By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
The Key Stage 3 students from St Louise’s Comprehensive have created this fantastic production of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. Using techniques such as green screen, compositing and rotoscoping, the students brought ‘The Scottish Play’ to life. The 3D backgrounds and animations were created by the producer, Seamas OLabhrada, who also kindly donated the play to the Digital Film Archive.
‘Macbeth’ was directed by the school’s head of drama, Frances Nelson, and Seamas led the team of students who took care of lighting, sound, and animations. Sinead Lagan and Jolene Boyle were assistant directors on the ambitious project, too. The students learned fight choreography for the combat scenes and the costumes were created by Caroline McAfee from materials provided by the Play Resource Centre in Belfast. The play took fifty hours to shoot, and the animations, compositing, design, and editing took a hundred and fifty hours. This required extensive collaboration and extra-curricular work by everyone involved. Their passion and talent are on full display in this remarkable production.
The film competed successfully in INTO Film’s collaboration with Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation in 2022. Sit back and enjoy this unique take on a Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy!