Box 2
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Video Poem
Video Poem Title: Listen to the Mustn'ts by Shel Silverstein
Part I:
Stills of various street or directional signs/postings from everyday life.
- The first portion of our video poem is a series of quick moving shots
of signs. We chose to crop the shots so the sign was the central visual image and
nothing would be lost by quickening the speed.
- We chose to have signs in our video to portray the negative messages
we see throughout the day. These signs tell us what we are permitted or not permitted
to do. The quickness of the shots helped build an intensity leaving the audience
feeling bombarded by "No's." We interspersed the lines of poem among shots of the
signs where we felt there would be good breaking points for the audience to realize
the meaning. We decided to place the lines over black to create a visual break in
the chaos.
We chose not to use transitions to help maintain the chaotic pace in this section.
The sounds of street and background noise were used to further emphasize the busyness.
Many of the sounds chosen are auditory signals for the fast pace world in which
we live, furthering the theme of the signs.
Part II:
Footage of wooded scenes.
- Title transition: Poem line on black with
sound fading out transitioning into second half of poem. The fading out helps to
bridge the gap between the two opposing parts of the poem.
Shot Two: Feet walking on path in woods faded in to
bridge gap and open storyline.
Shot Three: Cross dissolves into perspective shot of
walking down path. This helps create the feeling of the audience walking. This shot
introduces us to the wooded area.
Shot Four: Cross dissolves onto the perspective shot
of "No Trespassing" sign. Camera passes the sign to create the effect of breaking
the rules.
Shot Five: Cross dissolves onto another establishing/perspective
shot of a scenic view of a lake.
Final Shot: Last lines of poem over slow motion scenic
view. We chose to place these lines over the shot to emphasize the freedom implied
at the end of poem.
- We chose to use video for the end of the poem to create a visual contrast
between the two parts of the poem. We used the cross dissolve transition to create
a more fluid motion between shots in contrast to the abrupt transitions in part
one.
The sound in part two fades from the busy street noises to the ambient sounds of
our walking through the woods. This contrast also furthers the contrasting themes
of the poem by creating a calm environment. This helps to portray the freedom of
the second half.
Overall we are pleased with the final result of this project. Originally we had
planned to use shots of children in the second half of the video; however, we were
unable to obtain these shots. This forced us to be more creative and look for more
symbolic images to portray the freedom of the message of this poem. We found that
images of nature contrasting the image of city street signs worked even better in
the end.
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