The Perfect High E-Poem
~Electronic Poetry~
Objectives:
Use screen recording software to perform and capture two e-poems. You will create two videos, which can be different versions of the same poem or two different poems. As you work on these poems, think about ways that you might be able to connect them with our gallery of emotions. In particular, consider ways the poems might relate to or express: anger, fear, disgust, contempt, joy, sadness, or surprise. Version one, a screen performance: By practicing composing with the elements of your screen, you can quickly create multimodal e-poems.
Version two, an edited poem: Use the tools of Camtasia to create another electronic poem; this might be a version/revision of your screen performance or an entirely new piece. Seek to really deploy the Camtasia program elements, using animations, opacity, movement, sound, etc. to develop a piece of electronic art.
Original (Performance) E-Poem:
Reflection:
After selecting this heavier poem by Silverstein, I knew there were many routes I could take it. Since the first assignment called for improvisation, I thought it would be interesting to create a canvas on my home screen that, as a whole, represented the poem. At certain points during the reading of the poem, I would play and then minimize windows as they became relevant. Once all the videos were minimized at the end, a larger image was revealed from behind, with the overall theme of the poem quoted. In retrospect, I think this format worked very nicely.
Most of my issues with this assignment rested in smaller, technical things that were hard to control when doing improvisation. It was nearly impossible time everything perfectly, type live accurately, and minimize the frequency of the pop-up menus. Because of all of these variables, it took me many takes to get a final project that I found to be acceptable.
All in all, this project was the ultimate test of patience. Even so, it encouraged me to think outside of the box and as result, I ended up with a concept that I felt invested in enough to strive for perfection in the improvisation realm.
Edited E-Poem:
Feedback:
Professor Anderson suggested...
- A better use of the whole canvas
- Addition of text to add emphasis and direct focus
Revised E-Poem:
Reflection:
Luckily, the two major pieces of feedback given to me on this assignment could be accomplished by one fairly simple action: adding textual elements. Not only did this direct focus and help carry the theme, it also helped make better use of the canvas.
In addition to adding text, I also cleaned up a few choppy transitions, trimmed some unwanted lines out of the video clips, and tweaked the audio in some locations. Doing these smaller task allowed for the finished product to look more professional and polished.
Finally, I rethought the ending of this electronic poem. Rather than the final remark, "The Truth," appearing a small window, I concluded that it would be more dramatic and noteworthy to have the videos all abruptly disappear, replaced entirely by the phrase. I believe that this simple ending resulted in my project packing a larger punch with "The Truth" staring the viewer in the face at the conclusion of the video.
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