: The perimeter of a TV/film picture; a single photographic unit of film. Also a verb: to enclose or encompass subject matter.
Cut: Border between two shots.
Montage: A term that originally referred to the editorial assembling of film segments.
Montage today describes a rapid succession of images that convey a single concept.
Screen direction: The consistent pattern of movement from angle to angle: left to right or right to left.
Scene: A clearly identifiable, organic part of an event. It is a small structural (action) or thematic (story) unit, usually consisting of several shots.
Sequence: The sum of several scenes(or shots) that compose an organic whole.
Setting the time and place in which the film's story takes place, including all of the complex factors that come packaged with a given time and place: climate, terrain, population density, social structures and economic factors, customs, moral attitudes, and codes of behavior.
Exposition: Information that the audience needs to know to understand a story. Introduction of a conflict, character(s), theme
Shot: The smallest convenient operational unit in film. It is the interval between two distinct video transitions, such as cuts, dissolves, wipes.
Visualization: The mental visual image of an event in a single shot
Action match cut: Cut made between two different angels of the same action using the subject's movement as the transition.
Complementary shot: A shot compositionally designed to intercut with another.
Continuity Consistency of physical detail between shots intended to match.
Establishing shot: A shot that establishes a scene's geographical and human contents.
Eye-line shot: A shot that shows us what a character is seeing.
External composition: The composition between two images at the point of cutting between them
Genre: A kind or type of film (horror, sitcom, drama, etc.)
Jump cut: Transitional device in which two similar images taken at different times are cut together so that the elision of intervening time is apparent. From this the audience infers that time has passed.
Storyboard: Series of key images sketched to suggest what a series of shots will look like.
Take: One filmed attempt from one setup. Each setup may have several takes.
REFERENCES:
. Greiner, Norbert, Viel Lärm Um Nichts/Much Ado about Nothing, (1989).
2. Manthey, Dirk, Making Of... 1-Wie ein Film entsteht, (1998).
3. Manthey, Dirk, Making Of... 2-Wie ein Film entsteht, (1998).
4. Shabert, Ina, Shakespeare Handbuch, (2000).
5. William Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh, Clive Coote (Photographer), Much Ado about Nothing: Screenplay, Introduction, and Notes on the Making of the Movie, (1993).
6. William Shakespeare, Arthur Raleigh Humphreys (Editor), Much Ado about Nothing,( 1997).
7. Weston, Judith, Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television, (1996).
8. Samuelson, David W., Motion Picture Camera and Lighting Equipment, (1987)
9. Forlenza Jeff (Editor), Stone Terri (Editor), Sound for Picture: An Inside Look at Audio Production for Film and Television (Mix Pro Audio), (1993)
0. Much Ado About Nothing a film by Kenneth Branagh,(1993),
Writing credits
Kenneth Branagh
William Shakespeare (play)
Cast (in credits order) verified as complete
Richard Briers .... Seigneur Leonato, Governor of Messina
Kate Beckinsale .... Hero
Imelda Staunton .... Margaret
Jimmy Yuill .... Friar Francis
Brian Blessed .... Seigneur Antonio
Andy Hockley .... George Seacole
Chris Barnes .... Francis Seacole
Conrad Nelson .... Hugh Oatcake
Phyllida Law .... Ursula
Emma Thompson .... Beatrice
Alex Lowe .... Messenger
Denzel Washington .... Don Pedro of Aragon
Keanu Reeves .... Don John
Richard Clifford .... Conrade
Gerard Horan .... Borachio
Robert Sean Leonard .... Count Claudio of Florence
Kenneth Branagh .... Seigneur Benedick
Patrick Doyle .... Balthazar
Alex Scott .... The Boy
Michael Keaton .... Constable Dogberry
Ben Elton .... Headborough Verges
Edward Jewesbury .... Sexton
Produced by
Kenneth Branagh .... producer
Stephen Evans .... producer
David Parfitt .... producer
Original music by
Patrick Doyle
Cinematography by
Roger Lanser
Production Design by
Tim Harvey
2