A decent idea, badly executed
What's up with the Montreal Gazette's poetry videos? While I think it's terrific that they're featuring poems, there's so much wrong with the format, I hardly know where to start. The poet should NOT be reading the text from a piece of paper/book held in hand. They should either have it memorized--it's only one freaking poem, come on--or be reading it from something off-camera. There is absolutely no point videotaping someone not looking at the camera, or merely flicking eyes up as tho s/he was reading to an actual live audience. And what's with the static, sitting-on-a-stool-in-front-of-stark-background setup. Even Ian Ferrier (the only one so far not to read his poem, but deliver it), a guy who often delivers his poems accompanying himself on electric guitar, is sitting on the stool holding his book. Boring. Zoom in on the face. Stand. Something. Anything to make a poet reading his poem out loud look less like a completely dorky activity. I guess this is what happens when a newspaper tries to be a tv station.
1 comment:
I didn't even get a poem; first, there was the ad of the the car with orange slices thingie (twice), and then another ad about some kind of service (twice). After the latter two, a set of thumbnails of the various poets (Auerbach, Solway, etc.) appeared on screen as a menu of options, and when I clicked on one I got a message saying the item was not available. Then, finally, the U2 video/Blackberry ad.....
Incidentally, this isn't the first time a Cdn website has driven me to distraction in its overly-complex-software-like malfunctioning; I can think of at least two CanLit sites I'd like to access, but can't. A server connection problem? The World Wide Web being a little less world-wide for CanLitIstan? Who knows? Perhaps a giant, Canadian Shield-sized iron will descend upon the fair land of my birth and smooth out all these technical wrinkles. Would like to see CanCon *take advantage* of the net, not be stymied by it.
Post a Comment