Honors post #2

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern literary breakdown.

Up until One month ago I had one general rule for writing, make it seem as real as possible. This was a divine law for me, to make a good play you had to follow this exactly. One month ago something magical happened; I opened Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, this shattered my reality. I was dumb found, how a play that was so widely respected could violate the divine law. I couldn’t believe that people enjoyed a play so much that so blatantly screamed “you’re watching a play!”

This was until I read it for myself, I was instantly caught up in the hilarity of what it was saying, I didn’t care if I knew it was a play. Knowing that only made it funnier for me, normally I would read it just for the humor aspect. Since I was under the guide of the great Randy Scherer I delved deeper into the play, doing this made it much more enjoyable. I was getting the hilarity and I got the deeper meaning, making me think about if life is one big play and we are all actors. It changes my perception of reality making me think about if I really have free will or if I’m just another Rosencrantz thinking he knows what is happening. Also it makes me question who I really am, am I just an actor or do I have a true personality that I am free to change and manipulate at my own will. The more I read the deeper I get into the thought of my own mortality. I think that this is what Tom Stoppard wanted when he wrote the play; I think that he wanted people to start to question the world around them.

Tom Stoppard used Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get people to think about plays, he opened people’s eyes to what happens when a character exits a play. Even though when the character that exits is not in the play thus making him non-existent. Tom decided to take an exit in hamlet and make an entrance in this play, he took all of the little thinks that happened in hamlet and made them big ordeals. By doing this he breaks down hamlet in a sense, you can use this play as a literary breakdown of hamlet, at least a literary breakdown of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s point for being in the play.

By doing all of these things right Tom made a play that broke the divine rule but made it amazing in spite of that. By breaking down a character in a play and talking about his mortality it makes all of those who read it question their own mortality.

New Yorker Theater Critiques.

There are many things you need to do to write a successful play, it is not an easy process to go through. There are many tools you need to master to make the play an interesting and cohesive entity. There are very many tools, but most are very specialized for certain things. As a playwright you need to know which tool to use and at what time, which is where the real challenge comes in. Out of the many tools there are three that I have found to be the most useful in writing a successful play; foils, characterization, and conflict. With these 3 specialized tools used correctly you can make an amazing play even better.

First off foils, these are characters that are the opposite of another given character; this can be used to further show character traits of people. When used correctly foils can give away subtle things about a character that would otherwise be un-noticed. To make the best use of this you need to make it so more than just one character has a foil, it is best when all characters have at least one. Foils are even better when characters have multiple foils, thus showing even more about a character. I think that to integrate this into out play we need to make other people then just Vincent have a foil. At the moment Grant is a foil for Vincent, but we need more people to foil Vincent. Also we need characters to foil other characters then just Vincent. I think that if we could do this right then it could make our play a deeper more thought provoking play.

Characterization is a necessary device in a play, most of the time it is done without really thinking about it. When writers use characterization without thinking about it a lot of the time it comes out crude and unrefined. Seeing how this is one of the most necessary devices it needs to be done very well. Adding personality to a character needs to happen or else the play is completely unbelievable. In out play we have done a good job of this with Vincent and Grant. Unfortunately I think that on most of the other characters it could be done better. This might be because there are a few scenes missing but, I don’t think that most of the characters have a very deep personality. It is just a surface level personality that makes it so you don’t fall in love with the characters. Since this is so important we need to give the characters a deeper personality so people with enjoy our play.

Finally one of the last literary devices that need to be in a play is conflict, this is an obvious one. Without conflict a play is boring and intolerable, think of life if it had no conflict, it would suck. This goes for a play also, with no conflict it sucks. Plain and simple, having a conflict isn’t you only thing you need to do to make it great though. You need multiple conflicts through different characters; you need conflict within and conflict between people. The more complicated the conflicts get, generally, the better it can be. I think that in our play we have done this quite well, we might want to add some inner conflicts with liz and Torry but for the most part I think that it is good. As long as we add foils and better characterization then I think that this play can be something great. I think that with these three devices our play can easily be that much better.

Blog #16

Rosencrantz and guldenstern is about what happens off of the stage. It is about the life of a person inside a play that doesn't know he is there but makes subtle hints at the fact that he is inside of a play. It is meant to really tell us about what happens to the characters in a play and what happens in a play when someone exits. The entire thing is about how these two characters are like when they are outside of hamlet, it is about all the things that happen when there is an exit. The line in it describes it perfectly "every exit is an entrance somewhere else" this is exactly what the play is trying to show us.

blog #17

Vincent: I don’t stalk her. I just people watch, her specifically.

I think that this is the best line in the play, it is a great joke and it tells us more about Vincent. I think that this is a great use if diction, i think that Vincent defending himself by say “I just people watch” makes the joke work. If you had used some other way of wording it then i don’t think it would have been as funny and it wouldn’t have shown as much of Vincent’s personality. Using this wording makes Vincent seem like he knows what he is doing but tries not to show it. Also it kind of shows Vincent’s not-confrontational personality, it shows that he doesn’t want to confront the fact that he stalks Liz but he knows it is there. This gives us a very early look at his personality that will leave people wanting to figure out more about him. This will make out play all the better, the more people are into it the more people enjoy it. Also i think that grant is one of the great parts of the play, he if a very blunt and visual person and i think that it makes the play funny and interesting.

blog #15

The most important concept that i took away from hamlet is that you need to give the chars a life outside of the play I never really thought about that before i read hamlet. I didn't use that tool in my own work so i think i can make my work have a deeper understanding. If i can utilize that device correctly I can really improve on my writing skills.

Doing the digital essay furthered my understanding of how women were treated back in the old days. I already knew a decent amount but i had never had a discusion about it before the digital essay. This helped me form my on theories about it, and mold new ones that i didn't previously have.

Blog #14

#6 What significance is Ophelia to Hamlet... and to Hamlet?

#8 Explain Hamlet's conflicted feelings about suicide.

#10 Show how relationships between various characters create tension throughout Hamlet (you choose the characters).

#12 Explain the treatment of women in Hamlet and it's effect on the play.

Blog #13

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=1x-CnPqCPnm4p60Na1ximtueNp_WDqkWm8GIOZVlaN27z4tN2rAXgsnftCqHE&hl=en

The first piece is a very, very rough draft of what we have already shot. The second is the script for the diary entry's.

One we get more footage and voice over the script it is going to depict Ophelia's views on everyone thus answering the questions. It will be super fantastic because its going to be all flashbacky and cool.

I think we will cut down some of the script because it is too long. Also we might get rid of some of the video because we wont have enough time to shoot it all.

I think that cutting down the script will be an easy fix, But the taping will be a little bit harder i think that we will have to work on the weekends to get all of the work that we need done.

blog #12

I have been working fairly closely with the playwrights, brainstorming with them about ideas for the bookstore. While i was there we came up with one of the characters and a scene. The character is going to be another person working at the store and he is going to be a very mean person. He is going to be a very annoyed towards customers that ask for certain books that he doesn't like. We made a scene that was someone coming to him and asking for twilight, he hates that book so he was very rude. He said he wouldn't help the customer and told him/her to read a different book instead. We also got the idea of having random guest people from out production be and actor for a short time and come into the bookstore as a customer (not one of the regulars).

Honors post #1

English

In most cases I strongly believe that flashbacks are a very easy way to explain a twist in a plot line that should be figured out by the audience. I think that when a flashback is used it is abused in such a way that it will make the story less interesting. For me this is because when most flashbacks are used they explain too much to the audience. When most writers use a flashback they will abuse it and make it reveal too much of the plot, this gives the audience too much information and makes it so that they don’t have to think about what they are watching thus losing interest. When they lose interest they will not enjoy the story to their full potential and they will not understand the deeper meaning. In most cases this is true, but in some special cases authors can use flashbacks to their full potential.

One author that I believe uses flashbacks to their full potential is Christopher Nolan; I think he uses them especially well in Memento. The entire movie is being told backwards, you are shown an event and then for the movie you are seeing the events that led up to the larger event. At the same time you are being shown flashbacks of his life in a different timeline. The entire movie is one big compilation of various flashbacks into this man’s life. This gives it the effect that the story is being told in reverse; normally I don’t enjoy those kinds of movies. This movie doesn’t end like you would expect it to; in the last scene Nolan adds an interesting idea. He makes the audience think about reality and perception; he poses the question of what is true and what is manufactured. If he used something other than literary devices I think they idea he got across wouldn’t have been as potent.

Nolan makes you believe that the main character (Leonard) has done something that he has been striving for and makes you believe that it is something very noble. Throughout all of the flashbacks you figure out how he got to the point in time that you see him. You find out a lot about him and you really start to think he is a good guy. In the end you are shown that Leonard’s reality is just so twisted and manufactured that he doesn’t even know what is true. This makes you question what you really perceive as a person and what you can trust to be fact. It also makes you think about what reality really is, makes you wonder if reality is one big thing or if it varies from person to person. This idea was put across very blatantly, but it makes you think deeper. If Nolan made the plot play out differently I don’t think the audience would have seen the same picture.

Using the flashback plot line that seemed to go in reverse really added to the idea of the movie, whenever you saw something, you didn’t know how Leonard got to that point in time. So you would start to think of possibilities of how he got there, then just like that with the next scene he would show you the truth and make a new reality for you. This got me thinking of what reality really is, because you didn’t know what happened you would forge an idea and stick with that one. Until that idea is proven wrong you believe this to be real thus making it your reality. Now this leads me to the conclusion that Nolan was trying to make you think that reality varies from person to person.

Reality seems to be a bigger theme in many movies and stories in general, people like to question if things are real or not. Most movies that try to do this can do it pretty well since it is a very easy thing to get across. Although most movies don’t do it in the way that Nolan has done it, he has guided you to an idea. He knows that he will get you to the idea that reality varies from person to person. To do this is an extremely hard thing to do, to not see anyone in your audience but write something that you know will guide people to one thought. It seems impossible but since Nolan took a very powerful literary device and used it he did a very good job of making it possible.

History

Many things make up a great play; you can’t just have one thing and have everything else be terrible. That would completely drown out whatever you did that was amazing. It doesn’t matter if the dialogue is amazing and puts you into the world of the play if your set is completely bogus. There are so many things that you have to do right to make a play great, but I believe that one of the more important things is that you need a captivating set. Without a good set your audience won’t be brought into the world of the play. There are various ways to make a good set; it completely depends on the play that you are making. You will never see a set that is completely similar to another one, which makes it so sets are very diverse and interesting.

The set is a tool that can be utilized in very many ways, it can do so many things to make your play so much better and have a deeper quality of meaning. With a set there are a couple basic things that you need to do to make it work, but after those are created it is really open to interpretation. This gives it so much room to be made up and above the standards of the rest of the play. Since it is so opened ended you can really play with the little things that add the depth to it. It is all of the little things that you don’t notice in a set that make it all the better. In my opinion the less people notice about the set the better it is, if during the play people get distracted by the set then I think it takes away from it. That is why you add the little things to it so people don’t notice it during the play at all, making it so that their attention is completely focused on the story and the characters. When the audience isn’t focused on the set and how good or respectively bad it is then they will get more out of the play, thus enjoying it more thoroughly. On occasion there are times when making the set the center of attention is a good thing.

On the occasion that the set should become the center of attention it should be because you want it to. It should be when something very dramatic happens with the set that adds to what the characters are doing. I believe that movies are a great demonstration of how set should be used, in most movies during conversations nothing is really happening in the background. This brings more attention to what the characters are saying, giving you a deeper understanding into what they are saying. Then when the only time attention is brought to the set is when there is some event that advances the plot. Now this is harder to do in a play since the set is much more prominent because the audience is much more immersed in a play then a movie. This being said I think that if you can do it right the set can add much more to a play then a movie.

With a movie no one really says “Oh wow the set adds so much to that movie”, but when you come out of a play (at least all of the plays that I have seen) people come out talking about how good the set was. When a set is commented on after the play and not noticed during the play, you know you have made a beautiful set. If the set is made in that way then it adds depth to the play, people will walk out of the theater and be astounded at how great the play was and also how great the set was.

Nobody will ever walk out of a play and say ‘I didn’t really look at the set”. The set is the first thing people will see when they walk into the theater; it sets the precedent for the entire play. All the more reason it has to be good, if people see a garbage set then they will be regretting paying to come see the play that you have created. It is for this reason that I think that one of the biggest aspects of theatre is the set. The play is nothing without a great set.

Blog #11

As a production manager i had to make a power point with my other manager. It was very easy to do this, Lynette and i work very well together. Most people i work with either do to much or to little but with Lynette she pulls her own weight. I cannot see any challenges at the moment but i do think that some will come up soon while we get further into the project. I am most interested in the fact that for once the students are really the bosses of the project. We are given guidelines yes but, we pretty much govern ourselves for most of this project. It is the first kind of project that has really been like that for me.