Working toward a Personal definition of ‘Visual Poetry’

This is a reflection on the following essay I read by Fil Ieropoulos: 

http://www.studycollection.co.uk/poetry.html 

Ieropoulos’ essay was a brilliant overview of the definitions of poetry-film of film-poetry. Before I read this essay I didn’t know that those genres existed, although I did sense that comparisons were often drawn between the two art forms, especially in my own mind. He quite certain about the distinction between ‘film poetry’ nd poetry film’ even commenting on the use of hyphens; however I may be quite lax in my use of these terms.

I don’t like that in the 1920s, film-makers wanted visual poetry to be separate from poetry and confined within the elements of film. As Ieropoulos writes in his essay that artists like Dulac and Velluc felt ‘film should be a primarily visual language and that if there is any influence of poetry within it then this must be on the actual picture’ which I find difficult to agree with. Why shouldn’t the script or the sound of the film be influenced by poetry and still considered ‘film poetry’? Artists at that time tried the make ‘poetry-film’ fit tot a certain criteria for example they rejected the use of inter-titles. However, I do have to remember that that at the time, these films were brand new and experimental – perhaps people felt the need to define what they were, even the film-makers themselves.

To me, this kind of attitude is one that creates a separation and hierarchy among media. It seems condescending to me to make such a definition when the lines of different art movements are certainly blurred.

Some of the ideas in this essay made me think that I had to confine myself to purely looking at moving image. I would have to fit a certain fragmented style of filming and while I am still eager to investigate linear and non-linear narratives, I don’t want to feel committed to either one just yet.  For example, I think of a film like ‘Room’ as visual poetry despite is being a linear narrative and it being scripted whereas film-makers from the 1920s might disregard it. What is poetry to me might not be poetry to someone else. What makes a feature film specifically not ‘visual poetry’, the fact that is is more widely appreciated by audiences? That kind of thinking is elitist and not productive. This is why before I start planning my film I am eager to make a personal definition on ‘visual poetry’.

When I wrote my proposal, I found lots of resources on experimental film, yet I have found that my ideas have changed more quickly than I have been able to write up my research in my sketchbook. Is not a photograph visual poetry? A painting? Why should I stop myself from investigating these art forms too. I am not studying art next year and I have a limited time with the resources at Weston College. This project could be used as an avenue to experiment with loads of different mediums.

Poetry is heavily personal: it is typically from the viewpoint of the writer or persona. It is biased and often telling of a personal experience.  It awakens an emotional ‘response’ in the reader, which the reader may struggle to realise at first. To me, this is the common factor when I personally define a piece of visual media as ‘visual poetry’.

Final Major Week One Review

Final Major Project:
Week One Review

I started off the week really well. I wrote up the primary research from my visit to the Wellcome Collection's exhibition on consciousness and I watched 'Das Cabinet Des Dr Caligari' by Robert Weine and wrote this up. I really enjoyed the exhibition and despite it not being directly related to poetry or film, there were artists there that I could look at and be inspired by. I find that poetry is very much a journey into consciousness and by reading poetry you are unconsciously affected by it. Certainly, surrealist film is an exploration of consciousness. 

After a bout of illness I was rendered unable and undesiring to work. I feel really at a loss what to do next. I just find it so daunting to think that I have to write and shoot a film for a final project and I have never done that before. I don't even know what I want to do the film about. Part of me wishes I had done a content based proposal so that I could use that as a starting point.

I have had some thoughts about my project however. I know I need to define what I think visual poetry is before I can continue with coming up with ideas for my film. 

I have a couple of options about what I can do to generate ideas:
- I can look at poetry I like and that I want to recreate in film.

- I can look at some more films and find certain artists.

However I still need to finish going through my bibliography. 

One if my worries is that what makes a film 'poetic' is the gorgeous cinematography and I don't have the budget or the skills to recreate that kind of atmosphere. 

I think the problem is I feel unsure what I am supposed to do and I have little confidence in my abilities. 

Still, if I don't have faith in my decisions, no one else will. I just have to get on with it. 

'Experiment' Evaluation

‘Experiment’ Evaluation

Before we broke up for half term we did a workshop on the Dada art movement as part of the 100^th anniversary. I took to this idea a lot more than I anticipated as I looked at their abstract films. I really liked the films of Man Ray and Hans Richter because of their purely experimental and seemingly illogical nature. There didn’t seem to be a narrative as such, just a series of moving images. I liked how creative they were, especially given their time and limited resources in comparison to today. I knew then I wanted to create an experimental film as my final outcome for this project and use this project as a springboard for my Final Major Project.

I spent the first week of this three-week project in New York, which was a hugely creative and stimulating experience. I was hoping I could use material I had captured in the hotel in New York as the basis for this project as I was interested in the language of interiors. However, I wasn’t completely happy with it, and it didn’t reflect my thoughts on the trip.  Instead, I was influenced by the artists I saw at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Museum of Moving Image (MoMI).

The MoMI was really great overview on the history of cinema and moving image as well as showcasing some really great contemporary short films and artworks.

I really liked the artist Marcel Broodthaers who had a retrospective at the MoMA when I visited. I really liked the way he used models as concepts and focuses for his short films. I also like that he was a poet, and I could see his poetic influence in his work. This in part was what inspired me for my Final Major Project Proposal.

Part of this project was to expand on two things you already had experience with and to discover two processes that you’d never experienced. I expanded on my knowledge of Final Cut Pro, using new masking techniques and trying to edit the film to the music. Through workshops I discovered a lot of new processes. I learned about Super 8 film and narratives with Richard; direct animation on 16ml film through the workshop at the Cube cinema, which also allowed me to look at the experiment animators Norman McLaren and Len Lye.

Because the film I wanted to make was disposed to being fragmented it gave me freedom with filming. I could take out the camera when it suited me best and I could review the footage I had and if necessary film and inject more. I filmed in my local forest, Blaise Castle and my Grandmother’s house and I filmed and photographed the teacup and hand model that I made. I also did a little stop-motion at home that I put in, in the manner of Hans Richter.

I am pleased with the outcome of this project. I would have liked to have done some work in the darkroom but I think with the week that I missed in New York, I think I did pretty well to keep up.  I learned quite a bit about abstract films and I got a lot of inspiration for my Final Major project which is what I wanted to get out of it.

New York Reflections

           For me, it wasn’t the skyscrapers and scenery of New York that stayed with me; it was what I saw at the               museums and galleries.

It was truly incredible to see artwork in the flesh that I had pored over in books and attempted to emulate in my own work. I never thought I would feel a physically emotional response to a piece of artwork, usually I don’t even cry at films. Yet, I found myself admiring one of Matisse’s paintings with a lump in my throat and tears welling up in my eyes. It felt really surreal. Some works of art are almost mythical to me, having loved them only through secondary resources. Seeing them in real life showed me just how tangible they are. It made them accessible somehow, but no less legendary.

Though I took many pictures of my favourite pieces, I chose this particular photograph because it was just a little statue they had placed outside of the women’s bathroom; I can’t even remember the name of the sculptor now but it was beautifully lit and I had to take a photograph. It just amazed me that even the adornments of the restrooms in the gallery were beautiful.

It’s incredibly stimulating being surrounded by all that art, architecture, fashion and food. It leaves your brain whirring at the pace New Yorkers go. New York is a city that that never sleeps, and it leaves you unable to sleep too.

Grand Central Terminal

I was also really struck by the awesome scale and speed of New York. From the top of the Empire State building you can see huge skyscrapers reaching up, the city stretching out towards the blue horizon; the roads are broad, the cars shiny and wide; as for the food – I often couldn’t finish my feast of a breakfast. I chose this photo as a demonstration of this overwhelming scale.

The large scale of New York seemingly matches the pace of the city. As a group, we were on our feet all day, rushing about, as our teacher called it, ‘in true New York style’.  In New York, everybody rushes about, dodging tourists and often clutching a coffee in one hand.

These are by no means criticisms , after all, the US is a relatively new country that has been built with the benefit of hindsight.  It is a relatively new nation built around the motorcar and modern living.

But when it came to Grand Central Station, the pace was calm (despite the heavy crowds). It was like people couldn’t rush through the hall. They had to gaze at the sidereal ceiling and linger in the luxurious gold interior.

I found the splendour of the hall quite captivating. I liked to think about the people that walked through the station years ago as it appears much as it was when in was rebuilt after the First World War.

I really like Grand Central Station because it is a permanent setting for people in a state of flux. Often it is the first thing people see when they arrive in New York and the last thing before they leave. I think that’s why it is held especially dear to us all and is a setting for scenes in so many films.