my spam poetry name

I’d like to call my spam poetry character:

Victoriana Fughettas

The name sounds right for the eccentric character we’ve been creating… and it’s an anagram of Authentic Soft Viagra. (But let’s not mention that in the movie.)

vector motion graphics

What can I say? Other than I’m a big nerd.

These clips are from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…. the graphics don’t look as nice smooshed into a small youtube movie, but really… does anything?

screen graphics as graphics

Hmm… this may be a little cheesy, but I stumbled across a visual example of what we discussed at our meeting last night… using screen graphics as graphics for the film:

We’ll want ours to look better… but this is something you see from time to time on the news. We’ll have to do our own experiements with the camera next week, and try to do it in a way that isn’t so news-y.

spam poetry links

A 2003 article from the BBC.

A 2004 Boston Globe article.

A 2004 Village Voice article about spam poetry.

A 2004 article from The Register includes a definition for Spam Poetry.

Wikipedia has an article on Spoetry.

Wikipedia’s article on the cut-up technique. (We may want to investigate this further.)

Spoems.com is down at the moment, but has a few relevant definitions posted.

SatireWire held a Poetry Spam contest, calling for entries of poems made from spam.

Another collection of spam poetry.

The Spam Poetry Institute.

A dude posts some spam poetry to his blog, and a big discussion ensues.

This seems to be a very… emotional critique of spam poetry. (There’s a 30 second redirect on this page – the cancel redirect button did nothing for me. You might want to copy & paste the article into a text editor to read it.)

An article about how a spam poisoner has also begun outputting poetry.

The Anthology of Spam Poetry… he seems to have a book coming out later this month.

This wikipedia article defines Flarf – a movement of poets who create poetry from Google searches.

The Flarf Files – includes a few links that may be worth checking out.

Friday summary

As we begin a new week, here’s a quick review of what we covered on Friday:

• outline of movie from beginning to end
• started to storyboard a little bit
• had some discussions about how transitions will work
• how to include the poems in the film (poem interludes!)
• scouted locations for filming and took photos that represent Wasted Beauty
• learned about lighting from Peter
• talked about what music we’d like for the soundtrack and contacted a potential composer

 

 

 

more short films

Yesterday, during the course of our conversation, we showed each other a few short films:

This Bush in 30 Seconds film uses a computer desktop & icons to deliver a message.

The famous Crying Indian PSA.

The 1984 Mac commerical.

a few ideas from yesterday

Here’s a quick list of the things we were discussing yesterday as we prepare to begin storyboarding today:

• the possibility of framing the movie as “you might not be aware” / PSA
• a cold, disembodied voice of knowledge running throughout
• black background, Unit typeface for all graphics
• 8-10 minute running time (cut down from 15-20 min)
• Mary-Jo will narrate as before
• Jessie will play an eccentric spam poet / enthusiast (needs a name – Matirx-esque handle)
• using Fish as “Herman” the compuer scientist, using someone else (Bethany? Katherine?) as “Esmerelda” the professor of poetry
• we talked about the possibilty of human spam poet vs. the internet as a cosmic poet – this can be a debate within the film, or we can decide on what angle we will pursue as truth
• a unique soundtrack that runs throughout – with a “fake future” / “cold planetarium” feel… we’ll need to find stuff we like and bring a composer onto the team asap.
• the film will be divided into Definition Moments (DeMos) and Philosphical Moments. (PhiMos)
• The DeMos will be characterized by information graphics, the cold voice of knowledge, quiet music
• The PhiMos will be characterized by no or little narration, moving video or photography, interviews, louder music if no voices, no music if an interviewee is speaking

Wasted Beauty

During yesterday’s work session, we discussed using the concept of using things that are thrown away or ignored as a visual theme throughout the film. We are calling this concept “Wasted Beauty” and are currently using “Wasted Beauty: Understanding the Art of Spam Poetry” as a working title for the film.

We are planning to employ this theme by using carefully considered shots of interesting garbage, flowers growing from a crack in the sidewalk, decay etc. Things that people would normally dismiss as gross or not even take the time to notice… but photograph them to look beautiful or at least formally interesting.

Another aspect of this will extend to Jessie’s character. Whereas in the last film she was a drunk, in this one she will be surrounded by her own visual art made from garbage. This will be a subtle thing that will appear in the background – we won’t address this directly in the narrative, but we will see a vase of used tissues on her desk, framed beer cans on her wall, etc.

Our Goals

One product of our brainstorming so far is a list of things we want our audience to get out of watching the movie. We’re calling this GOALS:

1. Teach people how to identify spam poetry.

2. Don’t bore them.

3. Make people laugh.

4. Make them want to tell someone about the movie.

5. Make them CARE / educate them. (bonus)