arts // no. 10

 

Kickstarter in the Community: From

script to crowdfunding to screen

» Vancouver screening of short film ‘Indigo’

: prince after he can't cope with

: the deaths of his parents. He’s

: obsessed with returning to his

: home planet, and follows the

: guidance of his toy robot Doka
: (voiced by Rintaro Sawamoto),
: which he believes is a guardian
: in disguise that was sent to

: protect him on Earth. He’s also
: obsessed with the teenage girl

: next door, Yoshimi (Elizabeth

: Davison), who he imagines

: seeing all the time but has only
: made eye contact with 14 times.

Cheryl Minns
Arts Editor
M arts@theotherpress.ca

We Vancouver writer
and director Jody Wilson
came up with the short film
Indigo, she put the project on
Kickstarter in order to raise
$60,000 to cover production
costs. After a 26-day campaign
that concluded on October 6,
2014, the project raised $60,140
from 148 backers. One year
later, on November u, the film
appeared on the big screen at
the Rio Theatre for a sold-out,
one-night-only screening.

“lm super proud of the film,”
Wilson said as she introduced
the show. “The thing that I’m
most proud of is that, for mostly
everyone on this film, it is the
first film that they’ve ever done.”

The 20-minute short
film follows Takumi (Kohei
Shinozaki), a teenager who
becomes convinced he’s an alien

Wilson described Indigo

: in her Kickstarter video as a

: Japanese movie that offers a

: glimpse inside the complicated
: mind of a troubled young

: man. The short film is done in

: Japanese with English subtitles
: because, according to Wilson, it
: is a Japanese story that needed
: to be told in that language.

: This was an interesting choice

: for the team since most of

: them don’t speak Japanese.

“We had a lot of great

Japanese people who helped

: us and made sure we got it

: right,” Wilson said at the

: screening. “It was really

: important to me that the film

: was relatable to a Japanese

: person if they were to watch it.’

Some of the people involved

: in the production were the

: backers from the Kickstarter

: campaign, who made specific

: donations for opportunities

: to participate in the film. Five

: backers gave at the $1,000

: donation level, which allowed

: them to each submit a prop to

: be used in the film. One backer
: gave at the $2,500 donation

: level for the opportunity to

: help choose which song plays

: in the end credits. Two backers
: gave at the $5,000 donation

: level, which got them Associate
: Producer credit on the film and
: let them choose from any of

: the previous level rewards.

For more information

: on Indigo, check out
: [HeartYoshimi.com

 

theotherpress.ca

Image via facebook

 

Everything old is new again

» Redefining ‘Hamlet’ in National Theatre Live’s production

: prepare for war with Denmark.

Adam Tatelman
pia Writer

he difficult thing about

performing Shakespeare is
finding a new and relevant way
to present plays that have been
produced for over 400 years.
Given the archaic Elizabethan
language, it can be difficult to
present even the most universal
of dramatic conflicts to a modern
audience and still keep them
interested. With Hamlet being
an existential hero whose conflict
is internal, he is consequentially
one of the most difficult
characters to make dynamic and
entertaining. Surely, they say, it
is hubris to think that any actor
can reinvent the character after
so long. Well, they didn’t count
on Benedict Cumberbatch.

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,
is deeply depressed following
the death of his father, the
King. His uncle, Claudius, has
married the King’s widow and
Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude,
and now rules Denmark.
Hamlet’s father appears to
him as a ghost, claiming that
Claudius murdered him and
commanding Hamlet to take
revenge. Unsure of what is real
or what course of action to take,
Hamlet courts vengeful rage and
suicidal guilt as the Norwegians

People get turned off of

: Shakespeare because they

: think they need a scholarly

: understanding of the language,
: but Shakespeare wrote all his

: plays to appeal to the highest

: dukes and the lowliest peasants
: alike. It’s the actors’ jobtoshow  :
: you what the characters are going :
: through even if you dont fully

: understand the words, and the

: folks at NTL are some of the best:
: in the world at doing exactly that. :

Some Shakespearean

: directors have been less than
: impressed with Hamlet.

: Collectively, they believe that
: Hamlet the character is not :
: compelling because of his inertia. :
: One of these directors, Charles
: Marowitz, directed a version

: of the play that cast Hamlet as
? acomical, childish figure. As

: Hamlet, Cumberbatch boldly

: courts that interpretation,

: redefining it as a coming-of-

: age story where life in isolation
: is the only alternative to the

: certain death that comes with

: personal growth and change.

None of the performances

: in the NTL production feel

: antiquated or romanticized.

: In fact, they are quite cynical.

: Claudius’s (Ciaran Hinds)

: repentance feels self-serving: he’s
: only sorry because he got caught.
: Gertrude (Anastasia Hille) is

: just the opposite: the weight

: she carries is palpable. Laertes’

: (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) grief
: over his sister’s fate consumes

: him savagely. Ophelia’s (Sian

: Brooke) descent into madness

: seems like actual schizophrenia.

These performances are

: reinforced by the set design.

: As the night watchman said,

: “Something is rotten in the

: state of Denmark.” The set, a

: beautiful replica of a modern

: palace interior complete with

: branching rooms and balconies,
: is unceremoniously destroyed

: when the Norwegians approach.

: It feels like someone dropped a

: bomb when, at the intermission,
: all the doors fly open and a

: storm of dirt coats the stage.

This end-of-days design is

: compelling, and it makes for

: many memorable moments.

: During Hamlet’s many

: soliloquies, the rest of the

: cast continues their action in

: the background, greyed out

: and moving in haunting slow

: motion. When the Ghost leaves
: the stage, he seems to melt

: into the shadows on the floor

: thanks to some clever lighting.
: In the final act, the destroyed

 

Image via John Persson

: stage becomes equal parts

: battlefield, bombed-out castle,

: and graveyard—especially so in

: the final moments, where most of
: the cast lays dead on the ground.

This play is a testament to

: the power of reinvention—the

: human ability to make something
: old new again. Even ifyou’ve

: never seen a Shakespeare

: play, you owe it to yourself

: to take advantage of the rare

: and limited opportunity NTL

: has given us to see how they

do theatre across the pond.