Hannah’s Really Long Artist Statement:

For my film project I focused mainly on the scene where Ophelia went mad. I was really interested in the different ways that we watched how those two different films portrayed Ophelia before and leading up to her going crazy, and I wanted to do my own version.

Process/ how I ended up in the dark park talking to snowmen. At first I had tried many different ways of filming those scenes at home, and by myself. I tried switching hats, which was weird. I also tried being the king, queen, Ophelia, and Hamlet all at once. I had a plan to switch hats each time I was a different character, yet I had a hard time holding the camera while doing so. So.. My mom and her best friend had wanted to take me out to a late birthday dinner, a couple days after my birthday at the end of February. I had gotten the idea to have them play characters too, yet I knew what I wanted to do, and I wasn’t sure how to direct them. Tompkins Square Park was very close to there, so we decided that after dinner we should check out the park.

As we walked into the park it was getting dark, and we saw these massive snow creatures. By that time I had already wanted to play just Ophelia, and to cut out the lines that the King and Queen said during that scene. The only problem was that the snow creatures were inside of a huge fence. My mom and I hopped over the fence while her friend held our stuff. I had tried talking to two other snowmen, as Ophelia talking to the King and Queen. But it didn’t work for me to be walking around those two snowmen. Then actual screaming crazy people came into the scene! While I was still trying to talk to the two other snowmen, a group of other people came in, asking how we got over the fence. As I started running around in the snow, they were still trying to get in. I put the beginning of Forever, by Holiday Parade in as the perfect frolicking music. You can also hear one of the people in the background screaming “Take her picture! Take her picture!” And you can hear my mom laughing. I decided to keep the noise in for that because it was actual craziness

I started with the lines:
“How should I your true love know
From another one?
By his cockle hat and staff
And his sandal shoon.” (Act 4, Scene 5, Lines 28- 31). In class we had watched two versions of the play Hamlet: the Kenneth Branagh version, and the Mel Gibson version. What inspired me were the different ways that these films had portrayed Ophelia from when she was sane, leading up to and after she had gone insane. I had taken notes while we were watching both versions of the film, and for the Kenneth Branagh version I had written “So.. Ophelia is in a straight jacket and being observed. She’s seen as crazy. Both Ophelias are crazy and misunderstood. Maybe she’s going crazy because everyone around her is dying. It happens. Or maybe she’s acting crazy because of Hamlet.”

This is the scene where we first see Ophelia in the straight jacket. She was also dancing around saying the lines “Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day, All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window, To be your Valentine.” (Act 4, Scene 5, Lines 53-56) Which was one of my favorite lines and scenes from Hamlet (which I butchered completely in my film, especially by saying ‘bedtime’ instead of ‘betime’ because I saw ‘bedtime’ for some reason.) I loved the way Kate Winslet played Ophelia, as a beautiful woman gone completely mad. I had Ophelia talking to the naked, barefoot, pregnant snow woman because as my mom’s friend Lauren pointed out, she was talking to how she was afraid to be. Naked, alone, and pregnant. At least that was an idea. Or like a heart to heart with another woman who is in a bad place. Then I as Ophelia looked up at the pregnant woman and said “Indeed, without an oath, I’ll make an end on ‘t” (Still Act 4, Scene 5, Line 62.) I felt like Ophelia was promising the pregnant lady that she would end it. I had done a couple more lines near that snow person, but my mom’s friend Lauren had screamed really loudly because a rat had ran over her foot.

Then I closed the book and walked over to the man snowman, which I felt was a perfect spot to say: “By Cock, they are to blame.” (I had said lines 63 through 78, same act and scene by that snowman). I decided to keep in all of me butchering Hamlet, because it added to how ridiculous my version of Hamlet was. The reason I read right off of the book was because I was feeling really shy, but I also really wanted to play out that whole scene. My brother had suggested that I should do a voiceover of that whole scene yet I had spoken loudly in the park on purpose to get it onto the camera, and I liked the final result without changing it.

The reason I had Ophelia run away, and then sit down in the snow is to signify her death. And then I had the idea to walk around where she had been, to show how life was without her there anymore. It was deserted, and quiet. It was really hard for me to walk around slipping in the snow while trying to hold the camera still, which I liked the end result of. I had put the sign “And even through it all, Hamlet’s love for Ophelia lives on.” Because I was convinced that even through it all, Hamlet still loved her. While I had been walking around Tompkins Park I had originally been making up a poem on how Hamlet still loved Ophelia, yet I messed I while I was talking so I decided to mute that clip.

After that sign I had included in my film the whole never doubt I love speech, from “Good madam, stay awhile. I will be faithful. [He reads the letter]

Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.”

To “I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu. Thine evermore, most dear lady, 
whilst this machine is to him, Hamlet.” (Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 122 through 132, gray book). Hamlet was telling Ophelia “you can doubt that the stars are fire, doubt that the sun does move, doubt that truth lies, but never doubt that I love.. (you?)” I felt like Hamlet was trying to tell Ophelia that whatever happens, she should never doubt that he loves her. Maybe because he knew that he was going to start acting crazy, and that he doesn’t ever want her to think that he doesn’t love her. I purposely put the ‘never doubt I love’ speech after the scene with crazy Ophelia in it, because I felt that even after Ophelia went crazy and passed away, Hamlet still loved her.

In my notebook during this scene of the Kenneth Branagh version, I had written: “You can tell that he really loves her. Then she offered his stuff back and she got mad. He’s such a baby. Dramatic. Then he realizes he was being watched I think. He loves her. He wants to save her. He doesn’t want her to get hurt, so he’s trying to drive her away. Using pain and insanity to protect her. He was acting mildly sane, then he all of a sudden went insane. I think because he heard the door slam.” I stubbornly felt like through it all, Hamlet still loved Ophelia. At least in the Kenneth Branagh version, especially if you’re not thinking about him jumping his mother. I remember talking in class and saying some of what I wrote in my notebook.

Even from the first time we read the ‘Never Doubt I love’ speech, I had really liked it. I had also written in my notebook during this scene, from 2/8/10: For the “never doubt I love” quote, it’s reminding me of Satin and Christian’s “Come what may”, song in Moulin Rouge, where Christian tells Satin something like “wherever we are, and no matter what, we can just hear this song and know that we love each other.” Anyway, I feel like Hamlet was trying to tell Ophelia that whatever happens, she should never doubt that he loves. Maybe because he knows that he’s going to start acting crazy, and that he doesn’t ever want her to think that he doesn’t love her. Moulin Rouge is one of my favorite movies, and that scene is one of my favorite scenes. I felt like that letter of Hamlet’s is his own version of the secret lover’s song in Moulin Rouge.

I used the song “Forever”, by Holiday Parade, because it went with how I felt like Hamlet loved Ophelia, forever. (Hamlet’s love for Ophelia lives on.) Some of the lines in that song are “..I could do this forever.. Make or break, we'll take this together.. You'll be my change for the better.. Maybe for a while.. Scratch that, forever”
 as well as “And how long is forever? 
How long? How long? 
How long is forever?” Because however long forever is, in my head, I could see Hamlet loving Ophelia forever.

Some other things I wanted to say.. I kept in the “stay with me” thing that I said to my mom, because I wasn’t sure how to mute just that without destroying that whole part of the clip. I also decided to make and use decorated signs like the “Please silence your pagers and beepers and enjoy the show!” to make it seem more old fashioned. I also used the door of my dad’s apartment, because it seems old and sold metal. It was plain, and not fancy. Another reason is that I had no idea how to make the computer typed versions of those signs, and I didn’t want to. I felt like on the computer it was less personal and more modern. And then.. I included my dad in the scene! It said extra points for including a mom, but I thought “What about a dad?!”

So before, I had the idea to just have him open and close the door for me, but then I was like “wait dad, can you stay in the shot and wave at the camera please?” and he was saying “goodbye!’ and he mouthed ‘the end!’ I had my dad film me winking at the camera, to show me normally, as the person behind some of the scenes that I filmed. I didn’t know that he was still filming when I smiled, so we had tried a couple other versions of that yet the more natural one came through. Then I bowed, like actors do, at the end.

I had a really great time doing this project. Even though I was camera shy, and frustrated at times, I’m glad that I did it. I had never put together a movie like this before, and I had also never used iMovie. But I’m glad that I stuck with it until the end.