The Macbeths - Teaser Trailer

In late January 2020, I tasked myself with creating a short teaser trailer to promote my school’s production of The Macbeths - a show which I was already working on as both a member of the cast and Assistant Director. 

After discussing the idea with the director of the production, I was given a brief that the trailer had to fit with. It was required that the trailer must:

1. Be under a minute in length

2. Be in black and white (to match other promotional material, like the poster)

3. Promote the tone of our show

4. Introduce some of the core characters

I spent, in total, just over a month working on the trailer. I planned, directed, captured and edited everything together myself.

Pre-production lasted almost 2 weeks, and mostly consisted of creating storyboard ideas and then pitching the final concept to Steve Mount, the head of drama and director of the show. The trailer itself introduces the audience to four of the main characters; Macbeth, and the three Lady Macbeths (in our production, Lady Macbeth was split into three roles - Wife, Queen, and Mother - with each one representing a different state-of-mind for the character. The wife wants power, the queen has power, and the mother has gone mad from her power).

Production was the fastest stage. It took 25 minutes to capture all of the footage I needed - but this couldn’t have been done without the storyboarding that I had done previously. I also recorded 37-and-a-half minutes worth of line recordings from several cast members - opting in post-production to just use a single, albeit edited line from the character of Banquo.

Post-production was the greatest test for me when committing to this project. Numerous issues with the editing software resulted in me being forced to restart the edit with just over 24 hours left until the deadline. However, despite this, I was able to throw myself back into the project, and got it completed within the available time frame.

The trailer was shown to the entire senior school on the 4th of March 2020 (on schedule), and then subsequently appeared on the King’s School Rochester website to help promote the show.

Even though the play The Macbeths was cancelled last minute due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 Coronavirus, I still learnt a lot about directing through my time on the show, and making my teaser trailer. I believe it highlights my ability to pick myself up and carry on, even after losing all progress made, and is also an example of my directing in action.