~ Author-made videopoems ~
Come The Apocalypse by Catherine Alice Michaelis
A great environmental/social justice videopoem by Evergreen College student Catherine Alice Michaelis, part of a collaborative series with Annie Ferguson that grew out of “a 10 week immersive experiment with cinépoetry,” according to The Fluid Raven. Deserving of special mention here, I think, is the eerie and effective whistling by Bill Moody on the soundtrack.
Learning the Letters by Robert Peake
“A film-poem by Valerie Kampmeier and Robert Peake, incorporating footage of children in Britton, South Dakota filmed by Ivan Bessie in 1939.” For the text, see Peake’s blog.
Righteous Utopian by Michael Spering
An author-made, stop-motion videopoem.
The Barking Horse by Patrick Sheridan
An eccentric and highly enjoyable author-made poetry video by Patrick Sheridan of Paddy Wagon Films.
If I had a white horse, I’d call him Brown Cow, just so I could ask, “How now horse Brown Cow?”
The Barking Horse is a three minute film about a dog named Horse. People have called it inspiring, awesome, confusing, brilliant, moving, and beautiful. You decide.
Paleoacoustics by Forrest Gander
http://vimeo.com/57158868
Forrest Gander‘s description at Vimeo reads: “This video is about Paleoacoustics, traces of the past in the present, poetry, imagination.”
Smalltalk & Little Else by R.W. Perkins
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.
Un hombre que dijo ser el mar (A man who claimed to be the sea) by Tonatihu Mercado
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.
the one about the bird by Melissa Diem
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 ITALYA 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 Light and the Light by Courtney Druz
A very effective, author-made poetry book trailer using kinestatis, layering and text animation. The book and video are currently featured on the front page of the author’s website. (Do check out the sample poem, as well.)
Transfiguration by Steven McCabe
In this new videopoem by Steven McCabe, the text is presented in silent-film-style title cards, and in three different versions in succession: the first in English, the second in French and the third in Spanish. (Pierre L’Abbé is credited with the French translation and Beatriz Hausner with the Spanish.) Especially for monolingual English viewers, it’s interesting that repetition does not necessarily lead to increasing familiarity, but rather a kind of defamiliarization. As with certain K-pop music video mega-hits on YouTube, not knowing what all the words mean can actually add to the charm of a short film sometimes.
Speaking of music: Brenda Joy Lem did the fantastic drumming in the soundtrack. In a blog post introducing the video, McCabe writes:
We originally filmed and recorded the drumming over two years ago for a different project which never saw the light of day. In the meantime I become interested in juxtaposing silent footage with live action. I realized we could use silent movie title cards for the poetry and not compete with the sound of drumming. The poem Transfiguration was originally published in my 1999 collection Radio Picasso (watershedBooks). My poetry videos can be found @ http://www.youtube.com/mccabesteven
Morning Sex & Blueberry Pancakes by R.W. Perkins
http://vimeo.com/57708721
R.W. Perkins‘ latest videopoem was recently featured at Atticus Review:
A woman contemplates how her life’s ambitions have seemed to mature as she sits alone on her back porch.
Morning Sex & Blueberry Pancakes could easily be described as poetic leftovers. The poem crafted from scraps, nearly discarded verse edited from a longer wordier poem, while the film itself is a remix project taken from black and white public domain T.V. commercials, assumed to be produced in the 60s and early 70s.
On May 4th 2013 Morning Sex will make its big screen debut at The Body Electric Poetry Film Festival to take place at the Lyric Cinema Cafe in Fort Collins, Colorado. The event, hosted and directed by Perkins, will be Colorado’s first poetry film festival and will feature poets and filmmakers from all over the world.
You can read about all the selections for the film festival on their website.
Journey up the amazon by Martha McCollough
Martha McCollough says of her latest videopoem: “It’s about shopping. And death.”
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