Directing Macbeth

Directing Macbeth

SCENE 1

It begins in a smoky hall; dark lighting and shadows are all you can

see. A CD player is going at full volume in the background. We sweep

across the dirty floor until a lead guitar, (not expensive but very

well used), lays at the feet of a handsome young boy of about 16. He

has thick black hair, just covering his striking blue eyes and perfect

skin. We spread out a bit and see Macbeth's best friend, Banquo's

shadowy face. Ginger curly hair shows up in the near darkness under

his blue fisherman's hat. A BCU on Banquo's face shows us that he has

bright green eyes. In these eyes, we see the doorframe and a shard of

light as the door opens. We spin round as light and noise of the cars

outside streams in. Another group walk in past the other three people

sitting on the floor with Macbeth.

This is the first time we have seen these people, two other boys and

one girl all about the same age. This girl is Lady Macbeth. She is

wearing a red tight top and a lot of make-up. The red top is to show

the blood that she will shed and the make-up is to show the mask that

she puts on later in the film. We have a view of the other group's

legs and as they walk past, Macbeth's group looks jealous and cruel.

The cd is turned off and Macbeth and Banquo scowl at each other, they

are jealous of the other bands good favour with the record manager.

There was another band here before and their record deal is called

King.

The lead guitarist is called Duncan. A white piece of fabric is pulled

out of the still open door, as if on a dress. Macbeth's face is still

in this shot, in the foreground but very much out of focus. Children's

laughter is heard and Macbeth turns his head just as the door slams

shut. We now speed through the smoke to a clipboard on a desk between

two pairs of suited shoulders. Here is written "Thaine of Glamis" with

Macbeth's name written on it and a paragraph of writing, Thaine of

Cawdor with Freddie written next to it and also a paragraph of

writing. At the very top of the page "King" is written with "Duncan"

next to it. We now focus on the face of one of the two pairs of

shoulders. He is beaming at the band who are playing and as they

finish, he goes up to the lead singer and embraces him. He is large

and fat with a bald spot on the back of his head. The other pair of

shoulders is his secretary ...

... middle of paper ...

...s side, unnoticed. Banquo laughs at him

with the other two witches, goes to his side and starts his speech

"good sir why do you start and seem to fear, things that do sound so

fair," to Macbeth. Banquo thinks that this is a game, some thing made

up by these young children and he starts to play along, "that he seems

rapt withal- to me you speak not." He continues in this way, egging

Macbeth on, while the witches group together again. Macbeth is

standing alone by himself. The witches hold hands in a circle around

Banquo and skip. They say these last few lines in the same tune from

"Ring'a'ring'roses" they turn to run away after this but Macbeth says

"stay you imperfect speakers" all the way to "Speak I Charge you".

They all sing ring a ring a roses (the original words) while standing

in the places they stopped, spread out on the green distant girls

laughter comes and goes.

At "they all fall DOWN" we have a close up of the main witches eyes

then of Macbeth' eyes then of the main witch, when "Down" is shouted

the witches suddenly vanish leaving the boys back in the roadside and

the noise of the cars and guitar bass again is Deafening. We zoom

right out matrix style.