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EXPERIMENTS in iPhoneOgraphy and Video

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Way back when, one of my main motivations for ditching my flip phone and getting a smart phone (best thing I ever did) was the camera. As much as anything, I got my iPhone 5c to take, edit and manipulate photos. I wanted to be able to illustrate poems and other works.

I’ve also had some ideas for videos I’d like to make and the video below is my first experiment. I used Animoto, a cloud-based service founded in 2006 according to Wikipedia. Honestly, it was just the first service that came up when I started my search. No analysis went into the selection. I didn’t comparison shop. Since I’ve never done this before, I can’t tell you how easy or not Animoto is to use relative to other tools.  The video is not exactly what I envisioned, but the problem is mine, not Animoto. After awhile I just got tired of fussing over which photos, what order and what music.

I found Animoto easy – intuitive, as they say – to use and affordable, though that’s a relative thing.  The videos are loaded into a WordPress post the same way you’d load a YouTube video  – by using the URL. Easy.

You can log into Animoto and play around without making any committment to buy, so if it’s something you want to try too – GO FOR IT. The site offers direction, information on copyright, a limited selection of music and even stock photographs if you don’t have your own. Not bad. $8 a month if you pay for an entire year. Otherwise it’s $16 a month.  That’s just the basic package. There are two other options.

If you are viewing this from email, it’s likely you’ll have to link through to watch the video.

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POET, WRITER, ARTIST and COLLEGE LIBRARIAN: Corina Ravenscraft on “The Poetic Evolution”

Corina Ravenscraft
Corina Ravenscraft

Poetry moves us. It makes us think, feel, inspires us to do more, be more. It has been here as long as people could speak and sing, and its energy and intention will probably outlast the end of humanity. Like everything in life, it has had to evolve and adapt. One of the main purposes of poetry, to communicate something with someone else, has necessitated new ways of reaching an audience. This is especially true now, in this digital age of instant gratification and social media.

Poetry has learned to deliver its message via video, recorded poetry slams, Skype, flash mob poetry in action…blink and you might miss it. But even if you DO miss it, you can probably find a recording of it somewhere. No longer is it simply written words on an immortal page in some heavy, dusty collection of poetry, or an oral history sung through the ages and generations. There are still formal forms, still meters (or even free form, as even it has a “beat”), still rhymes (or not), still those who will read it and listen to it. Some things about it do not change.

There have been many famous poets who have attempted to define what poetry “is”; the well-known, poetic “greats”, and they all have valid definitions. I tend to agree with one of my favorites, Robert Frost, who said:

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”

To me, poetry is a type of communication that touches the heart and soul.

In honor of (inter)National Poetry Month celebrations, I share a couple of poetic videos with all of you. Both of these “spoke” to me. I hope that you find them as powerful as I did, and maybe that you will look at poetry as more than dry, printed words on a page. It is very much a living thing. And it continues to evolve, just like people do. 🙂

First, is a poem by actor Woody Harrelson.

Next, is a piece by rapper Prince Ea

– Corina Ravenscraft

© 2016, essay and portrait, Corina Ravenscraft, All rights reserved; View The BeZine contributing writer Corina Ravenscraft’s bio HERE; view a comprehensive interview with Corina HERE. Corina’s blog is Dragon’s Dream.

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OUR REACH WAS NEVER QUITE ENOUGH: but it was ~ Ray Bradbury at His Charming Best Reading his poem “If Only We Had Taller Been.”

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), Americaan Fantasy, science fiction, horror and myster author, perhaps best known for the dystopian Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), American Fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery author, perhaps best known for the dystopian Fahrenheit 451.

 

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Thoughts of Ray Bradbury can’t help but make us smile. They bring with them memories of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, editor John Wood Campbell (Astounding Science Fiction, Analog Science and Fact, Amazing) and pulp magazines with their staple writers (Bradbury, Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke… and others) who thrilled us with fringe politics, pseudo science and controversy. We don’t think of them as poets, but apparently at least one dabbled in the art.

I post this once every two years. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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How to be alone … for lonely is a freedom

HOW TO BE ALONE by Tanya Davis, poet, songwriter and singer. Her style is primarily spoken word set to music. She performed in this video, which was directed by Andrea Dorfman.  Andrea did the animation. She is a screenwriter as well as a director.

The film was shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As of this writing, this poetry video has had more than 7,620,000 views, which is a league of its own when it comes to poetry videos. As far as I know the only poet who gets those numbers – actually twice as much – is Shane Koyczan, also a Canadian and a spoken word poet.

After making the film Tanya  and Andrea  put together a book, How to Be Alone (Harper,2013) with the poem and illustrations. Tanya also has a published poetry collection, At First, Lonely (Acorn Books, 2011). The former, I think, makes a good gift for someone after a break-up, separation or divorce. The later explores falling in love and out, searching for truth and for roots. The writing is intimate, very personal.

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Tanya Davis at the Calgary Spoken Word Festival 2011