Hamlet Thematic Film Project
/30
Following the completion of the play, you will create a thematic movie trailer. Your trailer should be
engaging and informative.
Please note:
- You will effectively integrate text, quotes, symbols, video, pictures, and music to create a compelling
thematic movie trailer.
- Length should be approximately 90 to 120 seconds.
- A storyboard showing evidence of planning needs to be completed and submitted for marks.
- Film must be produced during class time. I highly encourage using animoto. The promo/referral
code is: a4ehumm65aa45 (www.animoto.com)
Content – select one theme to explore in your movie trailer:
1 - Impossibility of Certainty and Delay of Action:
Hamlet undoubtedly takes a long time to avenge his father’s murder, and his hesitation is his tragic
flaw. He spends a great deal of effort thinking and analyzing and far less acting on his dead father’s request
for revenge. Hamlet’s delay of action is a direct result of his attempts to obtain more certain knowledge
about what he needs to do as well as the circumstances of his father’s death. However, had he not taken so
long, the play would not have been – indeed, it relies on Hamlet’s hesitation.
2 – Revenge:
There are at least three instances of characters seeking revenge in the play. Young Fortinbras seeks
revenge against Denmark because Old King Hamlet killed his father and took his father’s lands. Hamlet
wants revenge against Claudius for his own father’s murder. Laertes wants revenge against Hamlet for
killing his father, Polonius.
3 – Decay and Corruption:
Among the most powerful images of the play are those which reveal disintegrating situations, both in
personal terms for Prince Hamlet, and in political terms for Denmark. If the state of Denmark is a body, and
the king is the head of the body, and if the king is murdered, what does that mean for the health of the
nation/body? Moreover, if the new king is a corrupted murderer, then the wellbeing of the state of Denmark
is further compromised. Further, the relationship between Claudius and Gertrude that enrages Hamlet brings
the taint of sexual infidelity and incest to the very center of life in the Danish court.
4 – Madness and Melancholy:
Hamlet’s “antic disposition” – his make-believe madness – is a pose he hides behind which he
contemplates his revenge. But his actual state of mind seems terribly unstable at several points throughout
the play and it is difficult to know for certain whether or not he ever actually slips over the edge into genuine
madness. Hamlet’s symptoms may be more melancholic: pessimistic, cynical, ruthless self-criticism,
depressed mood, and persistent thoughts of suicide. Ophelia’s madness is indisputable.
5 – The Mystery of Death:
The idea of death is closely tied to the motifs of spirituality, truth, and uncertainty, as death may bring
answers to Hamlet’s uncertainty. Hamlet is obsessed with death and considers many perspectives of death
throughout the play. He ponders the spiritual aftermath of death (from the ghost of his father) and the
physical aftermath of death (in the corpses and Yorick’s skull). Hamlet contemplates his own death: is
suicide morally legitimate in an unbearably painful world?
6 – Deception:
The characters in the play demonstrate several acts of deception. King Claudius hides the fact that he
murdered his brother, King Hamlet. Hamlet conceals his knowledge of the murder and he also conceals his
sanity. In fact, a lot of the play depends on Hamlet’s “antic disposition”. Polonius hides his loyalty to King
Claudius and spies on Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern pretend to be loyal to Hamlet, but are actually
in liege with King Claudius. Near the end of the play, Gertrude hides her knowledge of Hamlet’s antic
disposition.
7 – Loyalty:
Despite the many instances of distrust and deception, some characters remain true and constant. Hamlet
is forever loyal to his father. Even before learning of his father’s murder, he mourned him grievously.
Laertes is loyal to Ophelia and Polonius. Horatio remains loyal to Hamlet throughout the play. Interestingly,
Gertrude is torn between her loyalty to Claudius and her loyalty to Hamlet. However, she keeps her loyalty
to Hamlet in the end by maintaining her promise to hide his antic disposition.
* Once you have selected your theme, find five quotations from the play that help support your
chosen theme. You will need to include these quotations in your video.
 Your trailer should introduce:
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principal characters
plot
setting
 Trailer is engaging, compelling, authentic, and persuasive with the use of:
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music that creates an appropriate mood and stirs an emotional response
images and symbols that symbolically and literally convey your chosen theme
text and quotes that grab the audience’s attention and connect to your theme
Timeframe of Project:
1. Wednesday, November 21 - Introduce project and complete storyboard – this enables you to work
out the interaction between visuals, work out any dialogue for the images, and to work out the music
that will go with the images. Consider how long an image stays on the screen. All ideas for music,
text, quotes, pictures, and video should be on paper before creating trailer on the computer. Need
about 25 frames.
2. Thursday, November 22 – Library Computer lab – sign up for animoto and get familiar with how to
use it, locate music, pictures, and videos to integrate into trailer.
3. Friday, November 23 – Library Computer lab – all visual material to use in trailer is found. Start
putting it all together.
4. Monday, November 26 – text, quotes, and visuals are integrated, music is uploaded. Email to
teacher.
5. Tuesday, November 27 – project is handed in with rubric and storyboard.