To be, or not to be? The wise words written by Shakespeare, and thought by me many times throughout the duration of this prodigious project.

Never in the history of our class, PLP, have we ever attempted to complete a project like this one. Blood, sweat, and many tears were shed throughout the month that this project engulfed, so let me tell you a little bit about it!

It was April in PLP, and it was time for our class to start the Macbeth unit. Since grade 8, our class has been learning about the many different pieces of art composed by Shakespeare such as Romeo & Juliet, and Julius Caesar. To start off this unit, our class read through the play and analyzed different ways directors chose to portray the story. Our focus throughout this learning was: “What is the nature of evil?”. Once we neared the end of the learning, our teacher shared with us the project that would be completed on this unit. Our class was to work together as one group to create a Macbeth movie based in the time period of the Second World War. I instantly realized that my entire class working together would create some kind of problems, and I was not wrong.

We started by assigning roles to each individual in our class. The roles available consisted of Director, Producer, Scriptwriter, Storyboard, Props, Cameraman, Actors, and a few others. I would have fit most comfortably in the scriptwriting and storyboard section, but i decided to step out of my comfort zone and sign up for the Actor and Props role. Little did I know that I would be filling in for almost every single section!

We started off the project strong with every single student committed to working and showing up to the first weekend of filming. Our storyboard and script writers worked hard to have something ready for filming, but this script would later be revised multiple times throughout the filming. The Makeup department had been working hard doing an amazing job with our ghosts.

After the first one to two weeks of the project, everything began to fall apart. People would not show up to film when they were desperately needed, and the strong momentum our group started with began to slow. Tensions were growing between people in our class, and these tensions significantly slowed down our work. There was a desperate need for individuals to step up, and take control. Some people who truly stand out to me as leaders in this project are Michael S, Maria, Marley, Zakaria, and I. We filled in where help was needed such as Script, Storyboard, Cameraman, Director, and Producer. Our group had a lot of work on our plate, and the entire class had to be motivated to finish this project.

Our teacher, Mrs. Willemse, noticed how the project was going and took action. We had a very serious class discussion about the project, and what was at stake. This talk brought our class back together, and helped us finish off strong.

I feel that this project has allowed m to learn a lot about myself and my classmates. It taught me about working with a group that has many different views on how to complete tasks, how to step up into the role of leader when it is needed, and working with different personality types. I strongly regret not stepping up as a leader earlier on in the project, and instead waiting until it was desperately needed. Without further adieu, here is our classes portrayal of Macbeth in the second world war.

Here is also the blooper reel for your entertainment!