Tuesday, April 24, 2012

To Be or not To Be..thats a good question

There were several "To be or not to be" moments in different Hamlets films where Hamlet was alone and expressed himself, as he did this, so did the directors of each movie. Giving Hamlets a different setting and outlook towards the audiences eyes. In the first film, the director Oliver, gives Hamlet no feelings or attitude to give to the audience. He does give him a prop, a little dagger which he mentions in his monologue. The dagger was a representation of how he was able to end his life right now if he wanted to. He drops the knife, realizing that he knows what the mistake was in his thought and moved away from the the decision he was going to choose. The music grew and his voice changed, when he grew rash the music did and when he was soft and sullen, so did the music.
The second one, Branagh  has Hamlet speak into a mirror and with only the audience knowing that it was a two way mirror. His uncle being on the other side listens to his speech the entire time and is frightened when this Hamlet also pulls out a dagger. Hamlet had no idea he was there, he just continued to speak to himself, letting all his anger out at this moment. I liked the idea of the director at that scene. It was far different from the rest of the Hamlets since there was no way anyone else would have thought of it in that perspective.
The third Hamlet was by Almereyda, a more modern version where Hamlet is in a Blockbuster alone able to speak to himself. This one didn't stick out much due to the fact that he used no props and didn't make it stand out any different from the rest. Plain actually, but one thing that didn't stand out because of modern times was the section he was in while making his speech. Hamlet was in the action section of the store but didn't take out anything. It was basically what he was doing, he wasn't taking action in the situation he was in. Something he wanted to do. 
The final director, Zeffirelli, used something i liked. His lighting in certain points made me more connected to Hamlet. In his dark suicidal thoughts the lighting was low and quiet, but when he realized something the lighting would brighten up again and he would go on. The lighting made a difference since all other directors didn't think to use it. Each had their own view on this famous scene and made their own mark in different ways. 

Sunday, April 15, 2012

The Three Ghost Scene

The last movies scene was very different from the rest. In the first one, the director made it very unrealistic, all the fire and the earth shaking made it seem a bit too much. The ghost was dressed in aurmor which looked better, it was a way of saying he was prepared to fight. The second movie has more of a calmer approach. Hamlet leaving the party for a while and running into this ghost of his father one on one. This ghost didnt have armour but there wasnt any fire our ground destruction, they were simply on a balcony and it seemed more realistic but the music choice gave it more of a sullen feeling. In the sencond one and first Hamlet was angered and swore for revenge. In the third movie, a more modern version where Hamlet was able to touch his father as the ghost also used a napkin as a prop to show the wound that couldnt be healed as he kept on wiping his ear. All these directors had different thoughts when they made this but i choose the second movie to capture the true meaning and stay natural and believable to all.