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Prospero's Books
''Prospero's Books'' is a 1991 British avant-garde film adaptation of William Shakespeare's '' The Tempest'', written and directed by Peter Greenaway. Sir John Gielgud plays Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters. As noted by Peter Conrad in ''The New York Times'' on 17 November 1991, Greenaway intended the film “as an homage to the actor and to his "mastery of illusion." In the film, Prospero is Shakespeare, and having rehearsed the action inside his head, speaking the lines of all the other characters, he concludes the film by sitting down to write ''The Tempest''.” Stylistically, ''Prospero's Books'' is narratively and cinematically innovative in its techniques, combining mime, dance, opera, and animation. Edited in Japan, the film makes extensive use of digital image manipulation (using Hi-Vision video inserts and the Quantel Paintbox system), often overlaying multiple moving and still pictures w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the scenic composition and illumination and the contrasts of costume and nudity, nature and architecture, furniture and people, sexual pleasure and painful death. Early life Greenaway was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, to a teacher mother and a builder's merchant father. Greenaway's family left South Wales when he was three years old (they had moved there originally to avoid the Blitz) and settled in Chingford, Essex. He attended Forest School in nearby Walthamstow. At an early age Greenaway decided on becoming a painter. He became interested in European cinema, focusing first on the films of Ingmar Bergman, and then on the French '' nouvelle vague'' filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard and, most especially, Alain Resnais. Greenaw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ariel (The Tempest)
Ariel is a spirit who appears in William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''. Ariel is bound to serve the magician Prospero, who rescued him from the tree in which he was imprisoned by Sycorax, the witch who previously inhabited the island. Prospero greets disobedience with a reminder that he saved Ariel from Sycorax's spell, and with promises to grant Ariel his freedom. Ariel is Prospero's eyes and ears throughout the play, using his magical abilities to cause the tempest in Act One which gives the play its name, and to foil other characters' plots to bring down their master. Ariel means "Lion of God" in the Hebrew language. Ariel may also be a simple play on the word "aerial". Scholars have compared Ariel to spirits depicted in other Elizabethan plays, and have managed to find several similarities between them, but one thing which makes Ariel unique is the human edge and personality given to Ariel by Shakespeare. The name is also phonetically similar to the word "areal", me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdinand (The Tempest)
Ferdinand is the prince of Naples and the son of Alonso, the King of Naples, in Shakespeare's play, '' The Tempest''. He falls in love with Miranda. He is quick to promise the title of queen and wife to Miranda even though he doesn't know her name. He is happy in humble labours, blinded by love. He makes a solemn vow to be truthful to Prospero, and not to violate Miranda's chastity before their wedding. Fictional biography Ferdinand is aboard the ship that is run aground due to the storm created by the sorcerer and old Duke, Prospero. Ferdinand is separated from his father and friends (purposely) by Ariel, the airy servant of Prospero. Ariel leads Ferdinand to Prospero and his daughter Miranda, with whom he instantly falls in love. Ferdinand, who is astounded that Miranda is even human, tells her that she is the most amazing woman he has ever encountered: Full many a lady I have eyed with best regard and many a time The harmony of their tongues hath into bondage Brought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miranda (The Tempest)
Miranda is one of the principal characters of William Shakespeare's '' The Tempest''. She is the only female character to appear on stage. Miranda is the daughter of Prospero, another of the main characters of ''The Tempest''. She was banished to the Island along with her father at the age of three, and in the subsequent twelve years has lived with her father and their slave, Caliban, as her only company. She is openly compassionate and unaware of the evils of the world that surrounds her, learning of her father's fate only as the play begins. Origins There is some speculation that Miranda, along with her husband, Ferdinand, may be intended to represent Elizabeth Stuart and her new spouse, Elector Frederick V, as ''The Tempest'' was originally performed for the court of Elizabeth's father, King James, in celebration of the marriage. Role in the play ''The Tempest's'' second scene begins with Miranda, begging her father to spare the lives of the men at sea. She's fully a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renaissance Art
Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurred in philosophy, literature, music, science, and technology. Renaissance art took as its foundation the art of Classical antiquity, perceived as the noblest of ancient traditions, but transformed that tradition by absorbing recent developments in the art of Northern Europe and by applying contemporary scientific knowledge. Along with Renaissance humanist philosophy, it spread throughout Europe, affecting both artists and their patrons with the development of new techniques and new artistic sensibilities. For art historians, Renaissance art marks the transition of Europe from the medieval period to the Early Modern age. The body of art, painting, sculpture, architecture, music and literature identified as "Renaissance art" was prim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karine Saporta
Karine Saporta is a French choreographer, dancer, photographer, and short film director. She is one of the most prominent figures in French dance. Saporta was born in France to a mother of Russian ancestry and a Spanish father. She began dancing at the age of five, studying ballet at first, and attending the National Conservatory. She graduated with a degree in philosophy and a master's degree in sociology from the University of Paris, then traveled to the United States to study choreography and movement composition. She founded the Compagnie Karine Saporta in order to redefine contemporary modern dance. Her choreography is influenced by Indian dance and urban/ hip hop dance as well as other dance forms from around the world. She is also interested in improvisation. She is a professor at the Art and Music Department of the University of Evry, president of the Dance Commission, vice-president of the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers in France (SACD), and artistic direct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantel Paintbox
The Quantel Paintbox was a dedicated computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics. Produced by the British production equipment manufacturer Quantel (which, via a series of mergers, is now part of Grass Valley), its design emphasized the studio workflow efficiency required for live news production. At a price of about per unit, they were used primarily by large TV networks such as NBC, while in the UK, Peter Claridge's company CAL Videographics was the first commercial company to purchase one. Following its initial launch in 1981, the Paintbox revolutionised the production of television graphics. Original line Paintbox DPB 7000/7001 The first generation Paintbox, the 1981 ''DPB-7001,'' was built from readily-available off-the-shelf components, supported by Programmable Array Logic ICs which were custom-programmed by Quantel. Artist Martin Holbrook worked with Quantel's development team to develop the artist-oriented functionalit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hi-Vision
MUSE (Multiple sub-Nyquist Sampling Encoding), commercially known as Hi-Vision (a contraction of HIgh-definition teleVISION) was a Japanese analog HDTV system, with design efforts going back to 1979. It used dot-interlacing and digital video compression to deliver 1125 line, 60 field-per-second (1125i60) signals to the home. The system was standardized as ITU-R recommendation BO.786 and specified by SMPTE 260M, using a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M. As with other analog systems, not all lines carry visible information. On MUSE there are 1035 active interlaced lines, therefore this system is sometimes also mentioned as ''1035i''. It employed 2-dimensional filtering, dot-interlacing, motion-vector compensation and line-sequential color encoding with time compression to "fold" an original 20 MHz bandwidth source signal into just 8.1 MHz. Japan began broadcasting wideband analog HDTV signals in December 1988, initially with an aspect ratio of 2:1. The Sony ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animation
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most animations are made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation, while 2D computer animation (which may have the look of traditional animation) can be used for stylistic reasons, low bandwidth, or faster real-time renderings. Other common animation methods apply a stop motion technique to two- and three-dimensional objects like paper cutouts, puppets, or clay figures. A cartoon is an animated film, usually a short film, featuring an exaggerated visual style. The style takes inspiration from comic strips, often featuring anthropomorphic animals, superheroes, or the adventures of human protagonists. Especially with animals that form a natural predator/prey relationship (e.g. cats and mice, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mime Artist
A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium or as a performance art. In earlier times, in English, such a performer would typically be referred to as a mummer. Miming is distinguished from silent comedy, in which the artist is a character in a film or skit without sound. Jacques Copeau, strongly influenced by Commedia dell'arte and Japanese Noh theatre, used masks in the training of his actors. His pupil Étienne Decroux was highly influenced by this, started exploring and developing the possibilities of mime, and developed corporeal mime into a highly sculptural form, taking it outside the realms of naturalism. Jacques Lecoq contributed significantly to the development of mime and physical theatre with his training methods. As a result of this, the practice of mime has been in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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