The video above is what I made using Stop Motion Animation technology  to re-create the induction of the play “Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare. I worked on this project alone, and everything except the sound effects and music was made by me.

In the play, the main character (Sly) is found drunk by the lord who decides to pull a prank on the passed out drunk Sly. As Sly awakens, he is greeted by characters who treat him like he is the lord. Soon, a group of actors come to the lord’s house to act out a play for him which is later watched by Sly and one of the lord’s pages who is dressed like a woman and poses as Sly’s wife.

There is now a play within a play, leaving Sly and his “wife” in the induction of the play. The play within the play (which is played by the actors) is the inset. In the inset, two characters, Lucentino and Tranio are riding horses into Padua, a big Italian city. Lucentio is looking for an education, while Tranio, is Lucentio’s friend / helper.

Here is the main differences between performing a play on stop motion animation and performing one on stage: On stage, multiple actors are required and it’s harder so it takes longer to prepare and perform the play. However, when you use stop motion animation, it only takes one person to re-create the play with some Lego bricks and characters.

When I animated my play, the main challenges I faced were that our time limit of a couple days was pressing as well as it wasn’t easy to animate at home and at school in the different environments with different lighting. After completing this project, I have further in depth learned to use an animation software, and I have also learned to add audio the stop motion video.