How Does Roman Polanski’s Film ‘Macbeth’ Enhance Your Understanding of the First Two Acts of Macbeth?

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In modern film making, directors and film makers have a much wider range of effects and sound, lighting and filming devices (such as camera angles. However, in Shakespeare’s time, there were fewer techniques to make the play understandable and believable – for example, the play was always performed live. In Polanski’s film, camera angles and voice-overs are very important. When Macbeth is being performed on stage, soliloquies are performed to the audience, and so the audience has to focus on the character and not the set or any other characters. However, in the film the camera can focus on what Polanski wants the viewer to see and the soliloquy is heard as a voiceover – like a thought from the character. For example, when Macbeth is having second thoughts about killing Duncan in Act 1, Scene 7, this soliloquy is seen as thoughts from Macbeth. As well as this, in the film, viewing is continuous. Therefore the viewer doesn’t have to wait between acts or scenes for sets to be changed in the film – such as between Act 1, Scene 4 to 5, where the set changes from the Kings headquarter to Macbeth’s castle in Inverness. Also, while watching the film the viewer has the choice to pause, forward, or rewind and forward the film. This makes viewing more flexible than watching Macbeth being performed live. This enhances understanding as you could rewind to parts you didn’t understand. The camera is particularly good, as you can see the characters facial expressions. So when Lady Macbeth is saying “…unsex me here and fill me from the frown to the toe topfull” you can see her expression. This makes understanding the characters easier. Furthermore, the effects would be more realistic in the film. In the film you can see the traitor Thane of Cawdor being hung (the camera focuses on him saying “long live the King”), and the murder of the king, which is unseen by the

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