Costumes
A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's most whimsical plays, and therefore this production follows in its spirit. Designing costumes for A Midsummer Night's Dream allows for total creative license, as the play takes place within a fantasy world replete with fairies. The overall impact is captured well by an artist at Duke (image credit: http://sites.duke.edu/midsummer/files/2009/12/Study_for_The_Quarrel_of_Oberon_and_Titania.jpg):

This image is a study for what Oberon and Titania might look like. The fairy queen and king here seem innocent. Titania is rendered more angelic than fairy-like, which is why I only appreciate this image as an overall impression of the extent of the fairy world created on the stage. I prefer the fairy world to be peopled thickly like this image here, meaning that the cast of fairies should be as large as possible for the venue. This image also shows the changeling.

The main characters are not fairies, however, so it is…...

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Works Cited

Image Credits: All image credits taken from a Google search of A Midsummer Night's Dream Costumes.

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Costumes in Les Miserables (1998) Directed by Bille August
1998's Les Miserables' costumes were designed by Academy Award-winning costume designer Gabriella Pescucci. Pescucci had previously won for The Age of Innocence and been nominated for The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1993). hile her work for Billie August's Les Mis would go unnominated for any major awards, the costumes are nonetheless on par with her previous work and reflect the authentic style and taste of early to mid-19th century France.

As Caterina Massuras reports for Vogue Italia, Pescucci's costumes are marked by "a cultured taste for invention, colors that are always perfect, and a pathological attention to every detail -- joined to an absolute ability to pick the right accessory." This high praise can be discerned in every choice of costume for the five main characters of August's Les Mis.

The five main characters or Javert, the relentless lawman out to jail Jean Valjean,…...

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Works Cited

"French Fashion History." Victoriana. Web. 22 Nov 2015.

Massuras, Caterina. "Gabriella Pescucci." Vogue Italia. Web. 22 Nov 2015.

Payne, Blanche. History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth

Century. NY: Harper and Row, 1965.

Othello Costumes
Designing costumes for Othello, in whatever form -- play, ballet or opera, presents a few problems from the outset. First, of course, is the necessity for the costume to enhance the feeling of paranoia of Othello, a Moor in a Caucasian society. Second, Iago needs to be malevolent without being evil personified; he is, perhaps, simply overly worldly and overly ambitious, as is his wife, Emily. And third, Desdemona has to be understandable in the context of her own time, and of ours. hile it may have been usual then for a woman to trust even when reason would tell her not to, it isn't so today.

A look at historical accuracy is necessary to see whether the costumes do their job properly in four very different productions of Othello/Otello: the San Francisco Ballet's production with music by Elliott Goldenthal; the English National Opera production conducted by Mark Elder; the…...

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Works Cited

Costume Design page, Opera Atelier Web site, accessed 14 April 2004 at  http://www.operaatelier.com/costume.htm 

Gladstone, Valerie. "The role of a lifetime. (dancer Desmond Richardson stars in Lar Lubovitch's 'Othello') Dance Magazine, 1 May 1997.

Grimball, Elizabeth B. Costuming a play: Inter-Theatre arts handbook. New York: The Century Co., 1952.

Lewis, Jean Battey. "Leaps and trips on PBS." The Washington Times, 18 June 2003.

In conclusion, costumes are used in two essential ways in the film. The first is that it reinforces the sense of normalcy and creates a background that juxtaposes and heightens the horror and drama of the film. The second use of costume in the way that Bates dresses as his mother is a complete transgression of normalcy and psychologically and socially diametrically opposed to the mundane costumes worn by the rest of the cast. This contrast is severe and serves not only to heighten the horror and shock aspects of the film but also functions to highlight and to provide insight into the twisted mind of Norman Bates.

Finally it is also interesting to note that the film was made in the 1960's, when the dress codes were more formalized and strictly related to particular social roles and norms. In this time the issue of cross-dressing and transvestitism was virtually unknown…...

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References

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho - screenplay. Retrieved 1 September, 2006, at www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=35339879http://www.paradiselost.org/psycho.html

Bell-Metereau, R. (1985). Hollywood Androgyny. New York: Columbia University Press. Retrieved September 3, 2006, from Questia database:   www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002320907http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=35339879 

Leff, L.J. (1999, August). Hitchcock and the Censors. World and I, 14, 108. Retrieved September 3, 2006, from Questia database:  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002320907 

Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller. Retrieved September 3, 2006, at  http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/051770112X

Midsummer's Night Dream
Acting:

ere the actors believable in their roles?

I did not find all of the actors particularly believable in their roles. I could not help noticing that several of the members of the cast forgot their lines or misspoke their lines, sometimes saying a line in the wrong place. Knowing the play well, this really threw me off and took me out of the moment of the performance. I felt there was a lot of timing issues with the performers at well where they would not hit their mark or missed their cue.

Identify the performers you considered most successful.

Of all the performers in the play, I felt that the actress playing the role of Hermia excelled in her role. She made the love and despondency and anger very palpable which was conveyed easily to the audience.

If there were performers you did not like, identify them and explain why you…...

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer's Night Dream.

Cocoon (Howard, 1985) is a 1985 Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre film directed by Ron Howard, who previously directed such films as Splash and Night Shift. Benefitting from the kindly type of aliens previously seen in E.T.: The Extraterrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Cocoon used the advanced technologies of benevolent aliens to explore aging and the pros/cons of reversing that process. Aided by a veteran cast and superior editing/special effects, Cocoon became a hit film.
General Theme/Overview, Style, Plot and Character Development

The general theme is the exploration of aging and the pros/cons of reversing the process, using the style of Sci-Fi/Fantasy. The plot involves the extraordinary results of humans interacting with kindly, advanced aliens, and the dilemmas caused by those results. Thousands of years ago, aliens from Antarea lived on the island of Atlantis on Earth. The island sank and 20 Antareans stayed behind so other Antareans would have enough life…...

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Works Cited

Howard, R. (Director). (1985). Cocoon [Motion Picture].

For instance, renowned designer Barbara Matera explained that when Glenn Close first tried on the Norma Desmond costume described above, she "winced under its weight" (New York's Top Costume Shop Reveals Its Secrets 1996:3). The costume's designer, Anthony Powell, instructed Close to turn around and face the mirror, and "upon seeing the stunning result her whole attitude changed" (4). Other anecdotal accounts on the design process from Matera included: "e love shows that have underwear scenes" (referring to bustles, corsets, and pantaloons), and "bird costumes can be very taxing"; these comments provide some insight into the creative challenges that face costume designers and makers today.
Each character that appears in a production must be individually assessed, and gradually each movement of each character and each costume must then be integrated into a cohesive whole that presents the imagery desired. "At any rate," Cole et al. say, "slowly, harmoniously, must the…...

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Works Cited

Awards & Prizes. (May 2002). American Theatre, 19(5):9.

Barbour, David. (2001). You'll know who. Entertainment Design, 11:27.

Barnes, Denise. (May 28, 1998). Columnist Will Tell Times Readers Where Bargains Are. The Washington Times, 10.

Brennan, Sandra. (2004). The New York Times Movie Guide: Biographies. Available:  http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=79275&mod=bio .

The script eliminates one of Ophelia's major monologues, when she details to Polonius how Hamlet came to her, after seeing the ghost, when she first fears he is mad. Instead, the movie script shows this seen as action, in the real time of the play. Yet the silent reactions of Ophelia speak volumes, even though Hamlet is the most active character in the room.
hat do you feel was the peak point, dramatically, of the play? hy?

In contrast to Carter's believable restraint during the 'mad scene' Gibson's most emotionally truthful scene is the apocalyptically emotional 'closet scene' with Glenn Close as Gertrude. Hamlet's anger at his mother's perceived betrayal is conveyed through intense physicality. This is Hamlet's most irrationally violent scene in the play, on paper, and the explosive anger that is consistently shown in Gibson's performance seems most appropriate in this scene.

Evaluate how well the costume designer met each…...

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Work Cited

Hamlet. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. 1990.

Beaux Strategem by George Farquhar is about two greedy and recently broke men who plan to seduce heiresses to steal their fortune. The main characters are Aimwell and Archer who pose as a well-to-do gentleman and his manservant. The cast of characters include: Aimwell, Archer, Count Bellair a French officer, prisoner at Litchfield, Sullen a country blockhead, brutal to his wife, Freeman a gentleman from London, Foigard a priest, chaplain to the French officers, Gibbet a high-way-man, Houslow, his companions, Bagshot, Boniface the landlord of the inn, Scrub a servant to Mr. Sullen, Lady Bountiful an old civil country gentlewoman, that cures all her neighbours of all distemper, Dorinda Lady Bountiful's daughter, Mrs. Sullen her daughter-in-law, Gipsy maid to the ladies. The 2013 production is directed by Adam Simon and keeps quick pace and crisp dialogue to allow this latest production breathe new life to a 200+ year old play.
While…...

Camera angles that focus on wretched faces, of young boys in red coated uniforms begging for mercy, and of the arrogance of the British officer corps, not just towards Americans, but towards their own enlisted men, are shown with filming skill. As might be expected for this type of film, John Williams' score was masterful and very much in line with the generation of epics from the 1950s and 1960s -- painting a realistic picture of the film without dialog. Similarly, the audience is set up between the idyllic farm and hard work of a widower in the opening scene to the juxtaposition and hoped for return to normalcy in the final moments -- however, knowing that things will never be as they were (See: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=336714&contentTypeId=130&category=trailer). The scene, however, that most stays with the audience is not one of the grander battles, but a one-on-one battle between Benjamin and…...

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REFERENCES and WORKS CONSULTED

Bittarello, M.B. (2008). "Re-Crafting the Past: The Complex Relationship

Between Myth and Ritual." Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 10(2): 214.

TRAILERS and PREVIEWS

Brown, Todd. (2007). "Footage from Taras Bulba." Twitch. Cited in:

Romeo & Juliet Movie Production Critique
This movie production critique is based on the William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet version, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Staring off with the set, this was based as Verona Beach, and portrayed as a modern day city. There are many references to religion in the set, with angel statues and shots of churches and areas of prayer. Also, many of the buildings in the inner city (away from the beach), are large skyscraper-like buildings with large signs denoting Montague or Capulet. The mansion of the Capulet's is large and opulent, with gardens, many staircases, many rooms, and a large pool where the infamous "Romeo, oh Romeo" scene takes place. Modernism is apparent in the billboards, beach front and gas stations shown.

Use of light during the day is infused with color and intensity. The sun shines with golden abundance and each characters eyes are lit…...

Othello by William Shakespeare and the film version of the play directed by Oliver Parker. Specifically it will analyze play from a dramatic and design point-of-view. The film, released in 1995, stars Laurence Fishburne, Irene Jacob, and Oliver Parker. This film is an excellent rendition of Shakespeare's classic play, made even more appealing by the exceptional acting by Laurence Fishburne, who brings a sensual side to the role that is quite effective.
There have been many performances of Shakespeare's play "Othello" on the stage and in film. One of the best is the 1995 version that starred Laurence Fishburne as Othello. His performance made this dramatic play even more memorable and understandable, and truly brought the character of Othello to life. He gave Othello a sensual quality that helped explain Desdemona's attraction to him, and added another dimension to the character. The film also highlighted the racial tension at the…...

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References

Othello. Dir. Oliver Parker. Perf. Laurence Fishburne, Irene Jacob, and Kenneth Branagh. Columbia Tri-Star, 1995.

Descendants is a film that attempts to operate on several layers at once. While it may be said to be allegorical in one sense (taking place on what is popularly presumed to be an island "paradise," where falls are experienced and redemptions are sought), the film by Alexander Payne may also be said to be a simple story about a father and husband who learns (on his wife's deathbed) that he is actually a cuckold. What follows is a two-hour experiment in tolerance, as both the viewer and the characters in the narrative become aware of exactly where their threshold of pain stands. That threshold is then pushed to its limits, as Payne drives home one twist of the screw after another. In a way, the film is about the weakness of man -- Matt King's inability to love his wife, to be there for his children; Brian Speer's inability…...

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Reference List

Braun, L. (2011). Descendants aims for style. The Barrie Examiner. Retrieved from  http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3382582 

Ebert, R. (2011). The Descendants. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved from  http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111116/REVIEWS/111119988 

Payne, A. (2011). The Descendants. Los Angeles: Fox Searchlight.

Philbrick, J. (2012). IAR Exclusive Interview: Editor Kevin Tent Talks 'The

Scene Four: Parker Adderson, Philospher

This scene will take place exactly as it does in the story. The stage will be divided into two parts. In center stage will be the tent with the Parker Adderson and the general. Adderson will be sitting across from the general at the table and will be questioned. The monologue will unfold with only this part of the stage being lit.

After the fight, Adderson will be escorted to stage left where there will be a doctor and campfire along with soldiers guarding Adderson. Adderson will be wrapped in a blanket and must be visibly trembling and shrunken in horror. The general and dead officer will still be in the tent, which will remain lit. The general will come around and order the execution. At this point, the tent and campfire will go black and the right stage will be lit with the fire squad in…...

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Works Cited

Bierce, Ambrose. "A Son of the Gods." By Ambrose Bierce. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Bierce, Ambrose. "Killed at Resaca." By Ambrose Bierce. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Bierce, Ambrose. "One Of The Missing." By Ambrose Bierce. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Bierce, Ambrose. "Parker Adderson, Philosopher." By Ambrose Bierce. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Thus, the story of both the battle and the crafting of the tapestry is of historical and personal interest.
Location/Setting

Because this movie will emphasize illiam's invasion, it is important that the movie be filmed in England. Both the region where the infamous battle of Hastings was fought, in addition to London, will be major locations in the film. The film will focus on the Norman's impact on English life and culture, in addition to warfare. This can be best emphasized by introductory and final shots at estminster Abbey, where Edward the Confessor was buried and illiam the Conqueror was crowned (Invasion of England n/d).

Cast

The two primary characters will be Harold Godwinson, the English heir to the thrown, and illiam, Duke of Normandy, the invader. Generous flashbacks will also include scenes from the life of Edward the Confessor. The groups that need to be represented are the English, the Vikings, and…...

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Works Cited

Ibis Communications, "Invasion of England," Eye Witness to History.Com,   Accessed 27 November 2008.http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/bayeux.htm ,

Medieval-Life.Net, "Medieval Clothing," Medieval-Life.Net, life.net/clothing.htm, Accessed 27 November 2008.http://www.medieval-

Phillips, George. 1909. "St. Edward the Confessor," the Catholic Encyclopedia,   Accessed 27 November 2008.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05322a.htm .

The Middle Ages Web Site, Bayeux Tapestry." The Middle Ages Web Site,   Accessed 27 Novemberhttp://www.middle-ages.org.uk/bayeux-tapestry.htm ,

Igniting Student Engagement through Enthusiasm and Exuberance

Engaging students is paramount in fostering a dynamic and impactful learning environment. As educators, we possess the power to ignite their curiosity, cultivate their eagerness to learn, and empower them to actively participate in the educational journey. One potent strategy to achieve this is by exuding enthusiasm, excitement, and an unbridled passion for the subject matter at hand.

The Power of Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is an infectious energy that permeates the classroom and captivates students. When teachers demonstrate a genuine love for their subject, their excitement becomes contagious, inspiring students to embrace the content with newfound enthusiasm.....

The Allure of Contemporary Dance: A Journey into Expression and Emotion

Among the myriad dance styles that grace the stage, contemporary dance holds a special place in my heart. It is a realm where artistry and innovation converge, pushing the boundaries of movement and captivating audiences with its raw emotion and evocative storytelling.

Contemporary dance originated as a rebellion against the rigid structures of classical ballet, embracing a freedom of expression that allowed dancers to explore their own unique interpretations and narratives. This style emphasizes fluidity, improvisation, and a deep connection to the inner self.

What draws me to contemporary dance is its....

Òjà Òrísà: A Cultural Tapestry of Yoruba Traditions at the Village Market Festival

In the heart of Yoruba villages, the annual market festival, known as Òjà Òrísà, is a vibrant celebration that weaves together ancient customs, sacred rituals, and lively festivities. This time-honored tradition is a testament to the enduring spirit and rich cultural heritage of the Yoruba people.

Spirituality and Rituals

At the core of Òjà Òrísà lies the deep reverence for the Òrísà, the divine beings who oversee every aspect of life. Each vendor's stall becomes a miniature shrine, adorned with offerings and prayers.

Ìbòjì: Devotees offer sacrifices of kola nuts....

1. Jasons experience at the playhouse highlights the importance of childhood play in fostering creativity and imagination, as he was able to create elaborate scenarios and stories with simple props and costumes.

2. Childhood play at the playhouse allowed Jason to develop essential social skills such as cooperation, communication, and problem-solving, as he had to collaborate with other children to act out scenes and make decisions together.

3. The playhouse provided a safe and supervised environment for Jason to engage in imaginative play, demonstrating the significance of structured play settings in promoting emotional and social development in children.

4. Through....