So here we are at the beginning of a new year, and here I am sitting on a big pile of movies that I have to give away. Specifically I’ve got *9* copies of Julie Taymor’s 2010 The Tempest, starring Helen Mirren. Remember this one? We certainly talked a lot about it.
It doesn’t happen often enough for my taste, but I do like it when a Shakespeare movie comes along in the theatre and then you get to sit down with the DVD and get a second view. Who knows how my opinion might change? Maybe I’ll have the kids watch it (or, parts of it) after all.
In all my giveaways and contests I’ve never had this many copies of a single item, and I’m not quite sure how I want to proceed. It seems boring to simply give them out randomly to 9 people who leave comments on this post. I mean, good for you all, given that the average post here nets less than 20 comments so you’d probably have a better than 50% chance of winning one. But where’s the fun in that? 🙂
So here’s my idea. I’ll start by giving away *3* of them. To enter, all you’ve got to do is leave a comment on this post with an idea about what I should do with the rest of them. If somebody else beats you to an idea you can still add a comment saying “Yeah, do that” and be entered for this first round. For this first round I’ll pick from all the commenters regardless of content, so don’t be afraid your idea won’t win versus somebody else’s. Everybody who comments can be entered.
Let’s say that everything needs to be in by end of day Friday (January 6). I’ll randomly pick 3 winners over the weekend. Since we’re doing this in the comments I will have to publicly announce winners (I won’t have your email addresses), so remember to check back in early next week!
After we’ve given away the first 3 I’ll see what sort of ideas got cooked up and look toward giving away the rest.
Got the idea? As usual, I have to limit the contest to continental US residents. I am shipping these on my own nickel. Sorry international folks. Then again I’m not sure whether these DVDs would work across regions anyway.
As far as I can tell I’m not required to do an online giveaway, either, so if you think that donating some copies to the local school or library would be the best option, let me hear it.
TL;DR – Got 9 copies of Tempest DVD, giving away 3 this weekend to US resident folks who suggest ideas, not necessarily online, about what to do with the rest.
Thanks very much to Lauren from BH Impact for hooking us up with the most generous giveaway yet!
(*) P.S. – Extra geek points for you if you recognize the Three Amigos quote from the title 😉
Two ideas:
1) Scavenger hunt. Hide them in public locations (or if you've got libraries or coffee shops that you frequent regularly who wouldn't mind playing host). Tweet/FB clues to location, see who gets there first to claim the prize. I have no idea how many of your followers are local to you, though, so this may not be feasible. Or, could scatter them about the country and, on some specific day, have some of your dedicated followers conduct the scavenger hunt simultaneously in a few different cities.
2) Give to local schools for their libraries, or to your favourite teachers from the past (if they can be located).
With 6 additional copies, you could potentially do 6 different things with them! Perhaps donate a few to local schools or libraries and give another 3 away online so a larger number of people have a chance to win one. I say, something Shakespearean! A write your own sonnet contest, perhaps? Suggestions for the best modern 12th Night celebration? (To update the early modern ones!) Perhaps a good Shakespeare Answers question/answer relating to The Tempest?
I'm all for relaying Shakespeare knowledge and creativity!
Take a scene (or just a monologue) from the Tempest and have a modernization contest. Have readers submit their written work to you and then post the best. Of course, you could also just have a staging contest and have your readers submit videos! So good.
Definitely donate some to your local school library, but maybe ask them to give it away in an unusal way: quiz, competition, treasure hunt? Best idea should win two copies: one for the library and one for them to giveaway. Gets the pupils more involved and makes everyone work!
I like the above ideas of donating them to schools and having a sonnet contest. Here are a few more:
A photo caption contest where the photo comes from some current event and the caption must be a Shakespeare quote.
A twitter hashtag game with prizes for the best tweets.
"Tempest and a teapot" contest where people decorate shakespeare related cookies or cake and post pictures of their creations.
Two words: frisbee golf.
🙂
Okay, seriously, why not have a contest to make a family-friendly Tempest adaptation? Ask contestants to submit their interpretation of a scene from the play — as animation, claymation, puppet-show, or whatever. I remember you were disappointed that you couldn't bring your kids to the Taymor Tempest, so wouldn't it be cool to use them to encourage the creation of a more kid-compatible version? Post the announcement of the contest both to Shakespeare websites and to animation forums and such.
Create a contest where you give trivia style questions related to Shakespeare's works. The questions for the copies would require readers to either know the plays really well or go back and hunt out the answer.
Perhaps it could be asking about the name of an obscure character from a lesser known play. Or strange questions like "what did Will will to his wife?" related to Shakespeare's life.
Take all the names of people who get the correct answer each day/week (depending how quickly you want to give away the copies) and hold a drawing.
You could give one to the school that cancelled you earlier this year and offer to facilitate a discussion about violence in the media.
As much as I would love something like "the first six people to respond to a post, thoughtfully, on Twitter and in comments," I suggest giving copies to local libraries. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.
How about offer them to people who create original translations of a monologue of your choice into a language of their choice?
You can send a couple to me so I can use them as door prizes in our next benefit for the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival!
I like the idea of donating to school libraries, but how about giving the copies to randomly selected high school Shakespeare clubs?
My university, Cal State Fullerton (and others, I am sure), has an awesome Shakespeare on Film class. I know my professor has to buy all her movies out of pocket, and not all of them are readily available (we watched a bizarro dubbed version of Kirosawa's Throne of Blood). I know my professor would appreciate a copy of The Tempest, and I know many students would benefit from it. Donate to universities!
A Shakespeare writing contest or two, or six. Ideas: (1) found haiku in Shakespeare; (2) original haiku that summarize a Shakespeare play; (3) best essay refuting the Oxfordian theory; (4) a mash-up, Shakespeare meets… Doctor Who? CSI? Jersey Shore? (5) a letter from an agent rejecting one of Shakespeare's greatest plays; (6) Shakespeare as rewritten by another author, say Dickens or Poe or Joyce.
Travelling Tempest. Most of the comments seem to focus on the fact that lots of places need good resources, but don't have them, here's a way to let these cast a wide net. Find 6 individuals or groups across the country to send these to: schools, universities, libraries, Shakespeare clubs. Before you send them on their merry way, set up a Twitter feed and include the name and password for each DVD, so they can report back about where they go and who they're visiting. Even if one of them goes to a library, with each check out, someone would report back that they're enjoying it, or hating it, or whatever. People could converse with the Twitter feed about having a copy of Tempest sent their way to watch & comment on, too!
Try a puzzle. Set it up so people have to find the answers to some questions that you pose, with each correct answer giving them a letter. When combined and unscrambled, they make a word. The first people to give you the correct word win.
Example: What year did I start Twittering? Answer: Two thousand _twO______ (Use third letter)
Which species of squid shoots blue ink? Answer: ___blue inK squirter___ (Use third letter of second word)
Letters: O & K
Word submitted to you for a win: OK.
Make sense?
Liz
I definitely agree they should go to schools' drama clubs. It's always fun and helpful for them to see a play they're studying come to life 🙂
Julia G