directors notebook

8/16/2019 Directors Notebook

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MID-FRIDAY CRISISFIRST EDITIONANAGHA SRIDHAR, GRACE FU, BEN SCHWEIGHAUSER


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The setting of this play is taken place in a nor-

mal high school. The school is very clean and the

environment is very clean and proper. In this par-

ticular play, there are two hallways used the most

divided by a set of stairs. Each hallway contains a

set of couches and a table in the middle. The dis-

tinct colors of the couches shows the different

mood in each scene. The simple furniture, and the

lighting from the sun shows the setting of the

school very clearly. When the scene changes to “Helena’s Arrival”, the characters turn around from

their conversation and the mood changes as the

“edgy” character enters the play.Red Couches

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SETTING


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Red Couches

This is the setting at the very beginning

of the film, when the ‘lovers’ Lysander

and Hermia are introduced. The color

red of the couches develops the themeof love and creates a happy and affec-

tionate mood.

Crimson Red Couches

The film takes place at the crimson red

couches towards the end of the film after

the “drama” starts. Lysander talks to He-

lena about asking Hermia to the formal.

Throughout this scene, Helena shows

slight signs of jealousy, while Lysander

shows signs of guilt through their

speech. The crimson color helps further

develop the jealous mood.

Hallway / Lockers

The lockers symbolize Hermia’s insecure

mind about her grades. In addition, it de-

velops her characterization, showing

she is an organized and tidy person.

Classroom

The setting of the classroom is very calm

and quiet, yet Hermia is shown to be

working hard, developing her uptight

character.

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Arranged in order of appearance

Ben Schweighauser ............. Lysander

Anagha Sridhar .................... Hermia

Grace Fu .............................. Helena

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CAST


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Lysander

Ben plays the character of Lysander who is also a teenager. He is

a character who is trying to be on his best behavior around the

one person he loves, Hermia. He is very persuasive and enthusi-

astic throughout the play this is another opportunity for him to

show Hermia how “fun” he is.

Hermia

Hermia: Anagha plays the character of Hermia who is a young

teenage girl in a high school. Hermia is portrayed as the popularhigh school girl, who everyone loves. At the time of this produc-

tion, Hermia is struggling to keep up with schoolwork, as well as

her relationship with Lysander and friendship with Helena. As the

“it” girl of the school, Hermia is a girl in a position of stress. Due

to this, Hermia will sacrifice all forms of “fun” to get perfect

marks, even the event of the summer formal. Her character is

very modest and innocent and brings to the scene a very sweet

tone. The original character of Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s

Dream is similar to how our group interpreted it, but though mod-ernization texts, we were able to exaggerate and enhance the

characterization.

Helena

Helena: The character Helena is played by Grace. She is a char-

acter who is very jealous and envious of her best friend Hermia.

Helena is portrayed as the second popular girl, who everyone

loves after Hermia. During the production, Helena struggles to

win over the love of her life Demetrius who she is assuming Her-

mia “took” from her. She has a whiny and accusing tone of voice.

In a way, the film rotates around the fact that although she is her

best friend, Helena is jealous of Hermia’s popularity on a daily ba-

sis. Compared to Hermia, Helena’s is much edgier than Hermia’s,

representing how the characters’ are different; Helena being

more outgoing and straight-to-the-point, while Hermia is more

modest and quite.

CHARACTERDESCRIPTIONS

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CHARACTER COSTUMES


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Hermia

In this interpretation of Act 1, scene 1 of Midsummer Night’s

Dream, Hermia is portrayed as the popular high school girl, who every-

one loves. At the time of this production, Hermia is struggling to keep

up with schoolwork, as well as her relationship with Lysander and friend-

ship with Helena. Throughout the film, Hermia wears casual every day

clothes. The dress she wears is a flower patterned one, which happens

to be a motif throughout the film as well as in the actual play. In addi-

tion, the flowing material of the dress depicts a playful, free-flowing

character representing a side of Hermia which is not focused in school.

As for shoes, Hermia wears simple gladiator sandals, which shows her

confidence and ability to make decisions for herself.

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Lysander

Lysander is shown to be the most care-free , but still a popula

character throughout this film. He wears a pair of shorts and sport

shoes, showing his athletic nature. The simple cotton shirt he wear

also enhances his care-free personality. The star-wars print on the fron

of it shows his inner ‘geekiness’. Lysander and Hermia both stand ou

throughout the film because of their light colored clothes, which co

trasts with Helena’s darker outfit.

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Helena

In this film, Helena is portrayed as the popular girl’s best friend. In

a way, the film rotates around the fact that although she is her best

friend, Helena is jealous of Hermia’s popularity on a daily basis. For

this reason, she is shown to be wearing many necklaces, rings and

long earrings, by which she hopes to win over Demetrius. The rough

material of the jean skirt she wears represents her tough skin. This is

ironic as she lets a simple thing like, a boy, get in between her friend-

ship with Hemia. The black top she wears symbolizes the darkness

within her, as she runs after someone who never really appreciates her.

As for the shoes, the simple Vans represents her original self, the one

that is not paranoid about things like love. In general, Helena’s outfit is

much edgier than Hermia’s, representing how the characters’ are differ-

ent; Helena being more outgoing and straight-to-the-point, while Her-

mia is more modest and quite.

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In numerous famous movies and plays,

props were used to foreshadow the future and con-

nect various events and also have a representa-

tion and prediction of a certain feeling, a person or

place. Props are what allows the audience to un-

derstand the staged scene better and give them a

stronger sense of each character and their person-

alities. In this scene of Lysander, Hermia and He-lena, various different props were used as ex-

plained below.

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PROPS


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Hermia’s Math Test Paper

As the “it” girl of the school, Hermia is a girl

in a position of stress. Especially over “per-

fect” grades and test papers. The test pa-

per as a prop, represents this. As Hermia

continues to obsess over her “bad” test, it

represents the control the grade has over

her and how something to little can change

someone’s mood in a split second.

Lockers

The locker opens and inside are more

books, this shows that the characters are

students and their neat lockers represent

their “clean and organized” personalities.

The locker is yet another object to show-

case Hermia’s character furthermore. Her-

mia reorganizing her locker at the end of

that day is a sign of her orderly behavior.

Whereas Helena, instead of walking to her

locker like Hermia did, was out of class

late, and on her phone the whole time. This

compares the two characters and their dif-

ferent behavior, how one is more edgy and

the other is more behaved and well or-

dered.

PROPS USED

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Backpack + Books

These two props bring out the characteris-

tics of Helena and Hermia. By observing

the props, the fact that they are both carry-

ing a pile of books shows how they care a

lot about school and their grades. This also

gives the audience an expression that

these kids are very hard working, competi-

tive and are great student examples.

Phones

The phone is a prop for Lysander and Her-

mia. This prop shows the audience a

stronger side of love where it can not only

be expressed through actions but through

devices like a phone to show the act of

kindness and caring. Normally, by showing

affection physically would be enough, but

because Lysander’s character is very car-

ing and has a care-free nature, he couldn’t

help but text to make sure if Hermia is al-

right.

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STAGING/BLOCKING


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Hermia exits the classroom

Lysander walks to the red couches, and sits down at the

middle one. Hermia comes from the classroom to the sameplace.


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Lysander and Hermia walk to the staircase

together

Lysander and Hermia walk down 2 sets of stairs.


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Lysander and Hermia walk out of the stair

case and to the lockers. Helena comes out of

the classroom.

Hermia, Lysander and Helena walk to the

couches on the second floor from the lockers.

Hermia and Lysander continue that way to-

gether.


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MUSIC


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In our video we open with a song which is uplifting

and happy. This song is Hello Friday by Flo Rida. Also

the time is Friday after school. The reason why we use

an uplifting song about Friday is because everyone is

happy when it comes to Friday. Friday marks the end

of countless hours working/studying and starts the

weekend. This song sets the mood for the beginningof our whole story which is a happy one.

HELLO FRIDAY:FLO RIDA FT.

JASONDERULO

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After Lysander convinces Hermia to go to the formal,

Lysander is happy and deep down, even with all the

struggle, so is Hermia. With this song Hermia and

Lysander agree with both going to the formal and both

feel happy towards each other. This also foreshadows

that even though things happen, such as Hermia not

wanting to go to the formal, Lysander finds a way to

solve things. This is represented by the part where the

song says “Club can’t handle me right now.”

CLUB CANTHANDLE ME:

FLO RIDA

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In the end for the closing we use the song Won't LetYou Walk Away because thats when everything is re-

solved. The song put sets a mood as if everything is

alright. Lysander and Hermia are happy together and

Helena seems to be okay with Demetrius not loving

her, although deep down she is still struggling inter-

nally. This ends the video kind of on a happy ending

even thought Helena still struggles a bit the sound of

the music feels like something nice has been

achieved and even thought not everything is perfect,

life is good.

I WONT LET YOU WALK

AWAY: MAKOFT. MADISONBEER

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SCRIPT


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Anagha

Grace

Ben

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REFLECTIONS


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While working on this project along with Grace and Ben, I was fully i

charge of organizing the costumes, writing the setting and character descri

tions (along with Grace), re-writing the script using the right format and putting

together all the different components to create the “Director’s Notebook”.

Throughout our film, we explored the same theme as the one expresse

in the original text, love. Through the usage of relationship between characters

our interpretation of Shakespeare’s act 1 scene 1 of Midsummer Night’s Dream

conveys the message that when love comes between the best of friends, it ca

cause conflicts. In our interpretation, the characters Hermia (played by myself

and Lysander (played by Ben) have feelings for one another. But unlike the

original text, they don’t plan to run away, instead the dilemma Lysander face

is how and when to ask Hermia to the formal. Similar to the text, Helena

(played by Grace) is jealous of the attention Hermia receives from Demetrius.

The way I portrayed my character, Hermia was as a modest, all roundehigh school girl, whom everyone admired. In this beginning of this scene, she

says “ nothing's going [her] way” (6), and is shown to be worrying about he

test grade, displaying a studious student. To express her annoyance throug

her posture, Hermia is shown to be sitting cross-armed, and slouched on th

couch. Throughout the film, there are a lot of scenes where Hermia faces he

back to the camera. For example, when Lysander tries to persuade her int

coming to the formal, she stands up and look down at him and says “you can

tell me what to do, these are my decisions, not yours” (12), portraying her con

dence and mental strength. Overall, she moves around a lot and uses differen

stances depending on the subtext of the script.

While thinking about the costume, I had to refer back to the subtexts o

the script and make sure to use suitable clothing for the characters depending

on their personalities. To convey Helena’s jealous, and ‘on-the-edge’ characte

I decided to make her wear dark colored clothes. Her outfit in general muc

more casual than Hermia’s, representing how she doesn’t care about what sh

does. Hermia, on the other hand, wears a free-flowing flower patterned dres

which conveys her easy-going personality. But in contrary to that, the way shholds her books and her bag throughout the film symbolizes a studious st

dent. Her semi-formal attire represents two sides of her personality, one whic

is more focused and determined and the other which is less serious. As fo

Lysander, he just wears casual, everyday clothes, showing his comfort in th

school environment, especially towards the end of the year. The light color

also reflect his personality as it shows his care-free nature.

Reflection -Anagha

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In creation of the Director’s Notebook my main role was to prepare the

props and sets of the scene, edit the script by completing the subtext, and

piecing together the video with Ben S. I also participated in writing the ful

script along with the rest of the group and compiled a music cue-sheet to en

sure our performance was organized along with the music cues. In addition

I significantly contributed to writing character and setting descriptions along

with the context and how the characters related to those in *A Midsumme

Night’s Dream *(along with Anagha). Furthermore, I also had full responsibi

ity during the filming process and made sure all the acts were in order

Moreover, I helped Anagha with the thesis statement and piecing together

the Director’s Notebook by providing Anagha with images.

In writing some of the script, and inserting the full subtext throughout

the whole script, I had to make sure to use the appropriate subtext for the

lines and the actions for the characters depending on their personalities

Also, based on their characterization, each character had different subtext

certain movements and attitudes to perform throughout the play. An exam

ple of this can be seen with my character, Helena. Helena’s character does

not care very much about what she says and this can be seen in her body

language and actions and facial expressions. Helena’s attitude towards he

“friend” Hermia is rather different then what friendship nowadays are like.

wrote the script in a clear, detailed method allowing the actors to have accu

rate understanding of the meaning behind the script throughout the play.

Through the usage of relationship between characters, our interpreta

tion of Shakespeare’s act1 scene1, conveys the message that love can

sometimes come between friendship and cause conflicts between the best

of friends. Helena is shown to be the second popular high school girl who

everyone admires, after Hermia. Being the jealous character, Helena forces

her “best friend” Hermia into a confrontation. In this particular scene, she is

shown to be rather jealous and on edge, “What did you do to him? Did you

like cast a spell?? You get everything! Like EVERYTHING! Your grades are

perfect, you look perfect, and you get everything you want...” (12). Alike, he

body language is very enthusiastic and dramatic much like her behavior of

insecurity and jealousy towards Hermia.

In the analysis of my choice in props, setting, and character descrip

tion, I demonstrated my understanding of the content and mood of each

scene. I explained and reflected on the characteristics of each character

their feelings and personalities.

Reflection -Grace

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Through the usage of relationship between characters, our interpretation of

Shakespeare’s act1 scene1, conveys the message that love can sometimes

come between friendship and cause conflicts between the best of friends. In

the original text, Lysander and Hermia plan to both elope together as they are

in love. Later they come across Helena and explain the plan to her which she

is told to keep as a secret. Helena wishes them luck and Lysander and Her-

mia wish luck to her in hopes of getting Demetrius to love Helena instead of

Hermia. The main theme in this part of the book is pretty obvious. Love.

We keep the theme of love and change the plot. In our interpretation

Lysander and Hermia are still in love and Helena still loves Demetrius whom

doesn’t love her back but loves Hermia, however instead of eloping,

Lysander has the plan to go to the formal with Hermia, while Hermia and He-

lena fight because Demetrius has the plan to ask Hermia to the formal.

When I was doing the blocking I had to keep in mind the way the characters

would feel. So at first Lysander talking to Hermia, Lysander is very passive

and is laid back and very nice, so he wouldn’t stand and talk or talk aggres-

sively. Hermia on the other hand at that time was very passive and dominant,

that’s why I made her come up while talking to Lysander and stand up. Then

when Helena and Hermia have their discussion I made Helena come keep

walking towards Hermia because she is angry at Hermia. Whilst Hermia

backs off as she is remaining passive. This all helped the acting of the entire

video.

While acting in the video my motions were very simple, yet they expressed

how Lysander is as a person. Lysander in general is a very laid back person,

yet is respectful and fun. This is why when I was acting in scenes I remained

passive by sitting or by talking in a calm tone, not raising my voice. Also

when Hermia says she doesn’t want to go to the formal I persuade her, as we

are in love, by using hand gestures. These hand gestures are not sharp or

quick but rather slow and calm. This really portrays Lysanders personality. So

by acting like I did, I persuade the audience that I, Lysander, am very relaxed

and calm and rather friendly too.

I used multiple songs to keep and/or change the mood of the story at differ-

ent times. By using the songs that we used we created a mood fit for the

scene..

Reflection -Ben

directors notebook

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