Hello! I’ve recently worked on the last project of my first semester. This is a short project called “Romeo, Romeo, Why Are We Still Talking About Romeo And Juliet?” and as you can probably assume a main portion of it was based off of the playwright Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The final goal of this project was to create a film the shows a modernized version of a specific scene from Romeo and Juliet. Throughout this project I learnt how to processes and analyses literary elements (a plot, conflict theme etc.) to compel an audience. To learn how to process and analyses I strove to answer the driving question “How has William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet remained relevant to contemporary storytelling?”.

To start of this learning journey throughout this project I completed the first keystone “The Themebook”. The Themebook was a recording/reflection of the information connected to the reading of Romeo and Juliet. The first learning step in this project was to read the play, Romeo and Juliet, where we read a summary then dove deep into a certain scene. While reading and listening to the play I annotated to add my thoughts on certain spots. When doing this I think I was able to extend my thinking on the context of the text provided. 

In addition to comprehending the subject matter in the play we also recorded the specific topics that we thought were shown throughout each act. Some of the topics I found, that connected to the play, were the Power of Love and Hate, Honour and Obligation and Naivety of Youth. To show my ability to process literary elements I also watch different adaptions of the play. The adaptions I watch were Gnomeo and Juliet, The West Side Story, and Warm Bodies. After watching these adaptations I wrote a connection about the ties between topics in comparison to the playwright. When doing this I felt I used and built on my critical and reflective thinking skills.   

With the Themebook concluded I move onto the ending portion of this project, the film. With the adaptations in mind we created our own, modernized, adaptation of the play. I was put into a group with Makenna, Fraser, and Max. The task was to re-create a certain scene, ours was the balcony scene, which was portrayed it in a modernized way. To show this portrayal we did a pre-production stage, in which we created a Pitch, Storyboard, and Script. After we completed our planning we started to film, following the guide of our storyboard and script. We then edited our film so it flowed successfully. Although we did an accomplished job in the creation I feel we could’ve added more detail and different extending qualities into our final product. Personally, I feel I could’ve used my collaborating skills more effectively to improve the overall product.

In conclusion, this project help me improve on different skills. When reflecting I think I used my critical and reflective skills effectively and was able to understand literary elements. In addition to understanding these skills I’ve also been able to answer the driving question “How has William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet remained relevant to contemporary storytelling?”. Well…William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has remained relevant to contemporary storytelling because it’s a foundation to many different stories. In addtion, the past helps develops a perspective on the future. 

What’s your favorite Playwright? Anyways, Thanks for reading!

Alicia 😀