Blog 22; Act 3 To Be Or Not To Be

1) Soliloquy Analysis;
3) Acting Analysis;
             I believe that Ethan Hawkes version of To be or not to be was the best, because of it's great use of mis en scene edits. The way that it is placed in everyday modern life is much more appealing to me as the audience, it shows that this can be applicable to the modern life. The fact that he is walking down the action isle in the Blockbuster is appealing because the speech is based around the topic of whether to commit an action or "to sleep." As the speaker walks around the isle the camera is focused mainly on his face with a medium straight on shot. This shows the audience that the main focus of the speech isn't his surroundings but rather the man himself,  this reinforces the motive of the person and his actions towards life and death. But then it switches the Tv that shows an explosion with the surroundings around them going up in flames this represents the fire that people feel when they must choose between anything not just life and death. The actor never seems to look directly into the camera which shows a sense of reluctance towards making a decision.
4)Rank
            The second best video was the Kenneth Branagh version because of the emotion behind all of his actions. He starts off slow with a wide shot of him looking into a mirror as he begins the speech and as the speech progresses the angle and focus continues to decreases. By the middle of the speech he had taken out his dagger and the shot was closer to his face as if he was looking straight through the mirror to the other side. His emotion is shown within the way his eyes portray everything he is saying with such meaning. Slowly he becomes more emotional as well as angry making this speech much more relatable. Next would be the Laurence Olivier version which was my least favorite because I have a hard time relating to things that are based around older motives. The way it was portrayed confused me in many aspects. As the video begins its as if you are floating in the clouds of his mind and then you are focused over the water. "To die, to sleep" was a real option because you were over the water as if you were pondering death itself. Then it focuses in on Hamlet and his actions but thats were the speech lost its meaning for me. In some cases Hamlet was speaking well in others he was just simply thinking out his speech well you watched his movements well on the rock. I became so focused on what he was doing that I wasn't focused on the words he was saying, which wasn't the point that the director was looking for.