~ Nationality: U.K. ~
Stopping by Dick Jones
A video by Nic S. for a poem and author recording at The Poetry Storehouse, one of three there by the British poet, blogger and musician Dick Jones.
Grand Union Bridge by Ian Duhig
Another of Alastair Cook‘s filmpoems for the Poetry Society in partnership with the Canal and River Trust as part of the Canal Laureate 2013 project. See my post of Lifted for more details. Jo Bell writes,
Ian Duhig’s poetry combines a deep learning with a lively wit, and a strong sense of Irish heritage as well as a need to honour the workers of a former age. His poem, Grand Union Canal, takes us to Paddington Basin in London.
Ian Duhig reads his text in the soundtrack, which was composed by Luca Nasciuti.
Lark, from the autobiography of John Muir
A passage from the autobiography of Scottish-American conservationist John Muir is treated as found poetry in a filmpoem by the Dutch photographer and filmmaker Judith Dekker. She writes:
Made as a part of my residency in Dunbar, Scotland for North Light. For this film I’ve used John Muir’s words as a starting point: my film is an interpretation and carries these words to a different place. All footage was shot during my time there; the poet John Glenday was kind enough to read a passage from John Muir’s autobiography and composer Luca Nasciuti created a soundtrack which fits like a glove.
Thanks to Creative Scotland.
The Black Delph Bride by Liz Berry
Another of Alastair Cook‘s filmpoems for the Poetry Society in partnership with the Canal and River Trust as part of the Canal Laureate 2013 project. See last week’s post of Lifted for more details. Jo Bell says of this one,
Liz Berry’s film is a darker narrative, shot on location as all of these films were, at the Black Delph in the Black Country. Harking back to the canal ballads of the Victorian time, this has a Dickensian tragedy about it.
For more about Liz Berry, visit her website. Her dramatic reading is set off brilliantly by Luca Nasciuti‘s soundtrack.
When We Two Parted by Lord Byron
Othniel Smith specializes in poetry mashups with images from the Prelinger Archives. He made this one with “Images from ‘Just The Two Of Us’, aka ‘The Dark Side Of Tomorrow’ directed by Barbara Peeters and Jack Deerson (1970).” The reading is by Kristin Hughes from LibriVox.
My Time by Jade Anouka
Another video by Sabrina Grant (with assistance from Anneka Henry) starring actor-poet Jade Anouka. Grant also interviewed Anouka on the set of “My Time.” I particularly like what Anouka says about trusting the director to bring her own vision to the project:
Lifted by Jo Bell
A recent filmpoem by Alastair Cook, featuring the words and voice of the U.K. Canal Laureate Jo Bell. On my two-month visit to the U.K. this summer, I was charmed by the whole canal scene. We ran into canals almost everywhere we went, and the Grand Union Canal was a great place to go walking near where I was staying in London. Most fascinating of all were the locks, and this filmpoem really captures their essence, I think.
This is one of four filmpoems that Alastair Cook produced for the Poetry Society in partnership with the Canal & River Trust as part of the Canal Laureate 2013 project, all screened at London’s Southbank Centre on National Poetry Day (October 3), which this year had the theme of Water. I’ll probably post the others in due time, but if you’re impatient, all four are featured in a post at Jo Bell’s site Waterlines: Canal and River Poetry. She says, in part:
My poem, Lifted, is about canal locks in general but specifically about Lock 30 of the Trent & Mersey, near Roger Fuller’s boatyard in Stone, Staffordshire. This stretch of water is very familiar to me, and to anyone who travels that great arterial east-west waterway through the English Midlands. This footage was shot on my own boat by Alastair, who proved to be not only an artist but a keen and capable crew member.
The Perseids by Lucy English
While most of what I categorize as videopoetry here comes about as the result of a filmmaker (who may also be the poet) making a video version of a preexisting text, in this case, filmmaker/musician Swoon (Marc Neys) sent British poet Lucy English a couple of musical prompts and asked her to write a poem in response. The music she chose then became the soundtrack for a videopoem using her reading and some found footage. Swoon blogged about the process, quoting English at length:
Rather than Marc supplying images to an existing poem or me creating a poem in response to images. Marc suggested that I choose a sound track from a few he had chosen. The one I liked sounded mysterious. The tension also built up as the track progressed. I didn’t force the image but what I saw in my mind was a starry sky. I decided to follow my emotional response. The feeling the track created in me was one of wistfulness and sadness.
The previous weekend I had watched the Persieds meteor shower, from a hotel room in Stratford on Avon. This experience, so different from a youthful experience of being outside on a summer’s evening, blended with the soundtrack. What I wanted to write about was how difficult it is to be spontaneous, and indeed naively optimistic, when we are older.
When I was younger I didn’t seem to worry about logistics, such as how was I going to get to a place, or how was I going to get back, I just went somewhere. I also had a baby in my early twenties and I used to take him with me as well.
So the poems is wistful. It is about wanting to feel that carelessness and optimism. It’s about being young and what gets lost when you get older.
I sent the poem to Marc and let him have free range about the images to choose. I liked what he selected. He didn’t focus on the night sky and the meteor shower but instead he used images of children playing in the summer. The repeated sections of film, were to me, like the repetition of memory itself. The summer day and the summer night become blended and the colour changes from yellow to dark blue. His first version was more about the day time and less about the night and I suggested that the final merge into the starry night/ specks of dust could be longer. He agreed with this and now the film ends with this longer sequence.
I find the final result moving. There is a strange tension between the words of the poem and the flickering images. The sound track offers a level of emotional depth to the wistfulness of the poem. This is my first poetry film collaboration and I have found the process inspiring. More!!!
Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare
“Design by Dave Richardson. Reading by M. Willett.” This is only the fifth video adaptation of a Shakespeare sonnet to make it into the Moving Poems archive, and perhaps the most satisfying so far. Dave Richardson is the graphic design and motion design specialist who made that marvelous videopoem The Mantis Shrimp. Check out his blog, Rocky Hill Studio.
Over Toast by Debris Stevenson
Like yesterday’s piece by Jade Anouka and last Wednesday’s piece by Max Wallis, this is a hybrid between a filmpoem and a performance poem in which the poet, Debris Stevenson, is also an actor (here joined by another actor, Lil Woods). Chris Keenan of Prime Objective directs.
A poetry film made in collaboration with poet Debris Stevenson for her piece ‘Over Toast’. Commissioned by Apples & Snakes for Architects of Our Republic. Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I have a dream speech’.
Synopsis:
‘Over Toast takes us on a philosophical journey, where a mother and daughter travel to a safe place to discover the importance of asking a question.’
According to the Architects of Our Republic site, “Apples and Snakes is the leading organisation for performance poetry in England, with a national reputation for producing exciting and innovative participation and performance work in spoken word.”
Forget by Jade Anouka
London-based actor and poet Jade Anouka in an understated performance of her work “Directed and edited by Sabrina Grant with assistance from Anneka Harry,” according to the note on YouTube.
