Our first project, the concrete poetry project, is one that requires a great amount of creativity. I had an internship over the summer that taught me the importance of using multimedia to improve the readability of texts. I think knowledge like that may help me with this project.
I'm not completely sure about what direction I'd like to go in for this project, but I think I may want to possibly use images, etc., to help narrate song lyrics or even pick out one of my favorite poems to create storytelling imagery for.
In choosing a song or poem, I'd like to pick one that uses a lot of senses and has strong imagery. Something abstract may possibly work well. I think finding a starting point will be the most difficult part for me in this project.
My main question right now is what exactly are we allowed to use? Can we use pictures? Or should we just stick to arranging text in a more visually appealing way?
After class discussion, I have a clearer view of what I should do be working toward for the first project. I'm thinking about finding images to supplement either "Written on the Body" by Jeanette Winterson or "Orlando" by Virginia Wolf. I also plan to work with the layout of the text to help tell the stories.
Both novels consider gender and identity. The images that I incorporate will reflect these themes. The novels each contain a lot of emotion as well, so I plan to space and arrange the text to symbolize passages of high emotion or uncertainty.
I haven't yet chosen which passages to use yet. If I use one from Winterson's novel, it will likely be the last few paragraphs of her novel. It seems the imagery and emotion are at full force at that point in the book. Should I choose Wolf's novel, I might focus on the part of the book where Orlando transforms from a male into a female, highlighting moments when Orlando notices the extreme differences and double standards between sex/gender.
I'm still considering creating my project based on a song. If I do this, I may choose a song by Jewel because her songs tend to be of a folk genre, so the lyrics often tell stories.
4 comments:
Gwen,
The idea of the class is to find that perfect medium of combining text, image, sound, sense and other kinesthetic devices to evoke something more than the sum of its parts.
I believe that once you find a poem that moves you, an image that resonates, you will be able to do well with this.
Your concerns are shared -- I too have difficulty understanding these assignments at times!
we have almost the same post/idea. I also had internships this summer, which taught me a lot. I too didn't understand what all we could use in the beginning, but last class really helped me. Finally, I also plan on using strong imagery etc. to illustrate an already created piece of writing, except I plan on doing a song. so overall, I think it sounds like a great idea! :)
Wow, I never even thought of the color symbolism!! I know what the words are in Italian but didn't relate what he was saying to the color symbolism! Thanks so much, that's very constructive criticism!
Hi Gwendolyn. I'm glad to hear about your internship - sure, draw on that experience. Keep in mind, this is a creative project but I also believe that it is accessible to all, that is, whatever level of creativity you bring will be acceptable. You mention choosing a favorite song or poem and illustrating it; that's a good approach, especially because choosing something you're familiar with and enjoy will mean you already have ideas and associations. Of course, use text only, or text plus pictures, whichever you want. Don't so much think of the images as illustrating the text, however. Think of them working together. Remember the "Notation" article: the examples he discussed where meant for performance, and neither the text nor the image was the point but rather the entire thing. Now, I like the idea of working from Winterson or Wolf. I would choose a small section - a few paragraphs, a set of phrases, etc. - and use that as your text, and then think of images that comment, interact with, complexify, etc. Jewel would be cool too! Think then, how the text and typography might be made to suggest these issues of body and gender. Size of text? Color? Positioning?
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