Revenant by Jane McKie

Jane McKie reads and Rebecca Joy Scharp plays the clarsach in this filmpoem by Alastair Cook. It was commissioned by Absent Voices, “a group focused on the celebration of the vast and semi-derelict Greenock Sugar Sheds,” according to Alastair’s note on the previous film in the series, “How Well It Burns” by Brian Johnstone.

Hay Otra Voz—A Chicano Poem by Tino Villanueva

A collaboration between Chicano poet Tino Villanueva and filmmaker Alberto Roblest.

The Mantis Shrimp by Dave Richardson

A meditation on the Mantis Shrimp’s 16 photoreceptors, a yellow blouse from the past, and a desire for more and more color. A previous version of “The Mantis Shrimp” was juried into Liberated Words at MIX: A Conference Exploring Transmedia Writing & Digital Creativity, 16-18, July 2012; Bath Spa University, UK. “The Mantis Shrimp” is now showing at the Tarble Arts Center, Charleston, Illinois, from Sept. 21 to Dec. 2, 2012, in the EIU Art Department Faculty Show.

Thus the description at Vimeo [for an earlier version of the video]. For more of Dave Richardson’s work, see his design website and Rocky Hill Studio blog.

Gable by Brian Johnstone

A video by John Birdsong of Panman Productions. His decision to combine audio of a reading with the poet’s still face was kind of an interesting departure from the norm, I thought.

Johnstone was a co-founder of the StAnza international poetry festival held each March in St. Andrews, Scotland.

What I Say When You Ask What I’m Up To by Diana Salier

San Francisco-based writer and musician Diana Salier collaborated with the animator and director, Daniel Lichtenberg, on

A paper cutout-style animated video adapted from Diana Salier’s poem WHAT I SAY WHEN YOU ASK WHAT I’M UP TO, from her new book LETTERS FROM ROBOTS.

Diana builds a couch fort to hide herself from a former lover.

LETTERS FROM ROBOTS is out now on Night Bomb Press.

Salier stars in the film (along with Leiandrea Layus), composed the music and did the voice-over. Additional credits include assistant animator Max Berry and gaffer Matt Rome. (One doesn’t see nearly enough poetry films crediting gaffers.) It was produced at Photon SF.

Sonnet 97 by William Shakespeare

I found this musical interpretation compelling; the accompanying kinestatic video isn’t bad, either. It’s a selection from The Winter E.P. – Shakespeare’s Sonnets by Hallam London, who is credited with composition, vocals, guitars, keyboards and all programming. The photos in the video were taken on Norderney Island in the North Sea by Nicola Moczek and Riklef Rambow. Visit the composer’s bandcamp page to hear more from the EP.

A Year Younger by Hal Sirowitz

Hal Sirowitz’ Mother Said was a bestseller in Noway, whence this film by Kajsa Næss, who notes,

The film is made using a mix of pixillation, cut out photographs and stop motion.
Shot on 16mm

mr. lucky’s jackpot by Martha McCollough

In the description at Vimeo, McCollough notes:

This has more of a straightforward voiceover than most of the pieces I have been making.
Built in after effects, Sound design done using Logic.

Regarding Gardens by Simon Barraclough

Carolina Melis directed this wondrous animation by Michela Bruno for the U.K. nonprofit Animate Projects. The reading is by the poet. According to the description at Vimeo, poem, animation and music (“Missed,” by cellist Julia Kent) were conceived together:

An animated film inspired by both the historic gardens of National Trust property, Ham House and Garden, and the estates 17th century owner, Elizabeth Dysart, who held the vision for the garden. The film presents a living portrait of the historic garden of Ham House.

The animation is supported by the research of Garden History specialist Michael Ann Mullen and is accompanied by an original poem by Simon Barraclough and music by Julia Kent.

Tallinas street (Tallinas iela) by Artūrs Punte

A new videopoem by poet and filmmaker Artūrs Punte and the Latvia-based Orbita collective features Punte’s own text, translated for the subtitles by Kevin M.F. Platt. (There’s also a version just in Latvian, without the English subtitles.)

Notes from Noise by Jan Lauwereyns

Swoon used public-domain footage from the U.S. Navy’s MSTS Arctic operations (1955-1957) to accompany an English-language text by the multilingual Belgian writer and scientist Jan Lauwereyns. He first constructed a soundscape, then found footage to match, but in a departure from his usual modus operandi, decided not to include the poem in the soundtrack:

Reading or recording the poem was no option…
It wouldn’t work. I needed to see the words ‘floating’ slowly, using the pace of the music and the images.
Giving them time to interact with the sounds and the images.

Words by VIV G

http://vimeo.com/34825832

This kintetic text animation by VIV G (Vivian Giourousis) definitely qualifies as a concrete poem.