IODLCS0157 - Shakespeare in the Movies

Course Description

Love and political ambition and violence and evil and laughter and wit and racial antagonism and the battle between the sexes and the joy and misery of being human - Shakespeare's plays are about all of that. Discover how they work in film and video. Learn to read films and understand what actors, directors, composers, set designers, cinematographers, etc. do to bring the bard's plays to life. We will view Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Othello, Much Ado about Nothing, and Romeo and Juliet and study how these plays got from the page to the screen. We will look at actors of the present day - Pacino, McKellen, Hopkins, Hoskins, Fishburne, Branagh, Thompson, DiCaprio, Danes, etc. and also at giants of the past, like Laurence Olivier, to see how actors create their roles. This course includes group work in reviewing film techniques, innovative writing instruction, and an introduction to research. You will have access to whole plays and to selected clips streamed to your computer.