Aeneas & Dido Essay

As I tend to procrastinate in completing my assignments, I must say that this class in Maymester is really hard to keep up with while working two jobs. There is so much to cover, in the same way Aeneas and Dido is such a magnificent production with so many layers of Mise en Scene. This film has an appreciation to it that makes me want to do more and be more elaborate in reviewing. When I first started watching the film, I immediately began to think of the HBO series: Game Of Thrones. I then began to reflect on Shakespeare and how much work that he put into his plays. Although I’m not fluid in knowledge of the Elizabethan Era, I do feel that this play has that kind of vibe. I discovered that there is much more to Opera than what I thought and this film helped me to understand the kind of planning and budget it takes to perform an opera let alone film it as a movie. Aside from my poor time management skills and my overloaded schedule between work and school, this film really has inspired to be more thorough and elaborate in my own personal life, to be more mindful and engaged in research, to be more imaginative and creative in my own art work. I also discovered that I really enjoy and have found a new appreciation for Opera. The subtitles were a little  distracting but didn’t really take away from the integrity of the film. I was able to follow along with the film through the repetition of the lyrics as they recurred. They actually helped me to understand the sung words of opera, which is usually sung in Italian I initially believed. Although opera stage sets are nothing short of spectacular, compared to opera film such as Aeneas & Dido is like going from micro to macro.  Watching Aeneas & Dido at the Falk could be done, but the cast and crew are very limited when it comes to scene changes and producing effects such as fire, but in film real flames from torches and bonfire pits staged throughout the night time scenes are possible because of behind the scene precautionary procedures. Fire so vast and spread across the entire film is what really makes Aeneas & Dido amazing, aside from the singing of course. From scene to scene torches and fireplaces and posts scatter and climax beautifully-especially in the end. Fire at the magnitude used in this film could not be safely done in a theatre. Audiences in 2016 I believe would be thoroughly entertained by a film like this, and would probably request a live set that could probably be performed at a football stadium. I think the film is incredible, and would like to set up a viewing of it with my own friends and family in the near future. I took a voice class a few semesters ago, and gained an appreciation for what I thought was opera then. After watching this film, I definitely see opera in a different way now and may actually start paying closer attention to the art, which is part of the reason why I think this film is important in the chronology of opera. Had I not seen this film, I probably wouldn’t be as interested in opera as I am becoming. There are real pyrotechnics used, music studio technology for editing sound and audio, along with state of the art film and recording equipment. If I were to create a video game out of the theme of Aeneas & Dido, I probably would make it a Grand Theft Auto type video game where the character Aeneas is fighting constant battles, but once he wins a battle he goes to see Dido. Opera music would be the background music of course. There would be torches everywhere, there would be a brothel that he and his men could go to. I would also add an option for the gamer to actually sing a part while playing the game. I was saddened to read in the comments in the youtube thread, that the actor who played Aeneas died in 2017.