The Birth of Film & Film Inventors

Period 1:

BLOG POST/COMMENT:

In the COMMENT section below, please answer the following questions (answer in the same post please):

• Generally, how do you watch films? Do you stream films online? Do you watch primarily Youtube videos and not full-length films? Do you pay to see films at first run cinemas like Tinseltown or Regal or Lowes? Do you watch films in second run theaters like Cinemark in Brighton (Brighton Movies 10)? Do you go to small independent theaters like The Cinema or The Little Theater or the Dryden Theater? Do you watch DVD's, BlueRay, or VHS tapes? Do you use a network service like ROKU or HULU or Amazon Prime? Do you watch films on demand or from a cable or satellite dish network? Do you just have to imagine a film from what others tell you about it?
• How important is watching/viewing films in your life or the life of your family? Is it a rare treat, or a daily activity, or somewhere in between? Do you generally watch films alone, with a friend, with a relative, or with a group of people? 
• What was the last film you saw (include where you saw it) and why did you see it? [The name, perhaps the year of the film, or when you last saw the film (yesterday, last weekend, 3 months ago, etc.?) and why you saw it: homework project, for school, to avoid schoolwork, as a social activity with friends, as a promise to your sibling, as a babysitter while waiting for a parent to come home, as a time killer, as an interested student of film or art, as a date, etc.]

Short Film: Please watch and take notes on key or important points made:

Crash course Film Studies #1: Films are Magic

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 our lab time on Friday, Feb. 2 for participation credit.

Period 2: Early Film Inventions: Let's play around with a few visual toys and learn about the early, early days of film. These are just some of the important events, inventions, and inventors that helped create the film industry. You should be familiar with them. Take notes on the following terms/ideas.

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". 

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!)

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.'

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?

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 (the first cat film meme!)

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:

• Carmencita (1894)
• Statue of Liberty (1898)
• The inauguration of President McKinley (1901)
• Scenes in New York City (1903) (sound added)
• Skyscrapers of New York (1906) (Mutoscope)
• 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) 
• Various actualities (documentaries)

HOMEWORK: Please read the chapter handout on Film Studies and watch the second Crash Course Film #2.  If you missed any of these films, please watch them. Check the links for more information on key topics. Notes for Parts 1 & 2 from Tim Dirk's website are due at the end of our lab time on Friday.

Top Films of All Time & Personal Response(s); Introduction to the Course

LAB; Period 1:

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 in the links section): Film History.

Other Resources: We will use these websites a lot during this course! Note that they are here (and that they're linked in the link section of this blog to your right...!)

• IMDB.com (this is the international movie database, 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 the titles you've seen 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, write about your experience with film. Record how many of the top films of all time you have seen (you can also check out the 2nd and 3rd lists) and name them. How many of these top 100 films have you seen? 3/100, 99/100, etc.? Which ones? How knowledgeable do you think you are you on the topic of film? What other films have become important or traditions for you or your family? Explain what cinema means to you.

Period 2: CLASSROOM DISCUSSION:

After our quick introduction to the course and some course business, 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 in your journal (or the paper provided).

#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?' Why do you like these kinds of movies best?

Then:

Please get into groups of 4-5. 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.

Finally, from your group discussion, create a group chart or graphic organizer in which you show graphically what films/styles/genres of films your group loves and what films/styles/genres of films your group hates. Turn in your masterpiece before the end of class today for participation credit.

HOMEWORK: Please read the short article "The Birth of Film" and use your Cornell Notes sheet to take notes. Turn these notes in next class as participation credit.

One note: Note homework (the chapter assignments we will do in this course) cannot be turned in late this semester. If you miss the homework reading, you should still complete the notes for your own benefit, but they will not be scored. If you're late, keep your work--I don't want it. If it's on time, I want it. You will get credit for it. In either case, the notes you take will be helpful to study for exams on the material. So: no late work allowed. Sorry folks!

Coming Attractions: Film Invention & The Birth of Film

Marking Period Film Paper Assignments

You will be expected to write at least 2 journal/film essays during marking period 3. The first paper will be due March 1, 2018, and the second will be due April 2. These are ongoing assignments for the marking period. No late work will be accepted for the film papers. Make note of the dates they are due. You are welcome to turn in your work before the due date if you'd like. Extra credit can be gained by completing a 3rd or 4th or 5th paper. No more than 5 papers will be accepted (2 required; up to 3 for extra credit).

Each paper should be researched, well written, and answer the prompt question thoroughly. Papers should be about 750 to 1,000 words in length (about 3-5 pages--although that is just a ballpark figure--some papers require more, some a little less). Each paper must use MLA format, which means you should include a works cited page (films you watch are primary sources! Sources/websites/articles/reviews are secondary sources!) and a title. Format for MLA will count as part of your grade. For more information on MLA format, check here. Remember to use grammarly to help proofread your work!

Reminders about this project will occur in class, but make a note of the dates and requirements now in your journal. Paper #1 (due March 1). Paper #2 (due April 2). 

Here's the assignments you can choose 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? The screenwriter, the director, the actors, the cinematographer, the editor? 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 a film? Using the film you chose to analyze, explore this topic and defend your position.

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 in a film of your choosing. 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? In your paper, explain how the scene helps characterize the character.

Part B. In this next part of the assignment, as a way to experiment with mise en scene, create 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 paper, 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. Write your description as if it were a film script.

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 straightforward 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? Explain.

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 screenplay 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 your paper:
--Whose story would you tell? Around whose basic point-of-view would you build the screenplay? Why would you choose this “character”?
--How about depth? Are you going to stick to a primary 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 a flashback or other unusual narrative techniques to get the story across?

Please include a copy of the original article with your analysis/answer.

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)?

Please include a copy of your chart with your explanation/paper.

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 the 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 screenshots, 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. Then 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. (Note: this prompt requires you to visit 3 theaters: one first-run theater, one second-run or art theater, and the Dryden Theater at the George Eastman House. 

Welcome to Film Studies

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; Waiting for Godot: Day 2

Period 1: Lab.

Please complete your play projects. Check your formatting, spelling, mechanics, etc. Your play scripts should have a separate title page, character list and setting description (same page).

Use what you have learned in this class to make sure your play is exceptional.

Rubric:
____ Play turned in on time
____ Format correct
____ Play is exemplary; thoughtful, creative, has a definite beginning, middle, end; play is producible for the stage; well written & original; includes monologues to develop character or plot events difficult to stage otherwise; uses imagery & specific diction; dialogue sounds natural and/or poetic. Clear theme and dramatic conflict.
____ Grammar is perfect. Commas are placed correctly, play is proofread, language is exact & correct. See grammarly for help.

Period 2: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

As we read, complete the Waiting for Godot handout (and turn in at the end of our class, even if we are not done reading the play).

Extra Credit Opportunity:

Write a 10-minute absurdist play. Use the characteristics of Absurdist theater in your play (see previous post or your notes). One easy way to start is to take your metaphor and make it real for your characters. Love is a battlefield...set a romance in a DMZ during a raid, or make a date a military coup, or work the metaphor into your plot creatively.

Extra credit scripts are due Friday, Jan. 26. Our lab will be open during the week to work on this if you need lab time. See HOMEWORK below.

This marks the end of the playwriting course. Next up: Film.

You are welcome to use any of the major plays we've read on your Regents exams:

• Talking With by Jane Martin
• Spic-o-Rama by John Leguizamo
• Monster by Dael Orlandersmith 
• 'Night Mother by Marsha Norman
• Oleanna by David Mamet
• The Dumbwaiter by Harold Pinter
• Topdog/Underdog by Suzanne Lori Parks
• Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry
• The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam
• The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel
• The Vampire Lesbians of Sodom by Charles Busch
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
• Picasso at the Lapin Agile by Steve Martin
• Hamilton: The Musical by Lin Manuel Miranda
• Agamemnon by Aeschylus
• Antigone by Sophocles
• The Lion in Winter by James Goldman
• Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
• Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

HOMEWORK: Complete Waiting for Godot. Our lab will be open Monday through Thursday in the morning if you would like help with Gannon or Sokol entries. 

Play Project; Waiting for Godot: Day 1, Absurdist Theater

Period 1: Lab.

Please work on your play projects. Play projects are due Thursday, Jan. 18.

Period 2: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Pick up the play script from the library, then return to room 238. We will begin reading the play today.

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.

Quick Prompt: Today 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 5 metaphors. Set these aside today. We'll discuss your options Thursday.

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.

As we read, complete the Waiting for Godot handout (and turn in for participation credit when done).

HOMEWORK: Complete your play projects. These are due next class at the end of our lab time.

Titus Andronicus: Conclusion

Because of our interruption, I have to complete the film by 8:30. Let's do that. I'll bring us down to the library lab after the event.

HOMEWORK: Please continue writing your play projects (drafts are due Friday, Jan. 18). 

Titus Andronicus: Day 3

LAB: (until 7:50)

Please continue working on your play projects. Our lab today will be cut somewhat short so we can finish viewing Titus. At 7:50, we'll return to the classroom to view the film.

HOMEWORK: Keep working on your play script projects.

Play Project: Day 3; Shakespeare's Theater; Titus Andronicus

LAB: Please turn in any missing work. Then, use your time to work on your play projects.

Play Project

Option 1: Write a one-act play. This option allows you to explore a single idea, theme or style. One act plays sustain a longer storyline and plot, usually with fewer characters than full-length plays, but complete their climax sooner and generally take less time to write than full length plays. One full one-act play should focus on one important action (although side plots can be included) and usually develop characters to a greater extent than a 10-minute play. Each full one-act play would typically be around 20-30 pages in length. Workshopping individual plays once you have a draft written would be doable. Having written a substantial play script will likely get the attention of college programs in writing or theater. Polished plays may be given a public reading or production during the playwrights' festival.

Option 2: Write 2 (two) 10-minute plays. This option allows you to dabble with different short plays and scenarios for students who have trouble sustaining a storyline or plot. You've done these before so there's no mystery here. Each 10-minute play should be somewhere around 6-12 pages in length (not including title or cast list pages). Workshopping one or more of your plays is expected. 10-minute plays are about the length we are looking for during the playwrights festival or for the Geva contest in March. Remember: because of their length, start your play very close to the climax.

Option 3: Write a shorter one-act play and a 10-minute play. Best of both options for those of you who write or have more than one idea you want to play around with. One acts, in this case, should be 15 or more pages (not including title page, character list, setting, etc.)--too long for a 10-minute play, but long enough for the Playwrights' festival. The 10-minute play is like option 2, but just one of them.

Advice:

• Start your process by taking some time to write some premises. What do you want to write a play about? Have any plays you have read sparked ideas? What's going on in society or your family or your own past experiences that might make for a good play idea? Avoid the television plot where one character gets upset with another because of infidelity (cheating on someone else...my god, we've seen this a thousand times; abuse plays are better for television or film; avoid low cultural topics--consider more philosophical ideas...)
• Consider your tone. Is your play's premise likely to be comedic or serious? Tragic or satirical? Realistic or suggested sets? Linear or memory or episodic or avant-garde? Choices, choices.
• Follow up your brainstorming with an outline or sketch out ideas (mind-maps or other graphic organizers can help!) to see if they might work and what length might be the best option for the story you want to tell. If you already have a short story you have written (or read from another source) you can turn that into a play for the stage. If you're a poet, consider writing a musical or verse play. Monologue plays and historical plays are also options we have already explored, but feel free to use the form if you'd like.
• Remember that all plays are created by placing a beat next to another beat next to another beat to form a scene. In a short play, one scene may be all you need to tell the story--in longer plays, you may need more than one scene--but try to consolidate action, time, and place (the three unities).
• Develop character, setting, and plot through monologues where appropriate. Develop each character you put into a play (even the spear carrier #1 or the waitress...)
• Be original and creative. Write something that would be interesting to see on stage. This is not the Lifetime channel...

Classroom:

Shakespeare's Theater

Unsure of how my colleagues cover Shakespeare each year (and whether or not you come from a tradition that includes the study of Shakespeare) it's my duty to give you a little info. We'll start with a quick (if dry) overview of the time period. Please take notes on what you learn on the graphic organizer. Turn this in as participation credit at the end of our class today.

Renaissance Theater video (7 min)

Theater, as we know it in Shakespeare's day being performed in a typical PLAYHOUSE, didn't occur until 1576. It was James Burbage who built the first playhouse called, appropriately, "the Theater"--a permanent building dedicated to showing plays for commercial interest. Before then, plays were generally performed in courtyards, tennis courts, inns or guild houses. Private showings for the nobles or upper classes would be commissioned as well in indoor theaters where anyone could afford a ticket.

Actors joined an acting company. Shakespeare, for example, first belonged to the Chamberlain's Men, then to the King's Men (after Elizabeth's death). Only men were allowed to act in the Elizabethan theater. Younger actors (boys) often played the female roles because they would have looked more like women (i.e., no beard). This helps to explain why so many of Shakespeare's plays include cross-dressing. Consider that Juliet, for example, would have been played by a boy to the older actor playing Romeo. New actors were often given smaller roles so as to train with the experienced actors--who often played the major roles. Shakespeare himself was recorded as playing various small roles in his plays. The most famous example was the ghost of Hamlet's father in Hamlet.

Plays were written (often in collaboration) by the actors in the company (who also doubled as the house manager, director, props master, producer, etc.) This helps to explain why some characters in Shakespeare's plays disappear mid-play or return as new characters in the 4th or 5th acts. It's hard to be on stage while also taking money at the door.

Lines for a play were written on sides and distributed to the company members. It would be rare for an actor to have a complete script (the writer would, of course) but printing costs money, so copies were kept to a minimum. This helps explain why there are A sides and B sides to Shakespeare's works. Some lines or sides were changed by the actors or the writer during the performances. Famous actors might even change the author's lines by slipping in a bit of well-rehearsed and well-known comedic business for the audience's benefit.

Finally, having one's works collected in a folio book or quarto would have been rare. Scripts that got out of the hands of a company could be stolen by other theater companies, so copies were not passed around generally. The King's Men must have thought a lot about Shakespeare to have his works printed and bound! Luckily they did--or we could not frustrate future high school students by forcing them to read his plays!

The structure of a Shakespearean play (most 5 act plays) is:

ACT ONE: Exposition, Inciting incident, Major Dramatic Question is introduced, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Often a complication occurs to disrupt the status quo.
ACT TWO: Rising Action, Complication(s), Establishment/development of the Major Conflict, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Introduction to subplot (minor plot).
ACT THREE: Crisis or Turning Point, Dark Moment, Major Decision.
ACT FOUR: Enlightenment, development or Resolution of minor plots.
ACT FIVE: Final climax, Resolution of minor and major plots, falling action. Major Dramatic Question is answered.

Titus Andronicus is believed to be Shakespeare's first tragedy. He may have co-authored it with George Peele (although we can't be certain) between 1588 and 1593. Popular in his day, the play is thought to be needlessly violent and the most bloody of all his plays. It has the common Shakespearean themes of revenge and madness. Common motifs can be found below...

The play is set at the end of the Roman Empire and tells the fictional story of a Roman general, Titus, who runs afoul of Tamora, Queen of the Goths. As you watch the play/film (see below) please take notes on the following:

Major Characters:

• Titus Andronicus – A renowned Roman general
• Tamora – Queen of the Goths; afterward Empress of Rome
• Aaron– a Moor; involved in a sexual relationship with Tamora
• Lucius – Titus's eldest son
• Lavinia – Titus's daughter
• Marcus Andronicus – Titus's brother
• Demetrius – Tamora's son
• Chiron – Tamora's other son; allusion to the centaur Chiron
• Saturninus – Son of the late Roman Emperor; afterward declared Emperor
• Bassianus – Saturninus's brother; in love with Lavinia

Minor Characters:

• Quintus – Titus's son
• Martius – Titus's son
• Mutius – Titus's son
• Young Lucius – Lucius's son 
• Publius – Marcus's son 
• Nurse
• A Clown
• Sempronius – Titus's kinsman
• Caius – Titus's kinsman
• Valentine – Titus's kinsman 
• Alarbus – Tamora's son (non-speaking role)

Themes/Motifs:

• Revenge
• Human Kindness & Pity (and its limitations) (Cruelty, as its opposite as well)
• Limbs (usually being hacked off--"parts" of the body, just as children are "part" of the parent's "body", and citizens are part of the body politic...)
• Animals (particularly fierce bestial animals...like a wilderness of tigers, but also birds of prey, and their victims)
• Astrology (reference to Fate and the stars)

Allusions:

Ovid's Metamorphoses (the story of Philomela, in particular)
Seneca's play Thyestes (the myth of the House of Atreus--, and, of course, Aeschylus' The Orestia)

Information about Julie Taymor (director; also directed The Lion King on Broadway, Across the Universe, Spiderman the Musical (on Broadway) and Frida) and the cast of Titus (1999)

While we're not exactly ready to discuss the finer elements of film, Julie Taymor's film is an effective visual work.

Notice what the camera is doing while watching the film. The camera provides POV in a film and conveys meaning, both literally and symbolically. As you watch look for examples of:

• Motifs (repeated objects, symbols, or actions)
• Frequency (how often a thing occurs)
• Synecdoche (parts representing the whole)

Listen to how TONE is created by the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound elements. As you watch, also keep in mind the key themes and development of plot and characters Shakespeare uses in this play.

Turn in your graphic organizer by the end of class today on Elizabethan theater.

HOMEWORK: Complete your reading of Titus Andronicus. Keep writing your play projects! 

Agamemnon: Part 2

Today we will watch the second part of Agamemnon.

HOMEWORK: Write your play scripts. Read Titus Andronicus.

Agamemnon; Last Play Project

Please turn in your take-home test ?'s for The Lion in Winter & Agamemnon!

Brainstorm: (pick one or more of these and brainstorm ideas)

• What is your favorite myth story?
• What is your favorite fairy tale, folktale, or legend?
• What is your favorite short story or poem or urban legend or historical event?

After coming up with your favorites, list the characters as you remember them in the story.
How might the story be updated in a creative way for a play production or contemporary audience?

PLAY PROJECT (last one, possibly ever...)

Option 1: Write a one-act play. This option allows you to explore a single idea, theme or style. One act plays sustain a longer storyline and plot, usually with fewer characters than full-length plays, but complete their climax sooner and generally take less time to write than full length plays. One full one-act play should focus on one important action (although side plots can be included) and usually develop characters to a greater extent than a 10-minute play. Each full one-act play would typically be around 20-30 pages in length. Workshopping individual plays once you have a draft written would be doable. Having written a substantial play script will likely get the attention of college programs in writing or theater. Polished plays may be given a public reading or production during the playwrights' festival.

Option 2: Write 2 (two) 10-minute plays. This option allows you to dabble with different short plays and scenarios for students who have trouble sustaining a storyline or plot. You've done these before so there's no mystery here. Each 10-minute play should be somewhere around 6-12 pages in length (not including title or cast list pages). Workshopping one or more of your plays is expected. 10-minute plays are about the length we are looking for during the playwrights festival or for the Geva contest in March. Remember: because of their length, start your play very close to the climax.

Option 3: Write a shorter one-act play and a 10-minute play. Best of both options for those of you who write or have more than one idea you want to play around with. One acts, in this case, should be 15 or more pages (not including title page, character list, setting, etc.)--too long for a 10-minute play, but long enough for the Playwrights' festival. The 10-minute play is like option 2, but just one of them.

• Start your process by taking some time to write some premises. We'll do that today. What do you want to write a play about? Have any plays you have read sparked ideas? What's going on in society or your family or your own past experiences that might make for a good play idea?
• Consider your tone. Is your play's premise likely to be comedic or serious? Tragic or satirical? Realistic or suggested sets? Linear or memory or episodic or avant-garde? Choices, choices.
• Follow up your brainstorming with an outline or sketch out ideas (mind-maps or other graphic organizers can help!) to see if they might work and what length might be the best option for the story you want to tell. If you already have a short story you have written (or read from another source) you can turn that into a play for the stage. If you're a poet, consider writing a musical or verse play. Monologue plays and historical plays are also options we have already explored, but feel free to use the form if you'd like.

Some professional advice:

Grading and rubric information will be forthcoming, but what I'm looking for here is growth. Prove to me that you have learned how to write a play largely on your own. Quality counts, but it's not as important as your growth as a writer. For those of you who would like a challenge, challenge yourself by doing something out of the ordinary, something creative or unusual. For those of you who are having trouble writing or shouldn't have been a creative writing major, try to find the love of writing you once had by writing about subjects and characters you care deeply about. What do you want to say to the world? Not all plays come out as perfect works of art. My intention is to workshop your drafts provided you actually write--it's hard to workshop a piece that isn't really thought out or done. Most of the writing time, though, will be on your own clock. Start today with those premises! Don't hesitate or procrastinate too much or you'll never finish the project by the deadline (or won't have time to workshop your play).

NOTE: you can always change your mind about the options. Say you are writing one of your 10-minute plays and everything's clicking. You're on a roll. You write 12 pages, then 15, then 20. You can decide what option you want to fulfill after you write. And again, don't worry if you write something crappy. I'm looking for growth and effort, not perfection! Most plays suck until we workshop them, so...chill. And write.

The next few classes (after Agamemnon) we will briefly conclude our course with some helpful literature by exploring Elizabethan theater, naturalism, and absurdism. So no lab time. Start your play project on your own. If you have free time in Ms. Gamzon's class or a study hall, use the time there to help you get ahead. Feel free to use the exercises and information we have already completed as starting points for your own ideas. Look back through this blog for help if you need it. Do not procrastinate.

AGAMEMNON by Aeschylus:

The Oresteia by Aeschylus is the only complete Greek trilogy. These three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, the Eumenides tell the story of the House of Atreus in Argos. Today and this week we will be watching the production of Peter Hall's Agamemnon, translated by Tony Harrison. In Harrison's script, you will note the use of alliteration and kenning. These literary devices and techniques are Anglo Saxon in origin, not Greek. The Greeks had their own cadence and rhythm to their plays. Other elements, such as the use of masks, flutes, drums, and an all-male cast are standard Greek tragedy style.

Key mortal characters in the myth are: Thyestes, Atreus, Aegisthus, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Odysseus, Helen, Paris, Priam, Cassandra, Iphigenia, Orestes, and Electra.

Key immortal characters include: Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, The Furies (Eumenides...also called the Erinyes, the Kindly Ones, The Daughters of the Night were spirits of vengeance, murder, and jealousy. Their names are Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto).

Exposition:

• Atreus and Thyestes (brothers, sons of Pelops) fought because Thyestes challenged the throne of Argos and seduced Atreus’ wife.
• Thyestes was defeated by his brother and driven out of Argos, but returned as a suppliant with his children. A suppliant is like a homeless beggar.
• Atreus invited the family to a feast (where he slaughtered Thyestes children and served them to their father as dinner).
• Thyestes ate his children, unknowingly.
• When he found out what had happened, he cursed the house of Atreus and fled with his remaining son, Aegisthus.
• Agamemnon and Menelaus are the sons of Atreus, inheriting Argos.
• Agamemnon married Clytemnestra
• Menelaus married Helen.
• Helen ran off with Paris (or Paris, like Thyestes, seduced Helen) and this started the Trojan War.
• Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had three children: Iphigeneia, Electra, and Orestes.
• Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon to help him get his wife back from Troy.
• The gods (Artemis) were protecting the Trojans and didn’t bring them the wind needed to sail to Troy
• Calchas, the prophet, divined that the gods were angry and wanted a sacrifice.
• Calchas and Menelaus encouraged Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia.
• Agamemnon did so and gained favor and wind from Zeus; the Athenians sailed to Troy, won the war and sacked Troy. The battle lasted 10 years. This is, of course, the Trojan War.
• At beginning, Aegisthus has returned to Argos, now the lover of Clytemnestra (think Penelope and Odysseus), and exiled Orestes (he’s the rightful ruler, you see).
• Greek torchbearers or Messengers will light the beacon fire when Troy has fallen.
• Agamemnon, with his “prize” Cassandra (the daughter of Priam, king of Troy), returns after the war to a “warm” welcome.

CLASSROOM: Agamemnon, Part 1.

HOMEWORK: None. Come up with an idea for your last play project. If you need a nudge, re-read How to Start by playwright Jake Jeppson.