Category Archives: JM13D
Video Project Proposal
What I will be focusing on for my video project is self image, and more specifically photo retouching. The poem that has inspired me to focus on this topic is ”Good Mirrors are Not Cheap” from the selections of Audre Lorde. I wanted to work on this poem because I actually could not get it out of my mind and had a perfect idea as to how my video would be made. As I was reading the poem, I was already brewing up numerous ideas I think could work for the video. I also chose this topic because it is a relevant one today, all magazine covers are photoshopped. Why do we do it? how has this affected self image? One challenge I hope to succeed in is trying to approach this subject in a non-cliche way, and something different compared to the thousands of articles and videos out there that already have discussed this issue.
Digital Essay Proposal- ‘Fear’
I have come to the conclusion that the poem I will use to create my digital essay and paper is “Fear” by Raymond Carver. The overall message that I want to get across is that in the current world we live in, fear is playing an increasingly significant role in the reason why people can no longer live stress-free lives. We ourselves are the ultimate reasons why we truly cannot be happy and live without fear, because we create fears out of our everyday troubles and uncertainties. Due to the media publicizing unworthy events and the new discoveries revealed to us, people are finding flaws in almost everything. Whether it is reality or exaggeration, our focus on the worries in the world is only dragging the true essence of life down.
For my digital essay I will be doing a skit. Although my ideas may change I want to create a dramatic, yet lightly humorous, story line based on someone who is being negatively affected by the news and media on ridiculous matters. I believe that I will be able to depict the proper mood in my video by choosing the appropriate song to play in the background.
Project Proposal
I have been having trouble figuring out exactly what poem to use for this project. I think I’ve changed my mind at least 4 times already, but I decided to just choose a poem and go with it. It will be a challenge, but my indecisiveness will never end unless I just settle on an idea.
So I decided to use Frank O’Hara’s poem “Ave Maria” for my digital essay/paper 3. I’m not sure what it is about that poem that struck me, but I guess it was one of the few poems that I found I could form an opinion about. In fact, I think anyone and everyone can relate to it because it’s a poem about parenting. We all either become parents in the future, or at least have opinions on what our own parents did right and wrong in raising us. There is no ONE formula that exists to guide parents in properly raising their children. And I guess that’s why I like this poem–you can take it in any direction when interpreting. I still haven’t figured out my thesis for the poem and I don’t know what exactly I’ll do for my video, but I was just excited that I finally decided on a poem 🙂
Free and Great Software
Hey guys, there is a website that has pretty much every type of software imaginable that you can download completely for free. This website even has video editing software, and some amazing stuff too. I am posting up the link, all of it is free, though there are some paid programs. The paid programs have FREE trials for FIFTEEN days, which is perfect since that is almost all of the time we have to create the digital projects, so if you are interesting do some browsing, on the left side are some options you can select to have less choices and to search better.
http://download.cnet.com/windows/video-editing-software/?tag=rb_content;main
This website has everything, it is not only video editing software, so check it out if you need anything.
A few more Poems & Poets…
I know I mentioned many poets and poems in class yesterday, so wanted to share some more specific links!
Anne Waldman, Fast Speaking Woman–on googlebooks and video of her reading
Martin Espada, “Coca-Cola and Coco Frio”
Looking for Whitman and poems by Walt Whitman
Joshua Beckman (book excerpts and more poems)
The Pig by Roald Dahl
The poem that I have chosen for the project is The Pig by Roald Dahl. I chose this poem because of he following lines that were inside the poem and plan to capitalize on this section, segment:
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn’t read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn’t puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.
What LIFE was really all about, that line in the poem really stuck out to me because I honestly can’t figure out what the purpose of life as a human being is. I plan visually present this poem through, maybe animation. Yeah, most likely animation. Animals, for example are raised to be butchered and become food for human beings through these massive grinders. I would show a pig going through the grinder and coming out as bacon, pork chops, etc. I would then show a cow going through the grinder coming out as steak, milk, etc. I’d probably throw a few more animals in there as well. I know, this may make me sound like a terrible person, but it is all in the name of showing the poem visually. Anyways, finally or in the middle of the visual, I would show a human going through the grinder. There is a jam in the machine as it does not know what humans are suppose to come out as. There are simply too many options: business men, painters, fashion designers, professors, etc etc. Actually, should the grinded human meat come out as a pie (Swenny Todd reference) Anyways, can it be that the point of Human life is knowledge? I’m still working on a thesis at the moment.
Whhhaaat did I do yesterday?
I’m having a hard time selecting a poem to explore through digital essay. We did something similar to this in senior year, but with Macbeth and in groups of 4. It took a really long time to complete that assignment, and while I wasn’t the one responsible for the technological aspects of the project, it seemed incredibly complicated. I’m glad that Luke, the messiah of all things digital, is coming in tomorrow to help us figure it out.
As of now, I think that the poem I am considering more than any others we’ve studied or I’ve come upon is Whitman’s “Native Moments”. For whatever reason, it has always resonated with me. I think I need to keep searching though, and will try to have a better idea of what Originally, the concept of choosing a song appealed to me. I think my appreciation of poetry has been colored by a bad experience with T.S. Eliot’s epic “The Wasteland”, so I was less than thrilled when I realized our final assignment focused on this literary style. Thus, the knee jerk reaction to scan my ipod first-I was thinking maybe CocoRosie or Neil Young. However, I think it would be more of a challenge to try and really get into a poem, derive its essence, and turn it into something than to go through the motions with something I already love.
I’m not sure of the poem yet because I think it’s important to think of my thesis first, so I don’t want to state anything definitively. If I figure anything out today, I’ll post again. Otherwise, I’ll start focusing on an initial idea, if only to watch it evolve.
p.s. as you can see if you click on my name, I posted this yesterday. I went to the blog this morning because I remembered that we are supposed to comment on someone’s post, and I didn’t see mine. I have no idea where I originally posted this…This is why I’m worried about my technological capabilities
What to do, what to do….
I was thinking very hard about what exactly I should be writing my digital essay on but I think that out of all topics available, I want to focus on our ever-expanding freedom of choice. Every day, people feel less and less obligated to fulfill what society pressures them into and this is especially prevalent in today’s music. “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga advocates for the LGBT community and songs by artists such as Eminem stress the importance of being true to yourself. I have not decided what I want to do just yet but I think I will try to find a poem from a couple decades ago that has similar ideas to this and then try to incorporate both into my essay.
Happily Confused?
I was really excited, yet nervous when I heard that we were going to be making a digital essay. Excited because I love working on creative stuff; but also nervous because I have never done it before. Before finding a poem to do my essay on, I wanted to first come up with a good solid thesis. After spending quite some time looking for a thesis, I’m still not sure what exactly I will write about or what poem I will use yet. I think that in order to be happy you need to be yourself – don’t let anyone tell you who you are or who you should be. You need to find yourself and figure out what makes you happy, because only you will know. Don’t change yourself to make others happy, be true to yourself to make you happy first. Of course, you’re not the only one in the world, but to make others happy, you need to first make yourself happy. Everyone in the world is different in one way or another; therefore, everyone’s path and journey to happiness also differs.
I grew up loving the sound of poetry, but I never fully understand the true meaning behind the poems I read or hear. I find poetry really beautiful, but working with it for a paper/digital essay seems a bit challenging! We’ll see how things go! 🙂
Video Project Ideas
Well I don’t know too much about poetry, and I have been looking at poems online by authors that I like but I have not found anything that interests me enough to make a video on. The hard part is finding a poem which is video worthy. One idea I had was doing a Bob Marley song, either War because it is an adaptation of a speech by Haille Selassie I to the UN about the horribleness of war, but is difficult to link to happiness. I think I am leaning towards a song, not a poem, but if anyone is interested in collaborating and has similar ideas let me know. One Love, Three Little Birds, and a few Springsteen songs are others that I was looking at.
