S1.7: Sonnet #9: Clever and effective delivery even if it wastes the location and could have broken away with the camera more often

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Christopher Randolph in The Sonnet Project (2013)

Anton Rayn

William Shakespeare

Sean MacBride Murray

Sonnet #9

Sonnet number 9 seems to be a rebuke to young men who hide behind the excuse of not wanting to die and leave behind responsibility as the reason for them not marrying and having children. It is very old fashioned in its tone I thought when I read it, since the ideas of dying young, being married and focusing on creating a child to leave others with your &quot;shape in mind&quot; are all not really in step with the lives of many today. So it is a clever move then to have it delivered by an old man looking back at his fulfilled life (as represented by the photograph of his wife) and having at pop at the younger generation (the viewer) for thinking there is something better to be had in staying single and childless.

This is a nice idea and as a delivery it works well. The old man in question is a puppet, which adds to the feeling of the short doing something different. The downside of this is that we lose the facial expression of the actor, although in fairness I didn&apos;t think the film suffered as a result of this. The irony of using a puppet though is that, while other films have cut away to other shots and maybe not given the actor the full time, here the camera stays on the puppet for pretty much the entire sonnet. I wondered why this was the case, because it didn&apos;t add much to be reminded that we were focusing on a puppet; sure it was a cool idea but I didn&apos;t need it on screen for the duration. The additional downside of this tight focus is that it does rather waste the location by not really showing or using it. This is a shame because in the series thus far, Brooklyn Bridge is the first that I would say would be recognizable to almost anyone watching this series – whereas the others perhaps require a bit more knowledge of NYC (even if it is the knowledge of a tourist for some).

Although I felt it could have done more with the camera and the location, the concept is sound and the old-school rebuking tone that the sonnet has actually works really well coming from an old man, puppet or not.

Sonnet number 9 seems to be a rebuke to young men who hide behind the excuse of not wanting to die and leave behind responsibility as the reason for them not marrying and having children. It is very old fashioned in its tone I thought when I read it, since the ideas of dying young, being married and focusing on creating a child to leave others with your "shape in mind" are all not really in step with the lives of many today. So it is a clever move then to have it delivered by an old man looking back at his fulfilled life (as represented by the photograph of his wife) and having at pop at the younger generation (the viewer) for thinking there is something better to be had in staying single and childless.

This is a nice idea and as a delivery it works well. The old man in question is a puppet, which adds to the feeling of the short doing something different. The downside of this is that we lose the facial expression of the actor, although in fairness I didn't think the film suffered as a result of this. The irony of using a puppet though is that, while other films have cut away to other shots and maybe not given the actor the full time, here the camera stays on the puppet for pretty much the entire sonnet. I wondered why this was the case, because it didn't add much to be reminded that we were focusing on a puppet; sure it was a cool idea but I didn't need it on screen for the duration. The additional downside of this tight focus is that it does rather waste the location by not really showing or using it. This is a shame because in the series thus far, Brooklyn Bridge is the first that I would say would be recognizable to almost anyone watching this series – whereas the others perhaps require a bit more knowledge of NYC (even if it is the knowledge of a tourist for some).

Although I felt it could have done more with the camera and the location, the concept is sound and the old-school rebuking tone that the sonnet has actually works really well coming from an old man, puppet or not.

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Sonnet #9

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