Madness in Hamlet

Madness was not well understood in Elizabethan times but there was a vague understanding of unbalanced humours producing illness and insanity. The insane were fairly comical and turn up in a number of Shakespeare’s plays – notably Lear in which another son pretends to be mad in order to honour his father and protect himself. Hamlet claims to be but “mad north-north west, when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw”. He can put on his madness, but does he express himself in a mad way?

POLONIUS [II.ii.146-150]		And he, repellèd, a short tale to make, Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension, Into the madness wherein now he raves
HAMLET [II.ii.377-378]		I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
OPHELIA [III.i.151]		O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
KING [III.i.189]		Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.
KING QUEEN [IV.i.6-7]		What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet? Mad as the sea and wind when both contend Which is the mightier.
LAERTES [IV.v.156-159]		O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye! By heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight Till our scale turn the beam.

Useful Critics

“Hamlet's insanity is clearly feigned. He is more acted upon than the actor.” (Johnson)

“What is Hamlet's motive for acting the madman? It allows others to speak freely in his presence for their guard will be down. Thus the words of the ghost may be confirmed. See I,v,169 ff. Does it work? No. The king is too clever, and the queen is not an accomplice.” (Kitteredge)

v  Who in the play is actually mad? How can you tell? Why are they mad?

v  Why does Hamlet decide to act mad? (is this a guess, or something we know for sure?)

v  How does Hamlet use language to look mad?

v  Is it mad to be suicidal? Who is suicidal in the play?

v  Why is the royal court so concerned about strange behaviour?

v  How is mad Ophelia treated?

v  How does her madness exhibit itself?

v  Is it mad to see ghosts?

v  Why doesn’t Gertrude see the ghost?

v  “I am sick at heart” - Why?

v  “It is an un-weeded garden that grows to seed, things rank and gross in nature possess it merely” What does this image tell you about Hamlet’s view of the world.

Lighting Techniques

From Cinematic Storytelling by Jennifer Van Sijll

• Rembrandt lighting/chiaroscuro as influenced by Caravaggio paintings - high contrast
• Backlighting is often associated with moral goodness/mystical
• Disassociate objects/body parts
• TV lighting eg sitcoms is often thought of bright, flat and shadowless, although recent sitcoms such as Insecure have tried to break away from this
• Candlelight flatters the face, smoothes skin, adds a warm tone - can subvert this warmness
• Motivated lighting is light that would naturally exist in the world depicted in the frame
• Light traditionally is used to represent moral goodness, darkness as evil
• Flood of light having religious quality
• Moving Light can be created - can be an approaching antagonist, chaos + madness, some of them can be rescue etc

Looking at Community Media

Looking at documentaries within the TV Schedule

BBC One

• Older entertainer docs on Sunday - targets baby boomers
• Same documentaries as BBC 2 but later - Rip off Britain starts at 9.15am
• Crime documentaries sometimes during the day
• Political documentaries about wide issues
• Issues with government policies/welfare state - Council House Crackdown 8-9pm 3 parts

BBC 2

• Sunday prime time 9pm Louis Theroux new doc - repeated on Tues after midnight - 3 part hour long series
• Documentaries from 6am about British issues, real life stories about issues in society until 9am - morning dominated
• Educational programmes - health, money

itv

• Thursday 9pm  Presenter led crime doc 1 off 1 hour An Hour to Catch a Killer with Trevor McDonald
• Some factual programmes like ITV 4 has Car Crash Global: Caught on Camera

Channel 4

• Play documentaries after midnight until 3am
• More Factual Entertainment in 3hr slot eg The Undateables
• Repeats of popular documentaries after midnight eg Educating Greater Manchester - 8 part weekly series
• Documentaries focusing on unusual people with exciting headlines - Quadruplets and Homeless
• Shows centred around a profession/place eg 24 hours in A and E

Channel 5

• More factual shows than documentaries
• Railway documentaries primetime - 9pm weekday
• Real life series centred around a theme eg Tattoos, but usually negative/problems had
• Some shows centred around a profession eg Doctors
• Visualization of gossip mag stories - Gypsy kids (7 parts) and Nightmare neighbours (11 Parts)

BBC4

• Horizon at 9pm
• Play documentaries after midnight until 3am
• Channel off air until 7pm
• Mainly documentaries apart from some more news based
• Repeats of Louis Theroux's documentaries from 1997 - big names get more air time
• Weekly series - sometimes double episodes on the same day eg The Vietnam War 2 eps 10-12pm
• Lot of history, music based,
• Until 3.30am

Sky1

• Docs until 4-5am - animals, border/professions

Netflix

Vice

Wong Kar Wai Techniques

• Telephoto lens with movement in foreground makes character look more isolated
• Coloured gels tocreate unusual coloured light
• Holding on a character doing everyday things
• Actors manipulating props with hands - glasses, toy plane
• Monologue VO - introspection, isolation
• Rain
• 
  

Watching The Insider: Reggie Yates

Documentary in which Reggie Yates visits the Middle East to spend a week living and sleeping in the largest refugee camp in Iraq alongside 30,000 Syrian refugees

• We enter the camp with Reggie, as he starts the programme walking through countryside in a manner akin to news footage
• He sets the scene with international news coverage which basically equates to what we the audience know
• He matches the emotions you would expect a person going through the process to feel, with a CU of him rubbing his eyes signifying a long and tedious process
• The UN officials don't get introductions, instead we see them carrying out their jobs, with Reggie  not getting special treatment
• When he is given supplies the moment has a strange feeling as he is not actually in need of any of them
• When Reggie walks through the camp his surprise as seeing 55 inch plasma TV screens mirrors the subversion of the audience's expectations
• Use of title cards with day numbers on links back to Reggie's opening piece to camera when he says he will stay for a week. This gives structure and gives an idea of how far he has to go - building anticipation
• There are a lot of shots of Reggie's back as he walks
• Graphics explain the geography of the camp with Reggie's VO using what he's learnt to describe
• Skip over showing moments like Reggie finding a translator
• Permanence of the camp contrasted by the materials its built with -tarpaulin etc
• Residence Reggie talks to padlocks his door - sfx emphasiz the moment - connotations of ownership, danger
• Man that wont take money - the reason is just 'my friend'
• Barber refugee wants to come to the UK - but says he has to do it illegally
• Boy plays guitar in the background - normalcy and community feeling
• Glitch effect on cuts - between reggie ordering a curry and guns being fired - a way to visualize the discrepancy or trying to wrap your head around it
• Use of time at the bottom and beeping sound effect - urgency in darkness
• Sad piano music as Hazwan describes how he is afraid of forgetting the faces of his family
• Cutaways of Hazwan working whilst Reggie is trying to understand what it must feel like - after Reggie joins him - wanting to do something, joining in community feeling
• interviewing while they work
• Reggie goes to a house he describes as most complete home like house and sits on a sofa, they seem like they must be a better off family but the family have still suffered
• Shown a picture of a missing son on an iphone - black and white looking into camera - been missing since 2015
• Reggie calls the lack of aid 'a bit shit isn't it' beocming more connected to the people, reflecting the rawness of the refugees stories
• Reggie's observations lead him to a man who breeds pigeons
• CU of kettle pouring tea cutting between previous person and next
• Voiceover gives meaning to pigeons as 'roots'
• Hazwan slaps hand with reggie as leaves
• Reggie talks about his insights finishing with a look at a person behind the camera
• However bad it is, fatima reveals its worse for girls
• 
  

Community's End Credits

• Cutting from mid to wide with comical reveal
• Making fun of how a character sees themselves
• Running jokes
• Song
• Short genre piece often undermined by real life
• Exploring minor characters/different side to them/what they get up to
• Juxtaposing what a character looks like his stereotype would be
• Juxtaposing cartoon nature of the show with its real world cosequences
• Games/cartoons/films lifted into real life