A couple of days ago I bought a cheap filming camera in the hopes of trying to take video of Galway city and present the moving images with spoken word of my original poetry. Using basic, free downloadable editing software, GarageBand Recording Studio for MacBook and a field recorder, I was able to create a video montage, ambient noise from the area and a clear recording of my voice.

In general, the video is somewhat of a success, but by no means perfect. My voice is too faint, as well as the recording of the ambient noise. That I can fix in future videos. The video footage/files are a bit pixilated, and so, when editing, I tried to embrace the fault and create the look of footage taken on a Super 8, or the like. It’s not bad, I think.

Other problems, the lighting, time of day, other people around. I can try and work with these.

The next big question I ask is, “Is this video too artsy? Too poetry with a ‘P’?” Does it seem like I am trying to hard to merge the two mediums? Is it too easy? That’s where other opinions would help. Let me know what you think. (By the by, I went back and edited/re-recorded the sound on this, so below is the updated version of the video which I hope will work out a bit better…)

After working on this video, getting some initial feedback from random viewers, etc, I got a pretty good idea of what needed to change and how I could better use my technology/software to create a YouTube video. This next montage is of my poem “Conversion” which I will also be using for the Poetry Scavenger hunt sometime next week.

This clip has cleaner video (I’ve cropped the edges, fit it to the screen and filtered it so that there is no “Super 8” effect), three layers of sound effects (ambient noise, field recordings of particular passersby/traffic and specific enhanced recordings of coal yard machinery) and the editing of moving images is a bit more succinct, being as the poem itself calls to specific places, sounds, images, markers, etc.

If I can continue to create videos with this attention, quality and depth–I might be on to something, though the process is a bit time consuming. Hopefully, as I repeat the procedure, it will get a bit easier. So, here is “Conversion”:

Last, is my account of the Poetry Scavenger hunt. So as to keep everything legal, safe and fun, I’ve opted to talk to all parties involved. Here is a little clip of how that is going: