Hamlet Shot Analysis

Hamlet Shot by Shot Analysis Kenneth Branagh’s rendition of Hamlet took a 400 year old play and brought life to still pages it was written on. The many cinematic effects Branagh incorporated made all the difference in the atmosphere of the film. The themes that Shakespeare conveyed when he wrote the play also shine bright in the film. Branagh played with the audience’s emotions and made Hamlet a likeable young lad who seemed to just be down on his luck. The film had to be executed perfectly to encapsulate the revenge and madness that took part in it. The end of the play would have not felt as dramatic if Branagh wouldn’t have done everything perfectly. The madness that would eventually engulf Hamlet’s emotions needed to come directly before

Branagh amplifies the scene by doing a lengthy medium shot that turns into a close up of Hamlet, doing a soliloquy, while the audience knows who lurks behind the mirror. The scene was really clever because it builds suspense when the audience knows something that one of the characters does not. Even though it may seem like it at first, the scene actually is not shown from Hamlets point of view in the film. The camera is ever-so-slightly positioned off of Hamlets shoulder, alluding to the fact Claudius and Polonius are watching his every move. After a timely shot of Hamlet doing his soliloquy, the atmosphere of the scene shifts from a slow, dark, drawn out speech, to a conversation with Ophelia. Branagh keeps the audience's attention by switching to a different mood while still being in the same scene. What, at the start of the scene, was once an empathetic feeling for Hamlet turned into a frighted fear for his well-being, captured perfectly in the

With a shift of the scene, the audience discovers King Claudius and Queen Gertrude are also at the play, sitting in their royal seats. As the play is acted out in front of the crowd, Branagh does extraordinary work catching the audience’s attention with the camera. When the play continues, the actor queen says something along the lines of when a women takes a second husband she must have killed off the first. Branagh uses a crosscut in this scene to show the action; first he starts by panning the crowd, encapsulating their reaction as to what just happened in the play. Next, Hamlet is shown with a calm and even-keeled attitude as the camera shifts from the King and Queen, to Hamlet and Ophelia several times in the course of seconds. With the crowd in a bit of a flurry, the play continues, making the real King and Queen feel uncomfortable. After minutes of uneasiness in the crowd, Hamlet interrupts and the shot goes from a medium shot to a long shot, allowing the audience of the film to see literally everything that is happening in the theatre. When Hamlet starts speaking, crosscuts are once again used to gauge the audience, as well as build tension in the scene. Hamlet then starts to call out the King, referring to the murder of his father, and the scene shifts from a medium shot to a close up. King Claudius’s stunned reaction is then