Amy Elmers Initial Walkthrough

[0:00] Blank screen

Hi everyone, I’m Amy Elmers, and I’m gonna walk you through the process I took in creating my e-poem. I honestly had no idea what poem I was going to use for this project, so I went to the Poetry Foundation website and started inundating myself with different poems. I came across the poem “Cloud Fishing” by Phillis Levin, which was just published in the February 2016 edition of Poetry Magazine. I read the poem and listened to a podcast commentary that was associated with it, and really became hooked on it. As a broadcast journalism student, I’ve used a lot of video editing software to complete projects, but I’d never used Camtasia.

[0:35] Video Software

I was a little worried about learning how to use all the effects, but I was really excited with how useful the software is. Early on in this project, I decided that the most effective way to portray the poem through video was to maintain simplicity and clarity. I did this by using fairly simple and consistent effects with properly placed and timed fades and transitions between audio and video clips, something that would make the poem feel really natural and relatable, and I decided to keep a standard of simplicity throughout the words that pop up on the screen as well. 

[1:06] A web page showing the poem

The opening line seems nostalgic, peaceful, and even happy. It’s the beginning of one continuous thought that evolves into something else, something with a little more depth and a little more caution. The poem starts: “To fish from a cloud in the sky, you must find a comfortable spot, Spend a day looking down patiently, clear-sighted.” It’s the beginning of any fishing trip: sit down, get comfortable, and pay attention, but this isn’t just a fishing trip; the poem is entitled “Cloud Fishing” and I really struggled with what this meant and how to portray it in my e-poem.
 
[1:35] The video software showing the shot of the Earth

I decided that I wanted to mimic the simplicity of the writing, keeping it a consistent and streamlined video free of distracting elements. To open the e-poem, I searched high and low for the obvious footage: clouds. This is when I had a little breakthrough in regards to meaning of the poem. It’s a very outside/in type of work, using the analogy of a fishing trip on the scale of the whole world. Sometimes you’re the fisherman; you’re in control and you see everything clearly. Other times, you’re the fish. I tried to incorporate this dual-nature into my e-poem, and I began by using a clip that makes the viewer seem powerful, as if the whole world is in his or her hands. This series of first clips opens up the video in a strong way, immediately alerting the viewer that there is something really weighty and significant discussed in this poem.

[2:20] More of the video is seen, mainly the clock footage

Because the poem seemed like one continuous thought to me, I wanted to incorporate pieces of video that I could use multiple times throughout to maintain consistency. I thought the passing of time and aging process were vital themes in this poem, so I utilized a video of a series of different clocks, in a progression that I thought followed the developing tension within the poem itself. Because the clocks are not the typical clocks you’d see everyday, I think they add suspense and a feeling of relativity to the poem as well. Going along with the reflection of this poem as a reflection of thought, I decided to incorporate a piece of video that I thought would symbolize a journey. The train images do this throughout the e-poem and also serve as an angle from the life of a fish, looking into the light and following it in and out of different tunnels. I felt that the poem was trying to convey a sense of mystery, and that the light we all see may not actually be what we think it is, that what we’re chasing after, or “swimming” after if you want to carry-on the fish metaphor, may not actually be the best thing for us. Maybe we’re deceived, maybe we don’t have the wherewithal to see the world clearly like we think we do. We’re really just a fish, deceived by the light, unaware of the bait that is in front of us. 

[3:33] The human shots in the e-poem are seen in the video software

Towards the end of the poem, I included some shots of actual people in an effort to make the poem even more relatable to us as humans and pull the focus away from fish.

[3:43] The web page showing the poem

I mentioned how the first stanza of the poem seems so innocent, and has a happy, serene, almost nostalgic tone. The first time I read the poem, I read it all that way. It wasn’t until I read it a few times, listened to the podcast, and read it a few more times that I realized the poem wasn’t meant to be happy. It’s urging the reader to take caution, to see life from many angles and be wary of the hook and line that will trap us. In order to convey this effectively, I knew I had to choose music that builds towards the end and is kind of eerie.

[4:15] The Vimeo music store web page

I frequently find music for projects on the Vimeo music store, so I browsed there for a while and came across this song, which I felt was perfect for what I wanted to convey. It’s pretty creepy, and the tension builds. Towards the end, a vocalist enters, singing in a foreign language. I toyed with using a different song altogether, but ultimately I decided that I would keep that song in, with the vocals, because, unless you speak that language, I don’t think the lyrics would be distracting. To me, it added a layer of suspense and mystery to the poem that I can appreciate, but not fully understand, and I thought that that fit the theme of the poem perfectly. I hope you enjoy “Cloud Fishing.”