Background Check

Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Hamlet seems to be much darker, visually, than Branagh’s adaptation. This may have to do with the setting of the films, as one is based in the medieval period, while the other is in the Elizabethan period. In Branagh’s film, everything is more elegant. Not only is this portrayed through the setting and the imagery, but through the actors as well. Hamlet is always somewhat poised, even when he loses control. However, in Zeffirelli’s adaptation, the film is a lot grittier. The clothing is not elegant or elaborate; even the royalty doesn’t compare to that of Branagh’s time period. The buildings and furniture are also much dirtier; objects are made from stone when they would be made out of marble otherwise. The huge contrast of Hamlet’s black outfit against the white hall in Branagh’s scene is lost, as the scene in Zeffirelli’s film is much darker and the black blends in. The lighting really determines the mood well. Most of the scenes with lighter content take place outdoors, as the lighting is much brighter outside in this film.
An interesting perspective from Zeffirelli’s film is taken from looking at the clothing. Ophelia, for example, starts in a pure white gown that darkens as she loses her sanity. In Act Four, Scene 5, when Ophelia is singing while in the castle, I noticed that while she now has a dirty grey gown, Gertrude is wearing red and Claudius is wearing black. I believe Zeffirelli chose these colours on purpose as they certainly have significance when looking at each of the characters. Ophelia has been dirtied by those who used her, Gertrude has become impure and has betrayed her now-dead husband, and Claudius is the killer of his very own brother. By this point, all of this has become clear, and Zeffirelli chooses to emphasize this through the characters’ clothing. Even in Branagh’s film, Claudius wears black, Ophelia wear a tan straightjacket, and Gertrude wears a white blouse with a black skirt, indicating her taint. In both of the films, the directors use their setting to their advantage in order to subconsciously portray important points.

Car seat

"Motor-vehicle accidents were the leading cause of death for U.S. children back then, and they still are today, but the rate of daeth has been falling dramatically. Most of the credit has gone to the car seat".

I picked this quote because it stuck out to me and set some memories off, from when I was younger. When I was 8 years old my next door neighbor who was the same age, got into a car accident and died because of the seat he was in. thinking on it now, if it happened he might of lived. This quote shows our technogolical develpoment in the last 50 years, that now our car seats are saving us in accidents.

Media Studies: Comparing film adaptations of Hamlet

We have viewed portions of two adaptations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In the comment section below this post, I would like you to begin discussion comparing and contrasting the two film versions. You may wish to do the following in your comment:

• Chose one or two of the film elements listed below and consider how Branagh’s version (1996) and Zeffirelli’s version (1990) compare and contrast
• Compare and contrast the adaptations by examining the portrayal of major characters or a character
• Respond to another student’s comments (NB: identify who you are responding to by using the tag “@” such as @Socrates if you are responding to me)

Please post your comments by Monday, January 24th.

 

Film Elements to consider:

 

Sound Elements:

• Sound effects, background noise in the scene
• Soundtrack, music, voiceovers and other sounds put on over the scene

Language Elements:

• What lines are emphasized?
• What lines (if any) are noticeably cut, included, or altered?

Performance and delivery:

• Facial expressions
• Gestures and mannerisms, body language
• Tone of voice and inflection
• Fluctuation, Pauses, and Volume of voice

Physical Elements: (Settings, props, and costumes)

• Where is the scene taking place physically?
• What do props and costumes tell us about the characters and about the time period?
• How are the props/setting used and what might they mean/signify?

Camera Elements:

• How long does the director stay with shots?
• How often are there cuts and transitions?
• When does the camera take the view of a character?
• Were there close ups, long shots? To what effect?

The Big Questions:

• What is the effect of each of these aspects on the scene?
• How does each director establish the tone of the scene?

Traffic

"The direct costs of the September 11 attacks were massive- nearly three thousand lives and economic losses as high as $300 billion-as were the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that the United States launched in response. But consider the collateral costs as well. In just three months following the attacks, there were one thousand extra traffic deaths in the United States".

This quote is very interesting because it is just math and they explain all sorts of things in the book, that you would never think of. This quote just explained why the traffic accidents went up in the United States.

Modern day vs oldschool

"It is a fact of life that people love to complain, particularly about how terrible the modern world is compared with the past.
They are nearly always wrong. On just about any dimension you can think of – warfare, crime, income, education, transportation, worker safety, health – the twenty-first century is far more hospitable to the average human than any earlier time".

This is a great quote because I can relate to many times in my life, where my grandpa would comment on my schooling and compare it to his own. He tried to convince me that the teachings today are too soft. His idea was that it was better for the teachers to be allowed to hit the students again. I think that most kids would be able to relate to my situation, and we will be complaining about our grand childrens' schooling when we are old.