Caroline Key Revisions and Citations

[0:00] Video software

There were only a few changes that I decided to make to my e-poem, as I was very pleased with my first end-product. When revising my e-poem, I decided to change the text that showed the lines of the poem that I used. I believe that white letters seem much more elegant, and they make the e-poem flow in a more transitional manner, as opposed to harshness of the other font that I used with the black background. The text also shows up on different places on the screen, which I believe makes the video a little more appealing and interesting for the viewer to watch. 

[0:32] A frame of the video complete with text alongside the editing software

So, this an example of the first text that I decided to use. And I think that the black is just a little more harsh, and it looks better not to have a background, as the background is just the picture of the video. I also changed the speed of certain clips to better match the song that I chose for my e-poem. I’ll show you an instance of this.

[0:57] Short clip of the video. Music is audible

So, for example, when the songs’ lyrics play, “Flicker out,” I used a feature on Camtasia to slow the clip down in order for it to chilling go black simultaneously with the song’s lyric. This is where it goes black along with the lyric. One  last major change I made to my e-poem was fading the music at the end as well as the last clip in order for the e-poem to end less abruptly than it did before. So my first e-poem was a little more choppy, in that I didn’t fade the music out so it was very abrupt. I feel like the changes I made to my e-poem made the video seem much more professional and I was very pleased with my end product.

[1:57]

As far as the clips I used in my video go, I tried to mostly stick to nature videos, as I imagine my poem to take place in a magical garden or forest. To go along the opening lines of “There is a Sky” by Emily Dickinson, I decided to search YouTube for clips of a sunrise and a sunset.  

[2:17]

So, I went to YouTube, and I found these videos by Timestorm Films, and they show a lot of crisp and powerful imagery of timelapses of sunsets and sunrises. So, I used this one and this one, entitled Patagonia 8K. So I thought that the imagery went along very well with Dickinson’s imagery that she used in her poem. It’s also very high-def, which I liked a lot. And it took a while to find these; it’s hard to search YouTube to find exactly what you’re looking for, but I was very pleased with these videos.

[3:20]

To continue to go along with the nature theme in Dickinson’s poem, I decided to find clips of a garden. Growing up, my grandmother would always take me to Reynolda Gardens in Winston-Salem on pretty Summer days. Remembering this, I browsed YouTube for videos of flowers and greenery from Reynolda Gardens and added a few of the clips for my e-poem.

[3:43] Reynolda Gardens YouTube video

So this is the clip that I found of Reynolda Gardens, and I thought that the flowers would be a very nice touch. It’s a very calming video, and it was high-def, which I also liked. I think that it’s really cool that I have clips from Reynolda in my e-poem, because to me it makes the video much more sentimental and personal. 

[4:14]

Although Dickinson’s poem seems to be exclusively about nature, I did not want to include only nature clips in my e-poem. I thought it would be a little bit boring and very excessive. Instead, I decided to include clips of a family in-between clips of nature to incorporate a story to go along with my e-poem, which gives it a deeper meaning. So, I remembered that in 2012, a movie called The Tree of Life came out, and I decided to include clips from the trailer into my video. 

[4:42] Movie trailer on YouTube 

So here is the trailer that I used. When I first watched this movie, I was blown away by the magnificent imagery and symbolism used within the film. I remembered that the producers used nature scenes as a way to portray the emotions and tones of the setting. I thought it would be perfect to incorporate scenes and clips from the trailer in my e-poem. So, I found for the trailer of the movie on YouTube, and I chose to pick clips of the family in the movie interacting with each other in the e-poem. I think this was a perfect choice, as the actors seemed so natural and were often depicted in scenes playing outdoors, which fit the theme of my poem very well. I think the clips I used in my e-poem depict a young boy who attempts to escape the pressures of his family and find a new safe haven, perhaps the exact garden that Dickinson is referring to in her poem. I’m glad that I decided to incorporate these clips into my e-poem.

[6:00] Video Software, editing video

So, I would go from clips of nature to scenes of the little boy. And it ends with him reaching out, and I think that it looks very hopeful and tells a story of its own. After adding all these clips to Camtasia, informing them to create a succinct video. The final touch was to find a song that matched the mood I was going for.  So, I searched YouTube and decided to go with “Slip” by Elliot Moss.

[6:42] Music Video on YouTube

So, this is the song “Slip” that I decided to use. And it was really interesting because the music video for the song kind of resembles my e-poem, which I thought was really cool. I thought the song’s mysterious and mystical feel would be perfect for my e-poem. The lyrics make the video seem more peculiar, and further illustrate the story I tried to portray.