Julie Taymor brings William Shakespeare’s, The Tempest to life on screen by using today’s technology to enhance the visual style of the play. First, she utilizes technology to create Ariel as a translucent spirit that comes at Prospera’s bidding. Ariel leaves a trail behind when arriving allowing us to know that this is a spiritual being and does not operate in the natural flesh of man. Taymor also enlists the help of CGI with the demon dogs who chase down Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban towards the end of the film. The use of the natural landscape also allows the characters to be affected by the natural elements of the weather and terrain. It creates an isolated feeling within the stories that adds to Prospera’s journey of being sentenced to death by her brother while also enhancing the tension for the shipwrecked party as they are now out of their element completely.
Taymor chooses to us Stephano, Caliban and Trinculo as the comedic relief in the film. Their journey aides in an attempt to bring up the mood of the film as the King and his men’s journey is quite solemn and without hope as King Alonso believes he has lost his son to the sea. The director also makes use of closeups in key moments in order to express the internal state of the characters. And she uses a push in at a key moment when Prospera’s plan to defeat her enemies has come to a head. We watch as the camera follows leading lines that point straight to Prospera as we land in a close up of her reveling in her joy at winning. Miss Taymor also shoots the characters with use of sunlight in order to make the most of the exterior scenes and give the story a very real quality that it doesn’t have when played on stage. Overall, Miss Taymor’s style is straightforward and allows the characters to enhance the dramatics in order for the story to be revealed scene by scene.
