~ Animation ~
Burger Man by Gaia Holmes
Poem by Gaia Holmes
Film by Sharon Keighley, with narration by Lela Keighley
Thanks to Michelle at Peony Moon for bringing the work of this fine English poet to my attention.
Incision by Jillian Weise
Poem by Jillian Weise, from An Amputee’s Guide to Sex
Animation by John Roberts
From the publisher’s description:
The Amputee’s Guide to Sex is an authentic exploration of disability and sexuality. Tired of seeing “cripples” appear as asexual characters in all forms of media, Weise took on a subject close to home: her own disability. This does not mean that these poems “happened” to Weise in real life. While based on the experience of an above-the-knee amputee, the poems have a life of their own.
Once Upon a Time by Vishwajyoti Ghosh
Poem by Vishwajyoti Ghosh, narrated by Ramesh Venkatraman
Animation by Nilratan Mazumdar
According to the credits at the end this is one of 60 one-minute films commissioned by motiroti, “a London based international arts organisation.” A link on its 60×60 secs page leads to another site that describes the project in somewhat more detail:
60×60 Secs is the first project of the 360° programme, and comprises of 60 one-minute films from 60 artists, 20 each from Britain, India and Pakistan.
Commissioned via open call both established and emerging artists, working in a variety of mediums and spanning a wide age range, present their unique views on ‘home’. Looking beyond media, political and religious definitions, 60×60 Secs unravels complex identities and stories, and redefines cultures that are evolving in an age of globalisation.
The site includes pages for all sixty films, including this one, containing low-, medium- and high-quality Quicktime versions, a brief description, and more detailed credits. Evidently the poet was also responsible for the drawings used in the animation, and directed it as well.
The Frigidaires of Idaho by Virginia Shank
Poem and animation by Virginia Shank, with music by One Ring Studio
A rare example of a poet making a video interpretation of her own work — and in claymation yet! She gets huge respect from me. I found more information about the project in a blog post.
It’s nice to see that months of work have turned out so well and it’s hard to believe that Virginia found time to sculpt each frame by hand (for a total of literally thousands of individual frames) when she had three classes to take, a literary magazine (Fugue) to read for, and two classes to teach. But she’s like that – when she’s not making the best sushi for a hundred miles or singing Nancy Sinatra at our weekly MFA karaoke sessions, she’s doing THIS.
Hunger by Billy Collins
Poem by Billy Collins
Animation by SamuelChristopher/FAD, commissioned by the Sundance Channel’s Action Poetry Series
Heart Wrap by Shamshad Khan
Poem by Shamshad Khan
Film by Lisa Risbec, with narration by the author
Commissioned by Comma Film
The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
Poem by William Carlos Williams
Animation by Lee Luker, with music by Six Organs of Admittance
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Written and directed by Kira Rouse with art by Jeffrey Rouse and sound by Digital Scientist
Hard to say what WCW would’ve made of this one, but it’s an interesting testament to the ubiquity of his poem.
Snowmen by Agha Shahid Ali
http://youtu.be/H4qk62qcG9w
Poem by Agha Shahid Ali (reading by Carl Hancock Rux) — text here
Animation by Kyle Jenkins for the Poetry Foundations’ Poetry Everywhere series
A posthumous volume of Ali’s collected poems, The Veiled Suite, has just been released. He was a master who died much too young. As for the video, I’m not sure it adds anything to the poem or not.
Daddy by Sylvia Plath
Poem and reading by Sylvia Plath — text here
Video by mishima1970
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Another video with the same poem, this time by Jim Clark, who makes
Virtual Animated movies of great poets reincarnated through the wonders of computer animation reading their best loved poems and presented in the style of old scratchy movies.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot
Poem and reading by T. S. Eliot (text here)
Animation by Everett Wilson, who writes:
I produced the visuals for this poem by T.S. Eliot in the fall of 2001, during my brief time in the Media program at the University of Lethbridge. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, an Animated Rendition of T.S. Eliot’s Poem” appeared in the “highlights reel” of the Melbourne International Student Animation Festival, which traveled to select universities across Australia. After receiving feedback on YouTube, I replaced the original narration with T.S. Eliot’s voice in this 2007 revision.
There are other Prufrock videos on YouTube, but this is by far the best of those I’ve seen.
Some Days by Billy Collins
Poem and reading by Billy Collins — text here
Animation by Julian Grey of Head Gear Animation, produced by JWT-NY
I have to say these Billy Collins videos from JWT-NY (there are nine total; I’ll post them all eventually) are really an improvement over the straight texts. This is just a matter of personal taste, of course, but Collins’ poems tend to bore me after the first reading. The video adaptations, by contrast, invite repeated viewings. I’m sure there’s a lesson there somewhere…
I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died by Emily Dickinson
Poem by Emily Dickinson:
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portions of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly –With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz –
Between the light – and me –
And then the Windows failed – and then
I could not see to see –
Video by Lynn Tomlinson. It won the Keith Clarke Prize for animation at the 1989 Ann Arbor Film Festival.
An eerie adaptation of the Emily Dickinson poem, told from after death. Created in clay-on-glass animation. This was my first film in this technique, made in 1989.
There are a number of other animations of this poem on YouTube, but none of them hold a candle to this one. Its only major flaw is the pixelation — perhaps the artist was trying to protect her work from being ripped off. In addition to the YouTube page linked above, Tomlinson has a proper website here.
[UPDATE 11/29/09] For a much higher quality version, see the video gallery on Tomlinson’s website.
[UPDATE 2/13/12] Higher-resolution version at Vimeo swapped in (see comments).
