Ah, hey Lawrence, sorry about that.
I actually remember a number of early attempts at 'visualizing' poems on screen (then as little films) & how I hated them, as most of them ham-handedly presented the most obvious visuals of the imagery & metaphors in the poems. Able only to make singular that which was multiple.
One could laugh..., but that was about it.
I think it's possible to do something interesting, but that requires a truly visual artist at work...?
Now I do know that some sound poets have made use of technology to play with their voices while others just use their voices: Henri Chopin / bpNichol, eg.
Doug
On 2012-08-24, at 9:48 AM, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ah
>
> when I say _sonic emphatic_ I mean _sonic semantic_
>
> old tired brain tripping over its own cliches
>
> L
>
> ---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
> Subject: Re: poetry video
> From: "Lawrence Upton" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, August 24, 2012 16:39
> To: [log in to unmask]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Well, I read Chris's post earlier; and thought about it; and decided that
> I had nothing much to say.
>
> I shall try to pick my words carefully... if I can. I don't wish to offend
> or tell anyone I am right and they are wrong. Not on this case... I think
> the best thing I can do is say what I don't want to do and why!
>
>> Poetry video, as in music video.
>
> Immediately puts me off! Not that I see many music videos these days. I
> *can enjoy them. I can put myself in that mode. (Now and then I go to
> McDonalds.)
>
> But I get little out of it when they tell stories floating off from the
> song. Or when they show pictures of the famous people singing in mid
> celebrity strut. It all begins to blur for me; and though they are
> different they all look the same in my memory.
>
> But that is where I am now. I was quite up to my ears in some kinds of pop
> into the 80s. I remember one of my partner's kids sort of boasting sort of
> moaning how much we were into pop music... I also remember a seemingly
> interminable intellectual argument manqué with his sister when I failed to
> agree that Jesus and Mary Chain owed nothing to Velvet Underground. (She
> played me hers and I said Velvet Underground and she said What's Velvet
> Underground?)
>
> Let me show my age and refer to the video of Dylan's subterranean homesick
> blues. I really liked that. That was doing something. I still don't know
> what and I value that.
>
> Then a while after there was a video (I use the term loosely) of LIKE A
> ROLLING STONE and that was him getting on and off planes and looking
> remarkably like John Cooper Clarke.
>
> Not very interesting.
>
> I remember the Peter Gabriel Sledgehammer video and I quite liked that.
> And recently I have been getting into some Kate Bush videos though some of
> the more interesting ones have disappeared from the web.
>
> So in terms of music videos, maybe I am not the best person...
>
> I think what I can draw from this paucity of examples (as one draws
> treacle from a treacle well) is that I am most interested when something
> happens *between the music and the image.
>
> I am thinking of a musician, I won't quote the name because I am scared I
> am misquoting slightly, who says I believe that he doesn't need a visual
> with the sound work – we're talking electronic and electro-acoustic here
>
> & I can understand that but something else may happen when genres are put
> beside each other and maybe he is just not that visual
>
> so when Chris says
>
> First you lay down and edit the sound
>>> track which is a reading of the poem and then you collage visual video
>>> images along with the sound track.
>
> That's fine. I won't disparage it; but it doesnt engage me.
>
> I was told off a while back by a friend who said “Lawrence you always say
> that”, so I hesitate, but I cannot see the attraction.
>
> I don't much like illustration. Illustration can support weak material and
> it can expand strong material. Mostly it just sits there
>
> I am more interested in use of the visual which treats the sonic-visual as
> one thing, as the sonic-emphatic can be
>
> I have seen a number of films going with poetry and found them soporific;
> and I tend to think of a black beast I have mentioned here -- putting the
> sound of wind and running water over Wordsworth's Prelude
>
> Maybe no one's interest – and that's fine – so I'll shut up now and see if
> there are any takers
>
> L
>
>
> On Fri, August 24, 2012 15:44, Douglas Barbour wrote:
>> I suspect Lawrence could fill you in, her, Chris, but I know it's going
>> on, although I havent paid too much attention. UBUWEB probably has
>> some....
>>
>> Doug
>> On 2012-08-23, at 8:25 PM, Chris Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Poetry video, as in music video. First you lay down and edit the sound
>>> track which is a reading of the poem and then you collage visual video
>>> images along with the sound track.
>>>
>>> I did this about 20 years ago and the analog videos went around the
>>> world. But I have yet to see this again... surely i was not the first
>>> and this must be happening again, esp given computers and multimedia
>>> which in the analog days would cost tens of thousands of dollars.
>>>
>>> Anyway, must rush to catch the bus to buy a mike and headphones. (My
>>> pro mike is back in Narrabri so it is much cheaper to buy a new one,
>>> for now.) Watch out for me on youtube!
>>>
>>
>> Douglas Barbour
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>> http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>>
>>
>> Latest books:
>> Continuations & Continuations 2 (with Sheila E Murphy)
>> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=962
>> Wednesdays'
>> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10
>> .html
>>
>>
>>
>> Why can’t words mean what they say?
>>
>>
>> Robert Kroetsch
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -----
> Lawrence Upton
>
> http://sho-zyg.com/upton.html
>
> Visiting Fellow, Music Dept,
> Goldsmiths, University of London
> New Cross, London SE14 6NW
> ----
>
>
> -----
> Lawrence Upton
>
> http://sho-zyg.com/upton.html
>
> Visiting Fellow, Music Dept,
> Goldsmiths, University of London
> New Cross, London SE14 6NW
> ----
>
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Latest books:
Continuations & Continuations 2 (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=962
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
Why can’t words mean what they say?
Robert Kroetsch
|