The play 'Breath' by Samuel Buckett

Interpretation Challenge & and Shooting a Video : Samuel Buckett's 'Breath'

Hello, I am  Emisha Ravani, writing this blog while studying the Absurdity and Samuel Buckett's 'Waiting for Godot', as a part of the activity. Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad Sir given to us, to make a video for the play 'Breath'. And also interpret it by our own sense of interpretation.  

Samuel Beckett

The absurdist genre of literature arose in the 1950s and 1960s, prompted by post-war disillusionment. This genre focus on mainly Existentialism. The mode of most “Absurdity Plays” is “Tragicomedy”. When human existence lacks meaning or purpose and communication breaks down. We largely find the cyclical structure in this genre. As we see the structure of “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett.

“In a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of light , man feels a stranger. …This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, truly constitutes the feeling of Absurdity.” – The French philosopher, Albert Camus.

So let's have a look to video first,

The Picturization of the play : 

The interpretation of the video :

In the video, I used an effect of fading at the starting and ending part of the video. In the theater they use the curtains to fading effect. Here as we use the cinematography language so we can use various effects to convert the physical effect into the digital effects.

Secondly, I took the dry leaves as littered or dead plant material. When crop grows it rise from the soil and it’s leaves will be destroyed in the soil again. This process is general process of every leaf of the tree. Still it live very generously without thinking  how long it survive. In the same we rise from the soil and the five elements ‘Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space’. We will be destroyed in these things. As Existentialism insist that during this “Nothingness” we should survive like these leaves survive.

The sound effect plays a vital role in the video. Might it makes the video horrible somehow.  

The Script of the play : 

CURTAIN Up

1. Faint light on stage littered with miscellaneous rubbish. Hold about five seconds.

2. Faint brief cry and immediately inspiration and slow increase of light together reaching maximum - together in about ten seconds. Silence and hold for about five seconds.

3. Expiration and slow decrease of light together reaching minimum together (light as in 1) in about ten seconds and immediately cry as before. Silence and hold about five seconds.

Rubbish. No verticals, all scattered and lying. Cry. Instant of recorded vagitus. Important that two cries be identical, switching on and off strictly synchronized light and breath. Breath. Amplified recording.

CURTAIN Down

It was a greatly interesting activity to do. Many new things and new experience, I learnt a lot form this activity. Generally I edit many videos but this time I edit something new which have already a script so quite unique to do. I uploaded it at my you tube platform too.  

THANK YOU !