Assignment 1

           Operas are shows featuring a story and set to music for singers and instrumentalists to perform as supplementation to the dramatic plot. Although not nearly as prominent as they once were, there are still operas being performed all over the world. A long time ago, before modern pastimes, operas were the prime choice of entertainment among people of earlier centuries. The famous opera, Otello, based off the tragic play by William Shakespeare, was developed and composed by famous Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi. It took Verdi several years of on-again, off-again writing, but eventually completed the composition on November 1^st 1886 and was then first performed in February 1887.

            Watching this opera was the first time that I had ever actually watched an entire opera. My whole life I always thought of operas as merely an old-fashioned genre of Broadway, and could not understand why people enjoy them, especially in modern society. However, after watching this opera, I learned that there is much more to them than what I had thought. The “mise en scene”, or the arrangement of the setting and scenery on stage is what I found I found to be most compelling. In this particular opera, they did an outstanding job creating and implementing the set and scenery. The details and quality of the props and backgrounds are extremely well made and intricate. The sets they build for the backgrounds are interesting as well as very realistic, especially in comparison to the quality of other props and sets of Broadway shows or plays of which I have seen. There were multiple different scenes in this show. Each scene having a completely different background and setting. The walls in the background were huge, taking up the entire stage’s screen, which further improves the visuals and build the setting for the audience. In addition to the large scale of the backgrounds, the quality of them also drastically improves the overall set and helps the audience feel like the show is more realistic. The walls were designed and crafted beautifully, decorated with art and made to look like real buildings or scenery. Furthermore, another reason the backgrounds are so spectacular is because of the three-dimensionality of a few of them. A couple scenes had large rocks or objects that were able to act as stairs for the characters, another had a ramp-like feature. This is so important because it allows the actors to interact with the background/scene much more, which ultimately adds even more realism and technology to enhance the audience’s feelings and improve the opera’s overall quality. The backgrounds and scenery they used were very impressive because of the exceptional quality, detail, etc.; however, considering the time period in which they were crafted makes them even more magnificent. From the plays and Broadway shows I have seen in the past, nothing compares to this. Although the backgrounds and scenery in the shows I’ve previously seen effectively do their job, in terms of creating a sense of the setting and scenery around what’s going on stage, they all seemed cheap or not as intricate as the “mise en scene” in Otello. I find it very cool that they managed to create more impressive work, but in a less advanced time. Not to mention they also had realistic wardrobes/costumes and props, and even used a fire as a prop in one of the scenes. I think that the audiences attending this show back when it was originally performed in the late 1800’s got the same feelings as me, except way more. Back in the 1880’s technology was absolutely nothing like it is today. Actors and show producers had to work with what they had at the time, but they still had a good deal of technology used in the operas and shows. I believe that the audience’s back then loved to see special effects and technology put to use, as even though it may not seem like much at all to us nowadays, it was super impressive and appealing to see back then.

            If I were a director in today’s age, I would like to adapt this opera and story into a video game. I think it would be a very interesting idea/concept to convert the opera into an animated virtual world with the same plot, but in a way that an audience or user can interact with and control themselves. I believe this would be very cool for various reasons. Most generally speaking, one reason the video game concept would be popular among the audience/users is simply because of the fact that video games are an “escape from reality”. Often times, many things we do in real life are perceived as boring or monotonous by us. Getting the opportunity to be in complete control of the story and characters may be much more appealing and fun for the user, as opposed to simply just sitting there and watching everything happen on its own. Having the ability to control the show/game would be very popular because it gives you so much freedom to do or change anything you want to tailor the show to be as great as possible for each individual, especially since people can have so many different opinions or preferences, thus making the story optimal for everybody. Another reason the show would make a great video game is because the songs from the opera would make a nice soundtrack. The opera verses would be a good tool to implement into the game, as it would add intensity to the tense/dramatic parts of the story, for example, which is ideal for good video games. The virtual animation would also tremendously improve the opera, as it would give the ability to provide a detailed, extensive map or setting, which dramatically boosts user’s enjoyment as they get to see the beauty of the video game art, and would also be a game-changer compared to the basic stage sets/mise en scene that they used in the live performances. Despite the incredible quality of the sets and backgrounds in the original opera, they can’t even compare to the exceptional nature of modern technology and video game animation.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIVFSW25h1o