The problem with these short films is that the 34 year old D.W. Griffith does not give his actors an opportunity to construct a biography for his characters and breathe life into them. They don't have the luxury of preparing in advance for a day's work, and so the end result is a cacophony of moving images. There's nothing for the actor to start with, and no matter what the title of the film is, they are all about Griffith rather than the story. If you are going to write a screenplay for a short film, then you need to build in a biography of the characters for the actors to work from. Without it, you end up with a piece that has no universal appeal and sacrifices emotional involvement.
Review of In the Window Recess
