So I know most people won’t have done a lot of video editing in this class, but last year when I directed a show in Halifax I thought it would be a fun project for my cast and crew to make a trailer for our play.
It was a really enjoyable experience for us and even though it was more of a joke, movie trailers can be a great way to consider themes, genre, stock characters, and many more things. At Killarney the grade 10 students are doing “TV Channel surfing projects” right now. They have to choose opposite style TV shows and commercials and represent them onstage or in a film.
While this video isn’t a great representation of the seriousness of the play I’m interested in your thoughts as to what it could be about? If anyone gets a chance to watch and respond I’ll post again with more details about the play and another video that was made about our show. Don’t cheat! It’s cool!
Ps. This was all made on my iPhone and on iMovie.
ALSO! I JUST DISCOVERED THAT MY VIDEO IS BLOCKED IN GERMANY!!! HAHAH COOL!
Brendan
5 responses so far ↓
dinouye // Nov 21st 2012 at 11:15 pm
Creepy!!!
How’s madness, possession, and violence for some prevalent themes?!
I love the music!!
kiranheer // Nov 26th 2012 at 11:22 am
I have to agree with Dana, I think this play is about insanity/madness on some level.
I really like the idea of creating a YouTube trailer for a play, and I think that the idea of making film trailers can also apply to books. For instance, an option for Romeo and Juliet – a drama unit I will be teaching during my long practicum – is allowing the students to create short films/trailers based on a key instance or to create interest in the play. The idea was to have the students thinking about the play in modern language and situating their films/trailers in an alternative setting (modern/futuristic, etc).
For instance, the book trailer that Kiran showed us in her graphic novel presentation was a great one for creating interest in Romeo and Juliet for a young adult, primarily male, audience:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=055c9Gic_g0
Using film is also a neat way to bring in an alternative medium to the usual print literature that students are familiar with in schools. However, film is also a way to make some material more relatable for the students.
On the other hand, choosing to upload their films/trailers onto YouTube would be a decision that the students would make on their own. As was discussed in out last class, making posting to YouTube mandatory would also make the teacher liable to copyright issues. Likewise, whatever medium the students choose to use, be it just regular film, the teacher has to be aware of some techniques and issues that could arise in order to provide effective feedback and guidance. In this instance, the teacher and students have to be digitally literate to complete the projects.
Thanks again for the great idea and super creative trailer for your play.
Work Cited:
“Romeo and Juliet: The War Graphic Novel Trailer.” YouTube.com. 1821 Comics. 26 Nov. 2012. Web.
dinouye // Nov 26th 2012 at 1:47 pm
Yes! I love the idea of having students create a book trailer on video!
bsangster // Nov 26th 2012 at 9:33 pm
Madness, possession, and violence are DEFINETLEY some of the key themes of the play. I think that Zwiers has intruded on my life more than I’d like to admit at the moment. If only Keith would read our blog… I’ve forced you to play your own little prediction café on my trailer!! Muhahaha! This play would be a really interesting example of a prediction café though because it’s main plot is broken down between seven individual vignettes; while still connected loosely through the story of Euripides The Bacchae.
In the first scene a woman being tortured by a spirit drowns her baby in hopes that she will find peace. The second is a woman who is possessed by a spirit and works as a medium (similar mental torture). The third story is a man who has been arrested for a number of murders, however, after being arrested he has changed his sex and murdered numerous more women through passion and sex. The fourth story is a man who leaves his wife and job because he has fallen in love with a pig, (at this point you get an intermission). The second act starts with the story of Herculine Barbin, a French hermaphrodite telling her story, and then a man retelling the same monologue as his own story of gender transformation. The sixth vignette is a woman who suffers from alcoholism (this one may seem the most ‘normal’ but it is also the most relatable and heart wrenching. The final vignette is of a woman who works as a secretary and is always in extreme physical and mental pain, and she envisions scenes of violence with almost everyone she meets.
Each of the stories has a unique line which identifies them in the opening and main scene. If you’ve seen my tattoo on my arm it is from this play, “you don’t notice your breath till something stops it”, it’s from the hermaphrodite scene.
As far as English classes go this play would raise a number of questions for classes, however it is likely problematic because of it’s mature themes. If anyone is interested in Caryl Churchill I would love to give you more information. She likely won’t be found on many high school bookshelves but as an artist she is very interesting. This play was written as a part of her Joint-Stock partnership, in particular this was made with David Lan. Sprinkled through the scenes, as transitions are movement/dance scenes. They provide an interesting point of discussion for meaning, intention, and possible multimodal expressions. The dance scenes are as simple as something like, “The Fruit Ballet: A series of movements derived from the pleasures of being eaten and the terrors of being torn up.”
If I haven’t confused you by now you should let me know and I can loan you the play to read for yourself. It was certainly one of the toughest challenges as a director I’ve ever experienced.
bsangster // Nov 26th 2012 at 9:34 pm
And if you are STILL interested… here is a short bit of some of the scenes from the play and me being interviewed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxgsVjoyYd8
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