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Taking
Liberties: Seven Ages
Producer/Director
- February 1993
(1
x 10 mins) Bournemouth University / B.A. Media Production
This
was intended to be an episode from a studio-based drama series,
which took liberties with respected texts. Stepping out of the Forest
of Arden, the melancholy Jacques from Shakespeare's As You Like It
finds himself facing a new audience. He relays his famous 'Seven Ages
of Man' speech, while VT inserts bring his tales to life.
This
was my first major studio project as a PD. I think my tendency to go
off on flights of fancy got the better of this production, as I
stretched a short speech way beyond the tolerance levels of any
viewer. Thankfully my pals and I had a great laugh making it, and
some of them directed the short location inserts.
The
most amusing is Scott Fairweather's interpretation of a mewling and
puking baby. Shot from the infant's point of view, within a corduroy
pram, it shows Kerry Chambers gurning and coochy-cooing at the
camera. Another arresting insert, directed by Alison Vaughan, showed
a schoolboy caressing his pet snail before being thumped by a bully
in the playground. My own VT, in which the Lord Chief Justice drops
in on a Soho sex shop, just goes on and on. A timely reminder of the
value of ruthless editing...
Jacques:
Raymond Sargent
The
Justice: Peter Howell
with
Kerry
Chambers, Adam Boucher, Anthony Blunn, Rev. Peter Lloyd
Cameras:
Scott Fairweather, Tracey Clarke, Orin Solomon
Studio
Sound: Gary Truman; Boom Operator: Paul Silver
Lighting:
Chris Crombie; Scenic Design: Eleanor Bateman
Floor
Manager: Alison Jenkins; AFM: Daniel Wilson
VT:
Alison Vaughan; Vision Mixer: Joseph Potts
Production
Assistant: Jo O'Reilly |
