Poetry Video

I thought this project allowed for a lot of creativity, but I personally also found it to be difficult and, at times, frustrating. I quickly discovered that my first ideas for the video were going to require much more time than I had, mostly as a result of the fact that I, to my knowledge, have never made a video like this before. So I decided that where I had cut down on the complexity of the images themselves, I would make up for with editing the simple images I had chosen- changing the temperature of the images, making them warmer or colder, changing the brightness so that they are lighter or darker, all depending on how they were being described in the text. My next decision was to put the text in the video, using different fonts based on what subject that line of the poem specifically focused on- a more flowing, gentle style when the poem focused on love and rose briar; a simple but, at least in my eyes, more solid font for when it focused on friendship and holly; and a plain font for when it made general statements that did not seem to focus on either. I had a difficult time finding music that I could use, but in the end, I chose something gentle and relaxing, which I think goes well with the tone of the poem. The last choice I made for how the video should come together was whether or not to also have a reading of the poem. The only reading of the poem that I could find online was not available for me to use, so I tried recording the poem myself- and I hated it. I thought that, perhaps because it was my own voice, it took away from the power of the poem; so I decided to simply have the text. As far as using this for a tool in the classroom, I think that having students consider how they would make a poem (or any other piece of literature for that matter) into a video is an interesting way to see how each student interprets a poem differently, but actually making the video might be too complicated. Honestly, I am not all that happy with my finished project, and that is because it does not compare to the original ideas I had, which were beyond my skill level to create. So I think that making the video could be a hindrance to students that are not well-versed in the process of video making. They may have bold, brilliant ideas, but lack the skills and/or tools to bring those ideas to life. If I were to use this as a required project, which I do not foresee, I would only require the draft of their ideas. Maybe a storyboard, with quickly drawn sketches of what images they would choose and a couple sentences of explanation under each, which would allow all students to envision a video that is as complicated as they would like. But I would offer extra credit to those students who would like to make the video (if I recall correctly, one of my high school teachers did this). I do think that, in the classroom, I would offer this as an option for a final project after reading a book. Students could, if they chose to, make a video which shows what they believe to be the most important scenes in that novel. But this would also give other options to students who, like me, would much prefer a project that does not involve making a video. Overall I feel that technology does have a place in the classroom, but I still believe that traditional methods have their place as well. Making a video is fun and creative, but only for certain students; other students would enjoy a written project or even making a poster. I definitely believe that students should have options open to them.