Greenscreen (or more formally compositing) is way of combing video images to create a scene that combines a background and live action. Wikipedia has a good explanation, and the video production company I work for has done some work in this way.
But I learned this week there is a new film of Macbeth that was done in green screen, meaning that the actors worked in a studio room, and the entire physical environment was created after the fact in post-production.
The trailer is here:
And I will admit that this offers some support the view that Shakespeare remains resistant film. (Works for opera for some reason.)
Yet, looking at the fascinating “making of” videos, I do wonder whether this one could get to the heightened reality of Shakespeare more than a traditional filmmaking technique (there is an artificiality to this world, perhaps with something akin to video games, which embody a digital aesthetic).
It is a work of heightened language and intense dramatic impulse, and there is something so bracing about using technology to match that. Whether it ultimately works or not is an open question, hope to see it later this spring, but perhaps they are on to something.
A Few Reasonable Words 