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The Wold Shadow
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Wikipedia article
'The Wold Shadow' is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, produced in 1972.
Production
'The Wold Shadow' was inspired when Stan Brakhage, while walking through a forest, had a vision of an anthropomorphic shadow.[http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2004/cteq/the_wold_shadow/ "The Wold Shadow" by Martin Rumsby] 'Senses of Cinema,' CTEQ Annotations, 26 July 2004 - accessed August 11, 2011 The experience led him to film a homage to the "god of the forest." 'The Wold Shadow' was produced by placing glass on an easel between his camera and the forest. Between each individual frame, Brakhage painted on the glass, before repeating this process.Elder, R. Bruce (1998) 'The films of Stan Brakhage in the American tradition of Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and Charles Olson,' Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, p190 Production of 'The Wold Shadow' took a full day. Brakhage credits the film with reigniting his interest in painting,Scott MacDonald (2005) 'A critical cinema: interviews with independent filmmakers,' University of California Press, p100 and described his choice of title as follows:
"Wold" because the word refers to "forests" which poets later made "plains" and because the work also contains the rustic sense "to kill" - this then my laboriously painted vision of the god of the forest.[http://canyoncinema.com/catalog/film/?i=504 The Wold Shadow] Canyon Cinema: Film, Accessed August 11, 2011
Reception
Martin Rumsby cites 'The Wold Shadow' as a rare instance of Brakhage attempting a work of structural cinema in 'Senses of Cinema'. He nevertheless acknowledges that the film is more "romantic" than most structural films, in that Brakhage is "trying to capture or evoke something mysterious and unknowable." P. Adams Sitney considers 'The Wold Shadow' a continuation of themes expressed in the poetry of Ezra Pound.P. Adams Sitney (2006) "Brakhage and Modernism," 'Masterpieces of Modernist Cinema,' Indiana University Press, p172
See also
* List of American films of 1972
References
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