~ Animation ~
Let it be dark, and it was dark by John Siddique
http://vimeo.com/30260208
This is from a series of animations called Thirteen Moons. I’ll let the author, bestselling U.K. poet John Siddique, explain:
A series of 13 animated films based on a sequence of poems from Recital — An Almanac (Salt). The poems are based on the Full Moons of the year and the Celtic mythology which names each moon after a letter in the ancient tree alphabet.
The films were created when I was British Council Poet in Residence at California State University in Los Angeles. Made with determination, love, and goodwill. Animation director Walter Santucci, his students, friends and myself set to work before passing the pieces to composer Katie Chatburn. My aim was to gave each artist a free hand in what they came up with in response to the poems, interjecting as lightly as possible.
The paintings in this one are by Dania Strong. I’ll be sharing more of these in the coming weeks, but if you’re impatient, you can browse them all — or twelve of them, at any rate — at the album Siddique has set up for them on Vimeo (whence the above quote).
Norangsdalen by Erlend O. Nødtvedt
A wonderfully abstract animation by Kristian Pedersen of Gasspedal Animert, who say in their Vimeo description:
Norangsdalen is one of Norways most narrow and steep valleys. It is notorious for its frequent avalanches and landslides. In 1912, an enormous landslide dammed the valley river, causing it to flood and submerge a farm and a small forest. This is today known as the lake Lyngstøylsvatnet – a popular expedition spot for divers.
According to the Norwegian Wikipedia and Google Translate,
Erlend O. Nødtvedt (b. 1984) is a Norwegian poet from Fyllingsdalen and the winner of the Youth Poetry Prize in 2008. He now lives in the city of Bergen, where he studies at the University of Bergen. Nødtvedt previously attended the Skrivekunstakademiet (Writing Academy) and is on the editorial board of the journal Vagant.
Saltwater by Eleanor Rees
Glenn-emlyn Richards‘ latest animation was produced in collaboration with poet Eleanor Rees. (See also their earlier collaboration, Night Vision.) Rees is a Liverpudlian and author of the collection Andraste’s Hair (Salt, 2007), who “often collaborates with other writers, musicians and artists,” according to her online biography.
Mirror by Sylvia Plath
A brilliant text animation of Plath’s 1961 poem with images from vintage print advertisements. It’s the work of the New Zealand-based designer Kylie May, née Kylie Hibbert — the name under which she made this film and another in 2005, part of a “postgraduate study exploring the visual language of poetry” she called the Belles Lettres project.
By transforming the written words of poetry into choreographed kinetic performance the project seeks to expand typographical conventions of traditional published poetry. The research project utilises the poetry of Emily Dickinson’s (1862) I died for beauty and Sylvia Plath’s (1961) Mirror, to explore the potential of paralinguistics and poetry as emotive narrative. These two poetic voices are fused by intimate revelations of anxiety, which have relevance in today’s society.
Both films were shortlisted for the 2006 Berlin ZEBRA Poetry Film Awards, Mirror attracting a finalist placing.
PLEASE NOTE: Music used under the AUT screenrights license. For academic research purposes only.
Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock by Wallace Stevens
http://vimeo.com/26089551
A visually arresting, silent watercolor animation by Lilli Carré. The poem has its own Wikipedia page. (Hat-tip: Hannah Stephenson)
one moment passes by Robert Lax
German animator Susanne Wiegner made this film with audio from the late poet, who “did nothing to court publicity or expand his literary career or reputation,” according to the Wikipedia. A man after my own heart!
Nan by Eden Tautali
This is the winning poem from New Zealand’s National Schools Poetry Award for young writers (Year 12 and 13 students). The animation is by a commercial design agency, Neogine Design. I’m not always crazy about kinetic text animations; this is a good example of how to do it right, I think. And while I might’ve preferred a soundtrack, silence isn’t a bad choice, either, considering the subject of the poem.
Bad Daughter by Sarah Gorham
This is (I think) the title poem from the book by Sarah Gorham forthcoming from Four Way Books. Tucker Capps, the filmmaker, has a production company specializing in book trailers, and I was interested to see what he charges [PDF]. I’m guessing this one was in the $300-$700 range (“Text, stills, basic studio imagery, local B-roll, motion graphics, voiceover”), unless it qualifies as a full-scale animation, in which case it would’ve cost Four Way Books $2,000. In either case, good on them for going the extra mile to promote a book of poetry.
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
A lot of kinetic type poetry animations don’t really say anything about the poem, I feel, so don’t make the cut here. This was an exception: somehow the colors, typography and design seemed just right. It’s by Tamisha Harris, “a designer, visual storyteller and a student at the London College of Communication [whose] creative practice revolves around graphic moving image.”
Another reading worth checking out is the one at Poets.org, in which Brooks discusses the background and reception of the poem in her introduction.
