Early Film Invention; Early Film Examples

LAB WORK: (period 1, Until 8:05ish)

Turn in homework from last class (or check it--did you do it?) If you did not post your comment regarding your film knowledge/experience and the 100 films of all time from last class, what are you waiting for? Post in the comment section of today's site for partial credit.

LAB ACTIVITY: In the lab answer the questions on the handout using this website and the article (part 1 & 2) by Tim Dirks. The next page (part 2) is found on the bottom of the screen. Follow the arrows to the right to advance the page. Complete Part One and Two by answering the questions. Turn in your answers by the end of class Friday, Feb. 2 for participation credit.

Period 2 (or 8:10ish): Classroom: Early Films

We will screen some early film examples. There's a lot here. Get your notebooks ready!

From last class:

Celluloid: Invented in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt. Strips of thin film which could be developed with pictures.

Praxinoscope: Invented in 1877 by Charles Emile Reynaud. A film projector. This clip shows examples of Reynaud's animations. 

Light Bulb: Edison invented the long-lasting light bulb and secured the patent in 1879. Actually the light bulb predates this date. Edison patented the incandescent light bulb filament (specifically). 

The Photographic Gun: Often hailed as the "inventor of cinema" Etienne-Jules Marey invented his chronophotography or series photography, similar to Muybridge's attempts, which allowed for the taking of several photographs on the same "plate" in 1882.

Now: Watch these early films from the late 1890's and early 1900's. As you watch, take notes in your journal/notebook about the director(s) and the titles and content of the film. Summarize in a few words or a sentence or two what each film is about. At the end of the collection, answer the following:

• What do you notice about the films? 
• What subject matter do they deal with? 
• What do you notice about the shots and camera work in these films?

Edweard Muybridge (1830-1904): Our first pioneer of the art of film is the photographer Edweard Muybridge. Muybridge was a photographer who became famous when former California Governor Leland Stanford contacted him to help settle a bet over whether all four hooves of a running horse left the ground. Muybridge began experimenting with an array of 12 cameras photographing a galloping horse in a sequence of shots. Between 1878 and 1884, Muybridge perfected his method, proving that horses do have all four hooves off the ground at some point during their running stride. Muybridge worked at the University of Pennsylvania between 1883 and 1886, producing thousands of photographs of humans and animals in motion. He published several books featuring his motion photographs and toured Europe and North America, presenting his photographic methods using a projection device he'd developed, the Zoopraxiscope.

Some other interesting bits about Muybridge: During a break from his photographic research, his wife, Flora, had an affair with Major Harry Larkyns, a drama critic. Believing that Larkyns had fathered the couple's recently born son, Muybridge tracked him down, shot, and killed him. At his trial for murder in 1875, several witnesses testified that Muybridge's personality had changed after he received a head injury in which he lost his ability to taste and smell. The jury didn't buy the insanity defense, but acquitted Muybridge on the grounds of "justifiable homicide." Muybridge died in 1904. His contributions to art and photography spurred the works of other film inventors, many of which we will study today.

Please watch the following two films, the first a documentary: Photographs of Motion

and the second, a series of Muybridge's photographs, sped up to show motion (persistence of vision!)

So what's the oldest film ever made? Interesting story:
The oldest surviving film in existence at this point is Louis Le Prince's Roundhay Garden Scene (1888). This sequence was recorded on an 1885 Eastman Kodak paper base photographic film through Le Prince's single-lens combi-camera-projector. It moved at 12 frames per second.

Le Prince's life was also interesting and there's a mystery (and some say conspiracy) attached to his death. Le Prince was never able to perform a planned public demonstration in the United States of his films because he mysteriously vanished from a train on 16 September, 1890 --His body and luggage (including his film camera) were never found. Le Prince's disappearance allowed Thomas Edison to take credit for the invention of motion pictures in America, but now Le Prince has been heralded as 'The Father of Cinematography.'

Edison Kinetoscope films: (1894-1896)
Titles in this clip include: The Kiss, Serpentine Dances, Sandow the Strong Man, Comic Boxing, Cock  Fighting, The Barber Shop, Feeding the Chickens, Seminary Girls & Boxing Cats

Many of Edison's early films were shot by W.K.L. Dickson. Thomas Edison invented the idea of the Kinetoscope but it was Dickson who designed it between 1889-1892. His film studio was called the Black Maria. The first kinetoscope exhibition occurred in New York, NY in 1894.

Other Kinetoscope films:

• Statue of Liberty (1898)
• The inauguration of President McKinley (1901)
• Skyscrapers of New York (1903) 
• Moscow Clad in Snow (1906)

At the same time, in France, the Lumiere Bros. were also working on the invention of film, particularly a camera that could also project a film for the benefit of an audience. Learn more about The Lumiere Bros. (Documentary, 10 minutes).

• Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (Lumiere Bros) (1895)
• Lion, London Zoological Gardens (Lumiere Bros) (1895)
• The Sprinkler Sprinkled (Lumiere Bros) (1895)
• Le Squelette Joyeux (the happy skeleton) (1895) 
• Arab Cortege (Lumiere Bros) (1896)
• Various actualities (documentaries)

HOMEWORK: None. Notes for Parts 1 & 2 are due end of class on Friday.

TOP Films of All Time: Personal Response & Journaling

After our quick introduction to the course, please take the next 3-5 minutes to do the following brainstorming activity: Trace your hand(s) like you used to do in elementary school.

#1. Hands down! List your top 10 favorite films of all time on your 'fingers'.
#2. In the 'palm' of your hand drawing, name your favorite genres of film. (i,e. what do you prefer to watch?) Consider 'why?'

RESOURCES TO USE DURING THIS CLASS:

The TOP Films of All Time - A Personal Response by YOU!

For our class, this website by film historian Tim Dirks, will provide you with a lot of excellent information. We will be using the link throughout our course as a reliable source of information.
Please go to the link (on the right side of this post): Film History.

Other Resources:

• IMDB.com (this is the international movie data base, and can be very helpful to you in this course).
• Metacritic (a website where you can find all sorts of film reviews for models regarding how to write a film review--and for your own enjoyment)
• The Internet Script database. This site publishes many contemporary film scripts. It will be important to check your film script formatting and go here to read scripts. There is a link to this page to your right of this post.
• Youtube.com Many of the clips we will be watching in this class come from sites like youtube.com. You are probably already familiar with this website.

LAB ACTIVITY: Today, I'd like you to spend some time reviewing the top 100 films of all time in the lab. Please read Dirk's information, take a look through the list and note the following (perhaps in 3 columns or sections):

A. Which films on this list have you personally seen? (jot down a few titles in your journal)
B. Which films on this list have you heard about, but never had the chance to see? (jot down a few titles)
C. If a movie looks interesting to you, please jot down its title in your journal.

Then in a short personal response in the COMMENT section below on this blog, talk about your experience with film. How knowledgeable do you think you are you about the topic? What films have become important or traditions for you or your family? Explain what the magic or cinema means to you? Reflect on what you learned today and write about your reaction to that. Or anything relevant about a personal response about film.

Period 2: CLASSROOM DISCUSSION: please get into groups of 3-4. Discuss your list with your group members. Also spend any time remaining in the class activity discussing films you love or hate. Why do you love or hate the film? Discuss. You have 5 minutes to talk/discuss.

Early Film Inventions: Let's play around with a few visual toys and learn about the early, early days of film.

Persistence of Vision: the optical illusion that allows the human mind to blend various images together into a single image. Provides the "move" part of a "movie". 

These are just some of the important events, inventions, and inventors that helped create the film industry. You should be familiar with them. Please take notes and study them for our upcoming test on this material.

Magic Lantern: Invented in the 17th century by Athanasius Kircher. The magic lantern projected pictures on a screen. It functioned like an overhead projector. Originally it used a candle as the light source.

Thaumatrope: Invented by Dr. John Ayrton Paris in 1824; utilized the theory of “persistence of vision”: Persistence of vision is the optical illusion where multiple images blend into a single image in the human mind. Without it, we would not be entertained by film as it wouldn't appear to "move"--hence, no "movies".

Fantascope, Phenakistiscope (“spindle viewer”), Fanatoscope: invented by Belgian inventor Joseph Plateau. Daedalum (Horner 1834)/Zoetrope (Lincoln 1867)

Daguerreotype: Invented in 1839 by Louis-Jacques-Monde Daguerre. The process of capturing images on silvered, copper metal plates - the beginning of photography.

Celluloid: Invented in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt. Strips of thin film which could be developed with pictures.

Praxinoscope: Invented in 1877 by Charles Emile Reynaud. A film projector. This clip shows examples of Reynaud's animations. 

Light Bulb: Edison invented the long-lasting light bulb and secured the patent in 1879. Actually the light bulb predates this date. Edison patented the incandescent light bulb filament (specifically). 

The Photographic Gun: Often hailed as the "inventor of cinema" Etienne-Jules Marey invented his chronophotography or series photography, similar to Muybridge's attempts, which allowed for the taking of several photographs on the same "plate" in 1882.

Edweard Muybridge (1830-1904): Our first pioneer of the art of film is the photographer Edweard Muybridge. Muybridge was a photographer who became famous when former California Governor Leland Stanford contacted him to help settle a bet over whether all four hooves of a running horse left the ground. Muybridge began experimenting with an array of 12 cameras photographing a galloping horse in a sequence of shots. Between 1878 and 1884, Muybridge perfected his method, proving that horses do have all four hooves off the ground at some point during their running stride. Muybridge worked at the University of Pennsylvania between 1883 and 1886, producing thousands of photographs of humans and animals in motion. He published several books featuring his motion photographs and toured Europe and North America, presenting his photographic methods using a projection device he'd developed, the Zoopraxiscope.

Some other interesting bits about Muybridge: During a break from his photographic research, his wife, Flora, had an affair with Major Harry Larkyns, a drama critic. Believing that Larkyns had fathered the couple's recently born son, Muybridge tracked him down, shot, and killed him. At his trial for murder in 1875, several witnesses testified that Muybridge's personality had changed after he received a head injury in which he lost his ability to taste and smell. The jury didn't buy the insanity defense, but acquitted Muybridge on the grounds of "justifiable homicide." Muybridge died in 1904. His contributions to art and photography spurred the works of other film inventors, many of which we will study today.

Please watch the following two films, the first a documentary: Photographs of Motion

and the second, a series of Muybridge's photographs, sped up to show motion (persistence of vision!)

HOMEWORK: Please read the short article "The Birth of Film" and then read about early film technology here at this website. In your notes/film journal, please identify, or describe (and/or draw a picture) the significance of the following technology. The side bar on the website's left hand side has the links for each device.

• Zoetrope
• Praxinoscope
• Kinetoscope
• Cinematographe
• Mutoscope
• Vitascope

Film Journal: Ongoing Paper Assignments

You will be expected to write at least 2 journal/film essays during marking period 3. The first paper will be due around week 4-5, and the second will be due around week 8-9. Details about the journal papers will be discussed further in class in the next few weeks. Here's a sneak preview of the assignments you can chose from for your papers:

1. View a film--any film--of your choice. Then, single out a particular scene. A scene is one setting or location, usually shot for no more than one minute. Make a detailed list of the particular labors required to produce this scene. You may wish to divide your list into the following categories: Set design, costume, special effects, lighting, acting, camera, sound, etc. Of course, you ought to notice labors needed to produce the images and sounds that viewers actually experience, but dig deeper. What sorts of invisible laborers were required before the scene could be realized? For example: who put the props on the set and who was responsible for buying or making the props in the first place? Did caterers make sure that people on the set were fed? And who called the caterers? Once the scene was shot, what sorts of labors made it possible for you to witness what was filmed? You may wish to view the end credits of the film as well to help you get an idea who was involved. From your list, make an observation in 1-2 pages (double-spaced) about the amount of work (and who may be involved) in the short scene that you studied. Write an essay in which you discuss your list and what you came to understand about the particular scene shot. What observations did you make and how has this changed (or not changed) your appreciation of the film?

2. View a film of your choice and write a short essay in which you speculate on possible answers to this question: Who is conceivably the author of this film? Who deserves the title? Again, speculate. How does film--like other electronic media (like, say, a CD or a video game)--reveal authorship to be an “outdated” concept, and a concept that has, in our age of electronics, become problematic? How does this change or alter the way in which you view film authorship? What does it mean to you as a potential writer of film?

3. To show us exposition or to describe a character, the camera often shows us a room or personal belongings of a character in a movie as a way of communicating to the audience. For example, in the film Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, to give us information about the film's main character, even before we see him, the camera pans and tracks, showing us Ferris' bedroom. We see all kinds of stuff, and this stuff is arranged in telling ways. There's a similar shot in Silence of the Lambs, when Clarice Starling (Jody Foster) inspects items in the bedroom of a murdered girl.

The point: We notice character (or a character’s personality) is constructed through elements of the mise en scene: in this case, out of the collage or mix of stuff that the set designer arranged for the camera. As viewers we project a personality onto the screen based on what we see (and also by what we do not see). If you call this process of generalization "stereotyping," you are right. The fact is, without culturally shared stereotypes, films probably wouldn't make sense to us. Such stereotyping is a lot more subtle than assuming that if a cowboy is wearing a white hat, he must be the good guy. There are students in school who can and do size up people in seconds based on a person’s hairstyle or by the style of clothes the person wears.

Part A. Examine a film character and watch them in their opening scene or a scene which “develops” them. What information about the character is given through mise-en-scene? What foreshadowing or clues does the camera provide for us as viewers? Finally, do we stereotype correctly – or is the director manipulating us by putting us in that position? 

Part B. In this assignment as a way to experiment with mise en scene, choose a character, any character. He or she can be "real" or "invented." S/he could be a student (of any age), a business person (any job), a criminal (any sort), an alien (any nationality or species), etc. And then, I want you to try out the role of set designer. Your task is to create a very detailed description of this character's bedroom. You can do this in the form of a list, an inventory of the stuff you'd bring onto the set and arrange for the camera. But your goal is simple. We in the film crew have to be able to shoot this room using your instructions, your list. And we have to be certain that the film audience will have a certain sense of the inhabitant's personality. In effect, it's your job to construct a personality for the film's character through staging.

In your journal entry, give readers a complete inventory or an in-depth description of a bedroom--list or paragraphs, your choice. Do not tell us anything about the character that inhabits this room! For example, don't say, "This is the room of a kindergarten student, a girl, living in a town somewhere in central Pennsylvania. Her mother is a real estate agent; her father is a civil engineer." I would like for your classmates to guess the character you've invented based on what you give us. In other words, I want you to approach the work of your classmates inductively--like detectives, scientists, and FBI agents. Show us the character and his/her personality through a description of the character’s room.

4. View a documentary film of any sort. In a paragraph or two summarize the documentary – what is the main focus or theme of the film? Next, describe the structure of this film. Is the movie told in a straight forward narrative? Is it a series of interviews, or short clips which slowly reveal the main point? Finally, can you tell what the director/writer want to make the audience feel about the subject? How has the director/writer presented the documentary according to his/her own point of view? How does the documentary artist choose particular parts of the story to present his or her interpretation? How may the artist be biased and how is this bias shown to us through the parts of the film the director chooses to show us? Do you think the film is mostly subjective or objective? Are you being manipulated by the director/writer? How can you tell?

5. Read an article from a newspaper or from a magazine of your choosing (you may also choose to use a short story). Imagine writing a screen play on the news story or article. Briefly summarize the article or attach the clipping to your paper. Then, answer any of the following questions in a journal entry (1-2 pages):
--Whose story would you tell? Around whose basic point-of-view would you build the screen play? Why would you choose this “character”?
--How about depth? Are you going to stick to a primarily objective (just the facts, no opinion) approach? Will you grant viewers access to the subjective (personal opinion) states of any of the film's characters?
--Who do you plan to make this film for? Who is your audience? How might you change the real story to better affect your audience?
--Stories are created in the minds of viewers; they're our response to plot cues. This is especially evident in films that are told out of chronological order--where viewers have to straighten out scenes and mentally order them--in effect, completing or assembling stories. Are you going to tell your version of the story in a straightforward fashion or use flashback or other unusual narrative techniques to get the story across?

6. Watch a narrative film. Create a chart that illustrates the conflicting goals of the characters and values of the director/writer/audience that drive a narrative film of your choice. How does one conflict lead to another? How do these conflicts build upon one another in the film (usually leading to a climax)? How does this film resolve the conflicts that it sets in motion? Finally, does the film keep your interest and if so, is this largely because of the conflict of the main character(s)?

7. Choose a film and watch the main protagonist of the film closely. How does the director portray this character in a positive way so that the audience identifies with him/her? Use specific examples from the film. What effect is the director having on you as an audience member in showing or depicting the protagonist in this way? Is the director successful or unsuccessful and why? Alternatively, you may choose the main antagonist or villain and answer the same question.

8. View an animated movie or short of your choice. What qualities of the film work better as animation as opposed to representation of live characters or actors? Why do you think the film was made as animation instead of being filmed live? What is added or removed in making the film an animated feature? Using your speculative hypothesis (your answer), what evidence in the film is there of the director choosing to make this film an animated one?

9. Watch a film you absolutely hated the first time viewing it. Try to describe what it is about the film that you do not like (this can be technical (how the film was put together physically) or creative (how the film was written as a story), but do not simply state that you didn’t like the film because you didn’t like the film. Try to identify the flaws in the film: if technical, did the director’s choice of film techniques fail? If creative, is the main character not interesting or is there not enough conflict in the story, etc.? Finally, recast and redesign the film to fit your own tastes. Explain what changes would you make if you were the director?

10. Choose a foreign film and watch it. How is watching a foreign film challenging apart from the language barrier and the use of subtitles? In other words, what other challenges or problems might you face as an audience member of a different culture than the one the film was originally intended for? Next, analyze the director’s style. How is the director’s style different from mainstream Hollywood films with your own culture in mind? Finally, is there anything new you learned about a different culture or country by watching this film?

11. Watch three films from the same time period in the same genre. (For example 1970's horror films). What similarities and differences do you detect as you watch the film? Take note of special effects, use of screen shots, theme, acting or camera style. Write a paper on how these movies reflect a). The director b). The culture of the time period c). The tradition of film history

12. Go to the Dryden theatre and watch a film there. You should also compare this experience with a viewing at a standard first-run theatre (Regal, Tinseltown, etc.) and a viewing at a second-run theatre or independent art cinema (The Cinema, The Little Theatre). How does your experience differ from cinema to cinema? How might a specific kind of audience affect your enjoyment of a film? What is unique about each film audience “culture”? Write a reflection or “memoir” of your experience in each cinema. If you can, express an epiphany about film experience.

Changing of the Guard; A Second Reel

Welcome to Film Studies!

This course is designed to provide you with a wide foundation of Film History and Film Studies, while also giving you experience writing film scripts and film reviews/critiques (as such found in the field of Journalism). You can find the course syllabus on my teacher website.

By its end, you will understand the art of film hopefully more than you do now, and will gain a better appreciation for the art of filmmaking and the films you watch for enjoyment. Some of you may like this course of study so much you will take film courses in college, major in film studies, or become professional filmmakers. Others will at least benefit from knowing (and appreciating) the art of film.

Please note that you will need a notebook/journal and bring it to class every class period. You will use your journal/notebook when watching films, for brainstorming, and for various responses and exercises. I will be collecting your journal at the end of each quarter of this course and you may sometimes use it for tests/quizzes.

How to Take Cornell Notes (also see handout)

Thank you for completing the Playwriting course!

Play Projects Due!

Lab: Play projects are due!

Please make sure you proofread and correct your formatting before submitting your work!

Option 1: Full length play. (2 or more Acts) 50-60+ pages of a single play script story line.

Option 2: 2 full one-act plays. 40-60+ pages (20-30 pages per one act), separate story lines.

Option 3: 1 one-act play, and two (2) 10-minute plays. 35-60+ pages, separate story lines.

Option 4: 4 (four) 10-minute plays. 30 - 45 pages, separate story lines.

PROJECT RUBRIC:

A: completion of one of the options above. Work is grammatically flawless, formatting for stage plays is too. It is clear this student understands the structure and composition of a play, from premise to resolution. Work is of excellent creative writing quality. Only minor issues/concerns that could easily be smoothed out in a rehearsal process for the play's production. Work is consistently excellent. Commendable effort is clearly presented.

B: completion of one of the options above. Work has some common grammar/formatting mistakes, but nothing that gets in the way of comprehension. Student seems to understand the structure and composition of a play script. Work is good quality, but may need more workshopping or a theatrical reading to smooth out problems areas for a stage production of the work. Work may be uneven or unbalanced. Good effort.

C: completion of one of the options above. Work has several grammar/formatting mistakes. Student's understanding of the craft of playwriting is in question--perhaps the premise or script reads too much like a movie or fiction story, or acts/scenes/beats are dull or tedious, or structure and/or theme is more of an afterthought. Work is of acceptable quality. Issues may exist concerning production for one (or more) of the script(s). Play may not be ready for a workshop or public reading. Work may be incomplete or lacking components of dramatic structure. Work shows some promise, but more writing/revision/editing or restructuring is needed by the author. Drafts may be uneven or incomplete, lacking development (plot, character, theme, etc.). Some effort.

D: Incomplete project. There may be parts of the options above, but student failed to complete project. Shows some basic effort, but a lot of revision and writing needs to be done by the playwright before the script sees the light of day in a theatrical production. Late scripts that would have counted as the score(s) above. An attempt was made.

F: Incomplete project. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained. No work completed.

Please turn in your projects by end of day Friday. No electronic copies. Print your play projects on your own time. Late projects will be accepted until end of day Monday, January 23.

Period 2: Final Exam. Please move to the library and complete your final exam. After all exams are in, please share your scripts or use the lab to continue writing. See extra credit opportunities below.

Sharing. If you would like a class reading of your work, please see Mr. Craddock during the first half of 1st period!

Extra Credit Opportunities:
Oh, so many plays! If you'd like, you may (by absolute end of Marking Period--January 27) complete any of these extra credit options:

• Read: Samuel Beckett's Endgame.
• Read: Suzan-Lori Parks' The America Play
• Read: Suzan-Lori Parks' The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World
• Read: August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come & Gone
• Read: Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun
• Read: Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Read: Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap
• Read: Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile
• Read: David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly
• Read: Tony Kushner's Angels in America: Millennium Approaches

For each play you choose to read, write a summary of the play's major dramatic action, and evaluate the play's structure, theme, and the playwrights' success or failure using criteria learned from this course to support your review.

• Write an additional 10-minute play. 6-10 pages, approx. Utilize criteria for effective playwriting learned from this class. You may repeat this option as you deem necessary.

HOMEWORK: None.

Absurdist Theater; Samuel Beckett

Lab 1:
Please work on your play projects. There is a final exam next class (as well as your drafts are due Friday).

Added to your list of terms, please know the following plays and playwrights we read and/or studied during this course (congratulations, we have read over 25 plays in one semester!):

• Talking With by Jane Martin
• Spic-o-Rama by John Leguizamo
• 'Night Mother by Marsha Norman
• Oleanna by David Mamet
• The Dutchman by Amiri Baraka
• The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel
• Learning to Drive by Paula Vogel
• Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
• The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam
• The Vampire Lesbians of Sodom by Charles Busch
• Red Scare on Sunset, Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Psycho Beach Party, The Woman in Question by Charles Bush
• God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza
• Antigone by Sophocles
• Agamemnon by Aeschylus
• Lysistrata by Aristophanes
• Hamilton, An American Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda 
• Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
• Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
• Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
• Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
• The Seagull by Anton Chekhov (& "The Boor")
• Miss Julie by August Strindberg
• Salome by Oscar Wilde
• Trifles by Susan Glaspell
• "Overtones" by Alice Gerstenberg
• "If Men Played Cards as Women Do" by George S. Kaufman
• Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Classroom 2:
Absurdist Theater:

Weather got you down? Feeling as if there's no point to life? Check out this style of writing...

Characteristics of Absurdism:

1. Characters are often threatened by an unknown outside force.
2. The world or diegesis of the play/film is unpredictable or lacks meaning which the characters must contend with.
3. There is often an element of horror or tragedy; characters are often in hopeless situations or trapped.
4. Dialogue is often playful, full of nonsense, repetition, or engages in silly wordplay or banter.
5. Plays are often funny, although theme is usually serious and symbolic. Absurdist theatre is often called "tragicomedy", having elements of broad humor and tragedy.
6. There is often a good deal of farce (mistaken identity, physical comedy, slapstick, sudden entrances and interruptions, etc.)
7. Theatre of the absurd often presents characters failing at something without suggesting a solution to the problem. Characters are often "losers" who cannot dig themselves out of the problems they find themselves in.
8. Characters are often unable to communicate with others (particularly about their feelings, desires, or needs).
9. Plot is often cyclical or repetitive.
10. Plots have a dreamlike or surreal quality to them, akin to nightmare. Plot events are often taken at face value; characters are unwilling or uninterested in examining "why?" something happens and instead react to "what" happens. Therefore plot is often lacking the cause. The effect is often stressed as being more important.

A Writing Prompt: in your journals/notebooks, please write 3 metaphors. While one half of the metaphor may be a grand human idea: freedom, love, justice, revenge, marriage, hope, wealth, etc. the metaphor you create should be fairly concrete: "hope is a thing with feathers", "love is a battlefield", "revenge is a dish best served cold". Come up with 3 metaphors.

Once you have 3 metaphors, select one to build an absurdist play around. Use the characteristics of Absurdism above to help give you ideas.

Now let's chat about absurdism.

Although various classical and important plays have toyed with absurd situations, it was the futility of WWII combined with the surreal and existential that birthed such a movement. When any moment we are threatened with total destruction, what else is there to do but sit stunned and blankly in misunderstanding, or weave a web of words that lack meaning?

Traditional theater often attempts to show a realistic portrayal of life. Situations and characters are firmly rooted in reality and the common human actions that result in drama. Most plays trust the word. Words we use carry meaning. But what occurs when, with the threat of nuclear annihilation, we are not able to use our human reason and the symbol of such reason (our words) to alter our own fate? If we remove the trust in language, reason, logic, and traditional conventions of story telling, we are left with something that has no inherent meaning, but in that shape is given meaning by its opposite. Modern life is futile, lacking a sensible God figure, in which the answer to the question "what is the meaning of life?" is a resounding blackness or emptiness. All is meaningless, particularly that which is supposed to bring the comfort of meaning (i.e., words).

In the hands of playwrights like Samuel Beckett, the portrayal of a such meaningless absurdity becomes a metaphor for our own modern lives--filled as they are with anxiety, fear, hesitation, incompetence, misunderstanding, and the lack of fulfillment.

Samuel Beckett: (Beckett will separate the true playwrights from those who just pretend to be talented or intelligent). Perhaps one of the strangest plays you are likely to see (there are several, actually--see below) is Samuel Beckett's End Game.

The story involves Hamm, a blind old invalid unable to stand, and his servant Clov, who cannot sit down. They live by the sea in a tiny house. The dialogue suggests that there is nothing left outside—no sea, no sun, no clouds. The two mutually dependent characters have been fighting for years and continue to do so as the play progresses. Clov always wants to leave but never seems to be able (similar to the characters in Waiting for Godot). Also present on stage are Hamm's legless parents Nagg and Nell, who live in trash cans upstage who also bicker continuously or talk inanely.

"The English title is taken from the last part of a chess game, when there are very few pieces left. Beckett himself was known to be an avid chess player; the struggle of Hamm to accept the end can be compared to the refusal of novice players to admit defeat, whereas experts normally resign after a serious blunder or setback."

Endgame lacks action, in Beckett's typical absurdist style. Critics have compared this play with Shakespeare's Hamlet (the protagonist Hamm, for example, is thought to be a shortened version of the name).

The implication in the play is that the characters live in an unchanging, static state. Each day contains the actions and reactions of the day before, until each event takes on an almost ritualistic quality. It is made clear, through the text, that the characters have a past (most notably through Nagg and Nell who conjure up memories of tandem bike rides in the Ardennes). However, there is no indication that they may have a future. Even the death of Nell, which occurs towards the end of the play, is greeted with a lack of surprise." The play suggests the futility of life, and the random boredom, argument for argument sake, and the waste of human effort.

Here's the full play with actor Michael Gambon (better known as Dumbledore). You may read a copy of this script (or watch the film performance) for extra credit. If you read it, please write up a short summary and evaluate or review the play. What happened in the play? Did you like it? Why or why not? This extra credit can be turned in no later than Friday, Jan. 28.

Another very strange play is Happy Days by Samuel Beckett. The characters are Winnie and her husband Willie. The play is essentially a monologue. The theme is domestic life. Same thing as Endgame.

And another very strange play is the play Play. This one with late actor Alan Rickman. Similarities to the two previous plays are obvious, I think.

And finally Beckett's masterpiece: Waiting For Godot part 1, and Waiting for Godot, part 2. Another version of the play with actors Zero Mostel & Burgess Meredith. And Waiting for Godot & Elmo. Please read this play (it will show up on the final exam). Enjoy!

HOMEWORK: Complete your play projects; Study (please study!) for your final exam.

Final Exam Prep

FINAL REVIEW

At their core, plays examine conflict through the verbal interaction of characters in a specific setting for a specific purpose (both that of the fictional character as well as the playwright’s IDEA (theme, premise, or message). Writers would be well served to:

• ·         Write about issues that are important to the human race (either through parody, humor, drama, or tragedy, for example)
• ·         Write with the actor and audience in mind. Plays are live performances. What is exciting or interesting about the setting, characters, or actions in the plot that draw us (the audience) in?
• ·         Write with skill. Lines of dialogue must be clear, concise, specific, and, above all, artistic. Plays all started out as songs and poetry. Remember that.
• ·         Write uniquely and creatively. Audiences want to be treated to new visions and new ways of thinking. Write plays that invite curiosity, debate, or insight. Write plays that intrigue or compel us to watch. That’s the job of a playwright.

Look through these vocabulary notes/concepts we have discussed during Playwriting. You should be able to write and discuss how these elements are found in texts we read for this course. I'll provide a list of the plays and playwrights we read next class. Look over your returned homework assignments for help in studying for the exam.

• Premise: a deeply held belief by the playwright which shapes a script.
• Conflict
• Structural Unity: all parts of the plot (exposition, rising action, turning point, climax, resolution, etc.) should work and fit together.
• The classical unities: the unity of time, place, and action. A well-written play should encompass only a short amount of time, use one main setting, and have only one main plot (subplots can occur, but only one plot should be the main plot). 
• Inciting Incident: the point of attack, the inciting incident forces the protagonist into the action of the play's plot.
• Events
• Major Dramatic Question (MDQ): the hook that keeps an audience interested in a play; a dramatic question that a reader/viewer wants answered.
• Major decision: A decision a character makes in the plot that creates the turning point for their character.
• The three C's: Conflict, crisis, complication: obstacles characters must face for an interesting and dramatic plot.
• Rising Action
• The dark moment/crisis: the lowest moment of a character's struggle--when all the world seems lost, the fight unbeatable, the "darkest hour before dawn" -- a stunning reversal of fortune and sense of failure.
• Deus ex machina: a contrived ending. Often one in which the characters did not have a hand in solving. (It is more interesting to see a character deal with their own problems rather than an outside force solving it for them.) literally, a "god from a machine"
• Enlightenment: When the protagonist understands how to defeat the antagonist. A revelation that begins the movement toward a climax.
• Climax
• Catharsis
• Structure: (Ten minute play format, One act plays, Full length plays (2, 3, 4, or 5 act); Monologues/Soliloquies
• Acts, scenes
• Commedia d'ell Arte 
• Masks, Cross-dressing; pantomime
• Absurdist Theater 
• Constantin Stanislavski & the Moscow Art Theatre
• Farce
• The Event: a uniquely significant moment in the character's lives
• Time lock: setting up a time limit or specific deadline characters have to meet in order to spur them into action (for example having a script project due...)
• French scenes
• Place & setting
• Theme
• Scenario: an outline for a writer to identify major/minor characters, plot, and setting used BEFORE writing a script
• Catalyst: the event in the play that causes a character to take action
• Character flaw
• Creating credible characters
• Protagonist
• Antagonist
• Subtext: what is not said in a character's line. The subtext are the subtle details or clues used by the actor to develop their character.
• Beat: a short exchange of dialogue
• Different types of beats: physical, behavioral, inner-life
• Time lock: a deadline for a character to achieve his/her goal in a scene or play
• Sign post/Pointer: foreshadowing or hints that something will happen in a play
• Backstory
• A Confidant: a character the protagonist or antagonist can talk with to reveal necessary backstory
• Verisimilitude: the semblance of truth in characters and setting. "a king should act like a king, not a foul-mouthed beggar."
• Peripety
• Hamartia
• Agnorisis
• Dialogue (tips and advice)
• Aristotle's 6 Parts of a Play (Plot, Character, Idea (theme), Language (dialogue/diction), Music, and Spectacle) 
• Theatrical/literary periods: realism, modernism, absurdism, symbolism, comedy, naturalism, romanticism, Elizabethan, tragedy, comedy, etc. 
• Contributions of various playwrights: Ibsen, Shakespeare, Chekhov, etc.
• Play development & workshopping a play 
• Writing and rewriting a script (advice)

Workshop; Play Project; Early 20th Century One Act Plays

Period 1. Please do one of the following activities in the lab:

A. Workshop.
Step 1: Copy or transfer your play script to Google Docs (if you haven't already used the program to write your script).
Step 2: Select up to 2 other students whose feedback you would like for your project. SHARE your google document script draft to this person. You may also select me, as your teacher, as your 2nd or 3rd reader.
Step 3: Let your peer reviewers know what kind of help you would like to get feedback on. Send a note about what kind of help you want the reader to help you with:

• Formatting
• Grammar, spelling, syntax
• Character development suggestions
• Plot development suggestions
• Suggestions about structure/organization
• Diction, language use, theme suggestions, etc.
• Other (specify your request)

Remember to give your peer reviewers the option to edit or comment on your Google doc. If you keep your Google doc as READ ONLY--your reviewers cannot provide in-text commentary.

Step 4: Read any texts sent or shared with you. INSERT comments to assist your writer based on step #3 above. If a student simply sends you a script without knowing what you should look for, please either ask that peer, or give general thumbs up or down comments (you do not need to provide written feedback for your peer in this case).

Step 5: Fill out one of the participation/workshop slips for today's participation.

Or

Continue writing your play projects. These drafts are due next week.

Period 2:
Please get into groups of 4-5. Read the following one-act plays by early American 20th century writers:

If Men Played Cards As Women Do by George S. Kaufman
Overtones by Alice Gerstenberg
Trifles by Susan Glaspel

HOMEWORK: Your play projects are due next week. There will also be a final exam. Please begin studying for this. Complete any play readings you did not complete during class.

Wednesday

I will not be teaching on Wednesday. Please finish reading The Seagull today with the substitute. If possible use the library or lab to work on your play projects.

Try to note the use of symbolism in the play. What, for example, does the seagull represent and why?

HOMEWORK: Finish reading the Seagull if you didn't finish in class. Play projects are due next week.  

Peer Workshop (Play Projects); The Seagull

During period 1 (until 8:00), please do one of the following activities in the lab:

A. Workshop.
Step 1: Copy or transfer your play script to Google Docs (if you haven't already used the program to write your script).
Step 2: Select up to 2 other students whose feedback you would like for your project. SHARE your google document script draft to this person. You may also select me, as your teacher, as your 2nd or 3rd reader.
Step 3: Let your peer reviewers know what kind of help you would like to get feedback on. Send a note about what kind of help you want the reader to help you with:

• Formatting
• Grammar, spelling, syntax
• Character development suggestions
• Plot development suggestions
• Suggestions about structure/organization
• Diction, language use, theme suggestions, etc.
• Other (specify your request)

Remember to give your peer reviewers the option to edit or comment on your Google doc. If you keep your Google doc as READ ONLY--your reviewers cannot provide in-text commentary.

Step 4: Read any texts sent or shared with you. INSERT comments to assist your writer based on step #3 above. If a student simply sends you a script without knowing what you should look for, please either ask that peer, or give general thumbs up or down comments (you do not need to provide written feedback for your peer in this case).

Step 5: Fill out one of the participation/workshop slips for today's participation.

B. Writing.
Keep writing your play projects. Complete option A when you need to. Deadlines for the play project are Jan. 20. This is also the probable date for your final exam for this course. There is no exam for this class given during mid-term week.  

Period 2 (8:00)
Please go down to our classroom to read The Seagull together. Choose a character role from those available and let's read The Seagull.

Russian Playwright and short story writer, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be his four major plays (The Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard are the others). The Seagull was written in 1895 and produced in 1896. It dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the fading leading actress Irina Arkadina, her son the experimental playwright Constantine Treplieff, the ingénue Nina, and the author Trigorin.

Similar to Chekhov's other full-length plays, The Seagull relies upon an ensemble cast of fully-developed (and quirky) characters. In contrast to the melodrama of the mainstream theatre of the 19th century, actions (example: Constantin's suicide attempts) are not always shown onstage. Characters tend to speak in ways that skirt around issues rather than addressing them directly, a dramatic practice  known as subtext. In fact, it is this failure to communicate that creates much of the conflict in Chekhov’s work. The practice of subtext, although found in Shakespeare's plays, gained so much popularity in play writing, that no successful script today is without it.

The Seagull alludes to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Arkadina and Treplieff quote lines from Shakespeare's tragedy before the play-within-a-play (and even the play-within-a-play is a device used in Hamlet!) Treplieff seeks to win his mother’s favor back from Trigorin, much as Hamlet tries to win Gertrude (his mother) back from his uncle Claudius.

The opening night of the first production was a failure. “Vera Komissarzhevskaya, playing Nina, was so intimidated by the hostility of the audience that she lost her voice. Chekhov left the audience and spent the last two acts behind the scenes. When supporters wrote to him that the production later became a success, he assumed they were just trying to be kind.” When Constantin Stanislavski (a famous director and acting teacher) directed the Seagull in 1898 for the Moscow Art Theatre, the play was successful and well regarded. Stanislavski's production of The Seagull became "one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theatre and one of the greatest new developments in the history of world drama."

IMPORTANT VOCABULARY CONCEPT:

• Subtext: important meaning in what is not said in a character's line. It is the unspoken meaning or message in a literary work (scene, play, film, story, etc.) Subtext for an actor are the subtle details or clues used by that actor to develop his/her character based on reading between the lines. Usually, paying close attention to the motivation or reason why a character speaks, rather than what he says. 

HOMEWORK: None. Play projects are due Friday, Jan. 20.

Play Projects; One-Acts; Anton Chekhov's The Seagull: Day 1

Period 1: Please use your time in the lab today to work on your play projects. Turn in any homework you may need to turn in (including the viewing notes for last class' Hedda Gabler). See previous posts for details.

Period 2: Pickup The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. Keep your Miss Julie scripts.

Discussion of Salome, Miss Julie, (and Miss Julie  with Helen Mirren as Miss Julie, clip from 1972 production) and Miss Julie with Colin Farrell (trailer); and a production of The Boor.

• Questions about the plays?
• Compare/contrast the stories/characters.
• Each one-act play deals with power, men/women, and class distinctions. How do these themes present themselves in the 3 plays?

To understand Naturalism, it is important to know that it was a reaction against the two literary periods that came before it. These are:

Romanticism (1798-1832/1850): Reaction against reason and the Neoclassical/Enlightenment periods, it celebrated nature, spontaneity, imagination, and subjectivity. The ode comes back into favor. As well as women writers who begin to consider equal rights and education. Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, later the Bronte sisters. various poets: Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats; Gothic literature and the supernatural (Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, The Brontes), etc.

Realism (1830-1900): The period of literature that attempts to portray life honestly, without sensationalism, exaggeration, or melodrama. Characters and plots are taken largely from middle class for middle class readers. Ordinary contemporary life. Dickens is probably the best example of this, although he did tend to be a bit Romantic too (Christmas Carol, for example...)

Naturalism (1865-1900) attempts to go further from realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment affects human behavior. Plots often revolve around social problems, characters are often drawn from lower classes and the poor, perhaps in an attempt to explain their behavior. We will see these themes in Miss Julie, Hedda Gabler, Salome, and to some extent in Chekhov.

Begin reading Anton Chekhov's The Seagull.

HOMEWORK: Read Strindberg's introduction to Miss Julie. Examine how elements of Naturalism are present in his script. Consider what we, as contemporary playwrights, might be able to learn from this. Explain what you might have learned from reading Miss Julie and Strindberg's introduction. Work on your play projects. Bring your Seagull scripts back with you to our next class.

Hedda Gabler

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is known as the "father of modern theater." Among his controversial plays, A Doll's House and Ghosts are among those that caused much scandal during their performance. Hedda Gabler, however, has been compared to Shakespeare's character Hamlet because of the difficulty of the role. In any case, Hedda Gabler is a masterpiece of character design. Let's watch!

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen

First published in 1890 and produced in 1891 to negative reviews, Hedda Gabler has become one of Henrik Ibsen's most remembered plays apart from A Doll's House, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Ghosts, and the Master Builder. This is primarily due to the rigor of the acting role of Hedda Gabler. As a character, Hedda is at once a romantic feminist but also a manipulative, conniving villain. Hedda is neurotic, a child with a stormy ego. Her superego (represented by society and her married life) clashes with her id (her impulses and desires) in Freud's psychology. She is a tempest of a character, full of contradictions and subtext that makes playing her onstage a joy for any serious actress.

In the play Hedda is the wife of Jorgen Tesman, but has had an earlier love affair with her husband's rival, Lovborg. In a gentler, simpler age this sort of behavior was considered shocking and inappropriate. The ending of this play made people very uncomfortable at the time. Hedda's sociopathic traits caused an uproar when this play was first produced.

Other characters in the play include:

• Jørgen Tesman, Hedda's new husband; an academic
• Miss Juliane Tesman, Jørgen Tesman's aunt
• Mrs. Thea Elvsted, Jørgen's friend and Hedda's school rival
• Judge Brack, friend of the Tesmans; a judge (he represents law/order & moral society)
• Ejlert Løvborg, Jørgen's academic rival whom Hedda previously loved; a recovering alcoholic
• Berte, servant to the Tesmans and to Jørgen as a child

The setting takes place in the interior of a reception room (like a living room, it was meant to accommodate guests).

There are four acts: each act has only one scene. The set does not change, so it's just lights up and down to indicate time passing.

HOMEWORK: Please read August Strindberg's Miss Julie, Oscar Wilde's Salome, and Anton Chekhov's The Boor. Examine the scripts for the major action occurring in the play and how the authors attempt to compress and tighten their stories. For each play, answer how the one-act centers around one major action (or EVENT). Identify and explain that event in writing. To help you, consider the Major Dramatic Question you have as an attentive reader. (i.e., what do you want to know about the characters or the situation by the end of the play?) This homework assignment is due Thursday, Jan. 5.