HAMLETMACHINE

PREPARATORY DOCUMENT BY TIMOTHY ACOSTA

Her Story: The Europe of the Woman

The story for this scene of Hamletmachine is that the character Ophelia regresses to an absolute low when an
oppressive government in her unnamed European country declares war unto itself. Her monologue conveys her
despair for the lives that has been wasted throughout the war.

In this scene, we see Ophelia trapped in an enormous room situated in some war-torn European town, meandering
through the desolate refuse while she delivers her monologue. Ophelia is a tortured young woman who, after years
of oppression, decides to end her life. While Ophelia speaks, we see her ripping away the wallpapers around her
room to indicate her years of torment and her frustration with the oppressive government in her European town. As
she delivers her speech, she rips a shard of glass from a broken window and starts to cut her wrist. As blood runs
profusely on her hand, Ophelia sits on the bed as blood anoints her white dress, saying the lines: I smash the tools of
my captivity, the chair the table the bed. I destroy the battlefield that was my home. I fling open the doors so the wind gets in
and the screams of the world. I smash the window. With my bleeding hands I tear the photos of the men I loved and who used
me on the bed on the table on the chair on the ground. I set fire to my prison.

The scene revolves around only one character, Ophelia, which portrays a woman in despair. In this scene, Ophelia is
speaking directly with the audience. She wants to establish a relationship with the viewer, lulling us with a sense of
guilt because she would chose to take her own life rather than life longer in a place suffering from war and
oppression that is imposed by her government.

The way Ophelia puts us through this guilt is by way of taking her own life right in front of our eyes. We would be
appalled to see a young woman such as her to bleed to death. By showing the blood that runs profusely down her
wound, we are trying to shock the audience into submission, or crying out for Ophelia.

Even though we see her bleed, she doesnt die from her wound. We are showing the audience that while she walks
around like a living being, she has departed from this earth. She is cursed to forever roam her city as a ghost.
Ophelia walks out of the street, sees the detritus of the war-torn city around her, glancing at buildings decimated by
air bombardment.

As she wanders through the street, Ophelia sees a lost little girl, clothed in dust. Her face streaked with tears.
Ophelia cannot help the little girl since she has died from self-inflicted wounds. She sees the little girl being mowed
down by machine-gun fire.

Setting

The first half of the scene takes place at a living room of a terraced house. Fallen debris litter the path around
Ophelia, who sits on a stool opposite her fathers dead body with a large gash on his head that tells us he died from
a fallen pillar on the living room. Ophelias dead family also lie dead around her. Dust glitters the floors from the
continuous bombardment outside her house. Shards of glass lie on the floor below her. The window has fragmented,
a single shard of glass from the window will be the instrument that Ophelia chooses to end her life.

When Ophelia dies, we will follow her as she steps out of her house to the war-torn street. The street will resemble
what Europe looked like during World War II, namely Berlin during and after the Battle of Berlin. Ophelia will be
surrounded by a wall of dust, deafened by the percussion of heavy cannon fires. Around her, buildings are
collapsing. Glass will fly everywhere. Ophelia will trudge through the detritus of the war-torn street. The buildings
would be reduced to mere husks.

(refer to example photos next slide)

fig. 1: Ophelias house.

fig. 2: war-torn street.

Ophelia
She is a woman in her early to mid twenties. A tortured woman who has lost all her family to a senseless war in an
unnamed country in Europe. She has dark under circles under her eyes to show that she has been restless throughout the
continuous bombardment of her town. She wears a white frock since white is the colour of innocence. When blood anoints
Ophelias dress, it will signify her loss of innocence and death. Dust would also cover her white dress in order to symbolise
the countless lives lost in the war and absorb their life essence.
Even though this is a subtle detail, Ophelia will wear a bracelet made for her by her sister who laid in the floor of their living
room dead. This bracelet symbolises the fact that she cherished her family, particularly her own sister. And when she sees
the little girl in the street, she would be immediately reminded of her young sister who died. This is why she feels some
indescribable connection towards the unnamed little girl as she roams the street as a ghost.

Cinematography

The camera will remain static for the first shot at Ophelias house, with a wide-shot to show Ophelia and her
surroundings. It symbolises Ophelia being alone in a place thats destroying itself. We will use harsh tones and
limited lighting as possible to create a dark atmosphere in the scene. We will stay on a wide-shot on Ophelia for the
remainder of the scene as she says her monologue. Flashing lights in the background will simulate aerial
bombardment.

When Ophelia reaches the window to extract the shard of glass from the window, we will go on a mid-shot of her as
she takes the shard. We wont need insert cuts for the retrieval itself, the mid-shot of Ophelia will suffice. The midshot already gives us enough information for Ophelias motivation in the scene. She will exit camera left.

We go back on a wide-shot when Ophelia moves on centre stage on her suicide scene. We stay on a wide-shot,
until blood run down her arm. We cut to Close-up on the flowing blood.

For the exterior scenes, we remain on a wide-shot (on an anamorphic lens) so that the whole destruction of the
street is seen. We will let Ophelia move towards camera since again this is a static shot. Background action will
concurrently go around Ophelia as she wanders through the space.

A close-up of the little girl, she disappears camera left and passes Ophelia camera right. We cut back to a wide-shot
of Ophelias reaction.

For the remainder of the exterior shots, we will try to use natural light, and if we can we will shoot at magic hour. The
reason for this is because there is something ethereal to Ophelias walk as she observes the carnage around her and
the contrast between the ugliness of war and the beauty of natural light is the perfect imbalance that would make the
scene powerful.

We will shoot on an Arri Alexa, with a vintage anamorphic lens to mimic the look as if the movie was shot on 35mm
film.