I am 30 films into the Sonnet Project at the moment – not even halfway into those made at time of writing, and certainly nowhere near the total that will be produced, but I have seen quite a few different approaches thus far; my favorite of these tends to be those that take the text and work with it, making a location and character work with the words so that they make sense within the short film but perhaps also present an interpretation of it that the viewer can think about as they read back over the text. Film number 30 does it this way and I really enjoyed how it did it.
The film is set in a bar out on Staten Island; the sun is out and inside we have a few barflys hanging around. One of them is our lead actress (Birmingham) and she starts to talks of the potions she has drunk and the many errors she has made before seeming to realize that actually, things are good and that her errors actually have not been so negative an impact on her life after all. In terms of the text, the location, the character and the performance are all spot on; not only do they make sense but they really do provide understanding of the words and what they mean – I enjoy the films where it feels like the words and sentiments and valid, not just words being performed. The film is well shot to allow the actress to give her delivery and it is really well done with good sound and crisp footage – only what appears to be a freeze frame rather than a lingering shot at the end bugged me, but it is a trivial thing.
If I wanted to try and get other people into the Sonnet Project films, this one would be one of the ones I would show them; very well done – crisp, clean, clean and with good character.
The film is set in a bar out on Staten Island; the sun is out and inside we have a few barflys hanging around. One of them is our lead actress (Birmingham) and she starts to talks of the potions she has drunk and the many errors she has made before seeming to realize that actually, things are good and that her errors actually have not been so negative an impact on her life after all. In terms of the text, the location, the character and the performance are all spot on; not only do they make sense but they really do provide understanding of the words and what they mean – I enjoy the films where it feels like the words and sentiments and valid, not just words being performed. The film is well shot to allow the actress to give her delivery and it is really well done with good sound and crisp footage – only what appears to be a freeze frame rather than a lingering shot at the end bugged me, but it is a trivial thing.
If I wanted to try and get other people into the Sonnet Project films, this one would be one of the ones I would show them; very well done – crisp, clean, clean and with good character.