I found a “Golden Nugget” while doing research for the class blog.
I’ve always been intrigued by the creative process. I’m curious about how other creative beings,
come up with innovative ideas for their expressions. Weather it is for a
painting, a book, a film, or new product, humans have an innate desire to
create something. It is part of our
inherent nature, the creative process. I’m thinking as a fellow classmate, you have a
desire to express an idea, and were looking for a vehicle to express that idea when you signed up for this class.
There are many resources and workshops out there regarding
the creative process. I am captivated by Steven Pressfield, and his insights, deep
understanding of the creative process, and whit regarding the creative spirit.
I know many of us struggle, trying to figure out what drives us to create, and
often what paralyses us with fear, all at the same time. He talks about the
“Resistance” we feel when we are on the right track, or on verge of a
breakthrough. Sometimes we stop cold in our tracks, but there is a gift, if you
face the dragon, head on.
Check his book out: "The War of Art": Break Through the Blocks
& Win Your Inner Creative Battles ― Steven Pressfield.
My favorite quote of Steven’s is “Put your ass where your heart
wants to be”… “If you want to paint, put yourself in front of an easel. If you
want to write, sit in front of a keyboard…. Plunge in!” (This resonates with me).
While exploring creativity I stumbled across this…
“Allergy to Originality” Sundance 2014 Short
Drew Christie describes his animated short “Allergy to
Originality”, and explores Un-Originality, Plagiarism, through this
satire, illustrated film short. He
discusses the tools he used (in creative cloud). The bottom line is, the story is important. The “story” is a continuing theme in all of
my research. Tools are just the vehicles
used to tell the story.
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/adobe-at-sundance-/drew-christie/
“This
May Be the Last”, Sundance 2014 Short
Filmmaker Sterlin
Harjo, describes his 2014 Sundance entry, documenting a story through song and film. It is so much easier to tell a story through
technology. Using his grandfather's 1962 car accident as
a starting point, the film explores a Muskogee Indian singing tradition that
incorporates Scottish missionary songs, Christian hymns, and slave spirituals.
Story telling
intrigues me. I love the power of the
written word, particularly when combined with imagery. I love it when I hear a
story, or poem that gives me chills, or moves my spirit from apathy to activism,
or makes me laugh, or brings tears of compassion to my eyes.
I found this cool
website http://www.motionpoems.com/
An Art
Museum in Minneapolis features poetry set to film. Motionpoems presents world premiere of Season
5 New poetry films to screen May 22 at Walker Art Center.
Their Mission
- Motionpoems broadens the audience for poetry by turning great contemporary
poems into short films. This is done through cinematography and animation. I think the flash class will really enjoy
some of the productions.
Their Background
- In 2008, animator/producer Angella Kassube animated one of Todd Boss’s poems.
The results were so compelling that Boss and Kassube began introducing other
poets to other video artists. A year later, a public screening at Open Book in
Minneapolis drew a standing-room-only crowd of 150+ to see 12 pieces they
dubbed Motionpoems… and a new hybrid form was born. Since then, motionpoems have
appeared in mainstream media, blogs, YouTube, international film festivals, art
galleries, and here on our website.
It’s
funny but some of the poems reflect Drew Christie’s perspective, described in
“Allergy to Originality”. Many of the
shorts are famous poems, brought to you with a new spin.
I thought the class would enjoy the flash animation used
in the following shorts.
STRAND | WENNER | “The Mysterious Arrival of an Unusual
Letter”
Filmmaker Scott Wenner didn’t take many interpretive
liberties with this poem, though it bears his particular stamp. Check out the
illustrations, the use of light and shadow.
Many of the animation concepts we learned in the class are rendered
beautifully.
Seeing beauty in vultures, poet Bob Hicok and filmmaker
Keri Moller circle back to the living in this quiet, tenderly wrought
motionpoem.
KUMIN | TOW | “Either Or”
Socrates had some either/or thoughts about death. Poet
Maxine Kumin has some thoughts about those thoughts. Filmmaker Adam Tow adds
his thoughts to hers.
WILBUR | ESKOLA | “Ecclesiastes 11:1″
The filmmaker Faith Eskola’s five-year-old daughter gives
voice to this poem by 90-year-old Pulitzer Prize winning poet Richard Wilbur. This poem exemplifies Drew Christie’s
perspective. An old poem, reinterpreted,
and read by a five year old. Take note
of the simple interface.
HICOK | KOHLER | “Having intended to merely pick on an oil
company, the poem goes awry.” Bob
Hicok’s invective against British Petroleum becomes an indictment of his own
consumptive habits, but documentary filmmaker Joanna Kohler sets him straight
in the end.
I am so glad I stumbled upon this site. They have a newsletter you can sign up for to
receive updates.
“See for yourself, but be warned: [a motionpoem] is so
striking and cinematic … you can’t just watch it once. Most people replay [it]
several times because each viewing pulls them deeper into the poem.”
TESTIMONIALS
“Astonishing, powerful, and hilarious. Motionpoems is
leading a poetry renaissance.”
—Forbes
“I feel confident in my prediction that more and more
arranged marriages will be made between poetry and video—confident enough to
call this a trend. The idea of basing a video on a poem may one day seem as
natural and inevitable as the setting of poems to music used to be.”
—David Lehman in his introduction to Best American Poetry
2012
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