~ Video Library ~

The Shipwright’s Love Song by Jo Bell

On 17 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 1 Comments - Videopoems
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A new film by Swoon, who blogged some process notes. Here’s a snippet:

Reading this poem I immediately knew (felt) what I wanted for this video.
I had images made last year (visiting old boats with Alastair Cook) in Antwerp (left screen) and earlier this year on St. Andrew’s beach (right screen)
The images were ‘tested’ on several tracks.
‘Maximum Suspicion‘ worked the best with the images, but I still needed a voice.

Nic S. (still the most spot-on reader I know) was willing to participate and she provided me with a great recording almost the same day.

This is Swoon’s entry in the Liberated Words Poetry Film Festival Competition‘s “Four by Four” contest, in which filmmakers are invited to make a video of three minutes or less in response to one of four poems, “The Shipwright’s Love Song” among them. Jo Bell is — I love this — “the UK’s Canal Laureate, appointed by the Poetry Society and the Canal and River Trust.”

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Smalltalk & Little Else by R.W. Perkins

On 16 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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http://vimeo.com/65023600

“Can we be gratified enough to be less gratified?” asks R.W. Perkins in this outgoing yet introspective new videopoem, made for The Body Electric Poetry Film Festival, which he organized this spring in Fort Collins, Colorado. I imagine it must’ve done a very good job in setting the tone for the festival.

Over drinks, at the end of a very long day, have you ever felt completely alone talking with a group of friends? Smalltalk & little Else explores the inner workings of the mind, while attempting to put on your best face for friends and family.

Shot in Fort Collins own Cafe Vino, a new but notable old town staple, with their stand alone atmosphere, cocktails and tapas. Camera work provided by Andy Carrasco of Studio Carrasco Films.

Monster by Chris Woods

On 15 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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Bob Moyler directs.

100% recycled cardboard sewn together. Monster is a short film commissioned by Comma Film as part of the Version Film Festival 2009. Based on a poem by Chris Woods.

Woods is the author of the Comma Press collection Dangerous Driving.

There Is No Word by Tony Hoagland

On 14 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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A poetry film by Dan Albright and Jordan Meltzer, with an original score by Meltzer. The Tony Hoagland poem originally appeared in Poetry magazine, and this video was featured recently at The Fluid Raven.

THERE IS NO WORD is the official film adaptation of Tony Hoagland’s poem of the same name that explores the subtle, impossible-to-describe experience of a good friendship changing to a mere acquaintanceship.

Here’s what Tony Hoagland has to say about the film:
“your sense of image is beautiful and intuitive, and there’s a sweet rawness to the story telling which seems brave to me; especially when talking about male friendship-so, good for you and thanks for the honor.”

[…]

Made for the 2013 Evelyn Horowitz Video Poetry Competition at Emerson College, Boston, MA.

Poppies In July by Sylvia Plath

On 13 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Animation
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This is Little Poppies, a student work by Libby Parfitt and Paris Daley, “based on the naturalistic sculpture and black and white photography of Richard Long.”

I’m sorry but I’ve witnessed what’s under your suburban bruises by Meg Tuite

On 10 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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Meg Tuite reads her poem in this collaboration with Swoon (Marc Neys) for the inaugural issue of Awkword Paper Cut [auto-playing audio alert]. Marc blogged about the making of the film. A snippet:

Something in the combination of her words/voice and these sounds led me back to a movie I used in another video, FF Coppola’s ‘Dementia 13’
I picked out a few scenes and faces and started editing. Looked for the right movements that I could feature as some kind of recurring visual chorus.
In the end I added a layer of lights and colours.

Love? by Julie Gard

On 9 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Kinestasis
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Words are a fugitive, ghostly presence in this film by Kathy McTavish. For more poems by Julia Gard, see her website.

Demain, dès l’aube… / Dawn of Tomorrow by Victor Hugo

On 8 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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http://vimeo.com/65694129

Directed by Nick Ramey and Lauren Armantrout, who note in the Vimeo description:

In Victor Hugo’s famous poem, demain des l’aube, many have formulated their own adaptation of the plot. Subtitled in English, while the poem is read in French, this story involves the consequences of commitment in a relationship. The notion that love lasts forever couldn’t be further from the truth in this heartbreaking short.

Hugo’s poem has its own page on the French Wikipedia.

Un hombre que dijo ser el mar (A man who claimed to be the sea) by Tonatihu Mercado

On 3 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Animation, Author-made videopoems
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http://youtu.be/smGhiZXSuQQ

A very ambitious stop-motion videopoem from Mexico. Tonatihu Mercado directed and wrote the poem, Mariana G. Reyes was the director of photography, and Osiris A. Puerto is credited simply with “Arte” (making the claymation figures, I guess) along with eight assistant artists and six assistant animators. Eros “Lobo” Ortega composed the original score, and the slightly dodgy English translation is attributed to Jesús Francisco García Reyes. Here’s the description at YouTube:

UN HOMBRE QUE DIJO SER EL MAR: El trascurrir interno de “Un hombre” que naufraga en una isla. Se nombra “mar” y en el plenilunio tiene un encuentro efímero con la luna; después cada quien sigue su camino, es el amor.
* * *
A MAN WHO CLAIMED TO BE THE SEA: Internal flowing of a man who shipwrecked in an island. He is claimed to be the Sea and in the full moon has an ephemeral encounter with the moon itself; Then each one follow their ways, is the love.

Chinatowns by Boey Kim Cheng

On 2 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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http://vimeo.com/64731664

A very short filmpoem about exile and belonging by Laura Wu.

the one about the bird by Melissa Diem

On 1 May, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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A striking videopoem by Irish poet, writer and visual artist Melissa Diem. Here’s the description from Vimeo:

Screened at the BELFAST FILM FESTIVAL 2013
One of the finalist at LA PAROLA IMMAGINATA – TREVIGLIOPOESIA 2013 in ITALY

A poetry film based on the poem, the one about the bird, written by Melissa Diem and filmed in Ireland. It explores the human attraction to horrific events through the medium of film. And the idea of the desire to stop and begin again when a situation, an experience, humanity… seems to have gone so horrendously wrong that it is beyond the point of return and can never be undone.

The poem and the visuals were influenced by a black and white film (source unknown) in which children stone a wounded bird to death. I saw this clip of film at a young age and the scenes and all they implied were so startling to me that I have never forgotten the images. Other cinematic influences include the film ‘Don’t Look Now’ in which images suddenly surface in a fleeting glimpse like repressed memories shifting through consciousness.

The Death of Me (trailer) by Howie Good

On 30 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Book trailers, Videopoems
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A poetry book trailer that appears to give a pretty good indication of the tone and flavor of the book. (I say that having read a number of Howie Good‘s books and chapbooks, though not this particular one yet.) Sizable chunks of text alternate with underwater footage of swimming penguins, apparently shot on a mobile phone at an aquarium. Unlike so many trailers for poetry books from micropresses, where the initiative to make a video originates with the author, this was made by the publishers themselves.

This is a video promoting the launch of Howie Good’s limited edition poetry collection ‘The Death of Me’ through Pig Ear Press. The text is from Howie’s book, the video was shot in Basel Zoo and the soundtrack was created on a ukulele. The video and audio were created by Mr [Pete] Lally.

Pig Ear Press are a (very) small press using letterpress printing and handbinding to create limited run books of quality. You can purchase Howie’s book and see information about previous publications by visiting pigearpress.co.uk.

I’m a little late in sharing this, but the press run doesn’t seem to be sold out quite yet.