With the sonnets it is easy to assume that they are all basically love poetry, and indeed this would have been my assumption until this short film project gave me cause to read/watch each one over the past 8 months (and probably next few years to come!). With sonnet 94 there is a surprising air of condemnation and judgment, where the writer only uses the subject's beauty as being the basis for discussing how sweet things can be sourer even than sour things due to their actions. It is a nicely written piece and seeing that the location was Wall Street, I had assumed that there would at least be an element of that judgment reserved for those with all the power and resources in the world, who mainly seem to use that as a base to get more power and resources.
This was the case generally, and the film uses the words to put the actress in the middle of Wall Street, presumably on her way into work at one of the too-big-to-fail institutions, when she then has some sort of moment of clarity, lost in the buildings and only finding clarity when she gives herself a long hard look in the eye. On this level the idea is a good one and I liked the device and some aspects of the delivery – in particular the long close-up on the actress in the final shot was engagingly extended (albeit still fitting the norm for the series). That said, I am not sure about the overall delivery outside of the base idea.
The short is mostly overlaid images or revolving doors spinning, of the camera looking up to buildings and spinning around, all on top of the main character walking or standing. In addition, while it is mostly in black and white, there are sections of some shots, or snatched frames of some shots, which are in full or partial color. I guess the attempt was to convey the character's state of mind, perhaps being a bit overwhelmed by everything at that point, however I am not sure it worked. To me it made me feel like something was wrong with my internet connection, or like I had an old TV with an aerial, picking up shadows of interference. It also seemed a bit too heavy and ponderous in the delivery of the text – whether it was self-reflection or anger, I would have liked the short to have had a bit more energy to it.
That said, the text and the base good idea for the delivery here more or less make it work. The means of delivery is a good idea on paper, but I am not sure it actually worked in reality as it made the visuals messy and unnecessarily distracting from what the content was trying to do.
This was the case generally, and the film uses the words to put the actress in the middle of Wall Street, presumably on her way into work at one of the too-big-to-fail institutions, when she then has some sort of moment of clarity, lost in the buildings and only finding clarity when she gives herself a long hard look in the eye. On this level the idea is a good one and I liked the device and some aspects of the delivery – in particular the long close-up on the actress in the final shot was engagingly extended (albeit still fitting the norm for the series). That said, I am not sure about the overall delivery outside of the base idea.
The short is mostly overlaid images or revolving doors spinning, of the camera looking up to buildings and spinning around, all on top of the main character walking or standing. In addition, while it is mostly in black and white, there are sections of some shots, or snatched frames of some shots, which are in full or partial color. I guess the attempt was to convey the character's state of mind, perhaps being a bit overwhelmed by everything at that point, however I am not sure it worked. To me it made me feel like something was wrong with my internet connection, or like I had an old TV with an aerial, picking up shadows of interference. It also seemed a bit too heavy and ponderous in the delivery of the text – whether it was self-reflection or anger, I would have liked the short to have had a bit more energy to it.
That said, the text and the base good idea for the delivery here more or less make it work. The means of delivery is a good idea on paper, but I am not sure it actually worked in reality as it made the visuals messy and unnecessarily distracting from what the content was trying to do.