Aeneas and Dido Essay

My initial thoughts when watching this opera were 1.) pleasantly surprised it was in english, 2.) was not expecting it to be filmed like a movie and 3.) the costumes, sets and effects all went together well. I actually really enjoyed watching this opera and the fact that it was in english and I was able to follow along with it was a bonus.
When broken down, it is a pretty easy story line to follow. However, when all the other elements are added in the story can get a little difficult to follow. To break it down for you, it is simple-  Queen Dido falls in love with Aeneas after he flees from the trojan war, some witches who live in Carthage interfere, with the help of Mercury, remind Aeneas that he has to go and will eventually take over the Roman Empire. His abrupt departure leaves Dido heart broken and she succumbs to her emotions and ultimately kills herself. While this is a tragic ending, I honestly thought the way it played out was carried out extremely well.
Back to the start of the play- before starting this opera I was expecting the entire opera to take place on a stage, much like any other opera we watched in class. So you would be able to understand my confusion when I soon realized that this opera wasn't filmed on a singular stage. Aeneas and Dido was filmed much like a movie, which I thought was really interesting. The way the scenes transitioned into different sets kept me interested, and I thought it made the story easier to follow- different scenes had different sets.
The different sets were also highlighted by the different design and film elements. Lighting played a huge part in how the story of Aeneas and Dido was told. When the lighting was warm, usually good things followed. However, when the witches came, the lighting turned very cold and dark and was quite ominous looking due to smoke being added too. Another scene that I enjoyed was when Aeneas told Dido he was leaving. She was obviously distraught, and as she drifted into a more depressive state, you could see the weather changing and the wind picking up- which I interpreted as symbolism of her changing emotions, a very nice touch.
Mise-En-Scene was also carried out extremely well, if you ask me. Although the director probably didn't tell his design crew, "we need some more mise en scene over there", there was plenty in each scene that also carried over to each different set that was used (the bath area, witches den, the forest etc). Mise en scene is everything that you can see and what is used to help tell a story. My favorite example of this is in Unusual Suspects, where every aspect of the story he tells is just from a different object that he finds in the detectives office- everything that was used to tell the story was there for the viewer to see the entire time, sort of like easter eggs hints that directors add to their films. Aeneas and Dido didn't quite match this type of mis en scene, but they used everything in each set to help guide them in telling the story. My favorite example of this was with Mercury. Made by the witches to help convince Aeneas to leave Dido. Mercury would stand by the trees in the forest and just as quickly as you noticed him (assuming it is a male), he faded away slowly as if he was never even there. All together, I really thought subtle elements like Mercury coming in and out, having mood appropriate lighting to match the emotions in the scene and having accents that helped highlight each set really helped guide the viewer to help understand the story a little bit better. Also, the fact that it was filmed like a movie was a really interesting touch considering that this is an opera and not a movie- it just made it that much easier to follow and also allowed for more creativity with set design and special effects.
Now the fun part- turning this classic opera into a video game. As I mentioned before, the story itself isn't all too complicated. Dido, who is the Queen, falls in love with Aeneas who is coming to Carthage after fighting in the Trojan war. The three witches then make their move and create Mercury to help trick/convince Aeneas to leave Dido, he falls for their trickery and leaves. This devastates Dido and leaves her heartbroken, and she succumbs to the heart break and dies. I think I would take the simpler route and use this break down of the opera to base the video game off of.

I would loosely base this off of Bambi, but not as violent as the hunters killing off his mother. Instead, Bambi and his mother are obviously in love (but not in a gross incest way, just mother/child), and along comes a male deer, a buck, whom Bambi's mother falls in love with. While Bambi's mother didn't quite leave him, she split her attention and this would leave Bambi feeling hopeless, and would be the catalyst to Bambi's journey throughout the woods. On Bambi's journey s/he would encounter several obstacles, such as getting past a hunter guarding a bridge, using riddles to find objects to help Bambi survive to reach the ultimate goal- collect all five hearts hiding in the forest. These hearts symbolize the supplementation of the missing love Bambi is now splitting with his/her mother, and love is the thing that guides Bambi, much how love is the things that guides Dido, since she is obviously a very emotional person and leads with her heart.

The player would be playing from Bambi’s point of view and would have to use their controller to get around the hunters and finding the riddles to help find each of the five hearts. After successful completion and the finding of all five hearts Bambi would no longer be sad. I chose to have my video game end on a happy note instead of sad like the opera.