Remembering Music: Variations on a Poem 2 (Kinetic Typography)

Draft Remembering Music
(The rough draft of the poem, complete with scribbles and such)

I have this single poem that I wrote (Remembering Music) and I am moving it across media platforms as part of a variation of writing with media this week. I am curious about how the poem looks in different formats, and what I find as I work on it.

This second version of the poem uses some kinetic typography, but I have to admit — I never really found a way to do it that I liked. I spent a lot of time, looking for an inexpensive way and there just isn’t much out there. (We need an app for that!) Vimeo has an entire channel dedicated to kinetic typography.

I am sharing out two forms of kinetic typography with the poem.
First, I used Prezi. I really tried to play with the text, and with some small images, to make the words and visual flow work in partnership with the poem. It worked well enough but I wish the transitions were automatic, so I could control the flow of the poem for the reader. But, maybe I give that agency to you, dear reader. Click away.

I also used Keynote to create a version (exported to Youtube as video). I am not all happy with the result, which I find rather boring (despite the time I spent tinkering with animation on it). Plus, the visual quality of the converted presentation-into-video is poor. Anyway ..

Peace (in the variation),
Kevin

9 Comments
  1. Kevin, I like the seond one a lot. When the third line drops in, it gives the appearance of piano keys, which is nice. I have never liked Prezi in general, it makes me nauseous because of the visual movement and I just don’t like the way it gives info, but I thought yours was great (except it needed music LOL).

  2. Second one is better than you let on. Fuzzy works in typography for me. You can also add audio to Prezi. I have the perfect song to my mind for the Prezi: The Blasters’ “American Music”. I am working on an audio version of my poem.

    I think of your efforts at different formats for your poem like a Jackson Pollack. Layer upon layer of meaning and re-meaning. Hard to describe, easy to feel.

  3. I like them both.I know in Prezi, care must be taken for the “spin,” because many people can’t take the dizzying twirling of words.

    I like the options available in Keynote that can create emphasis [font, color, animation, transitions]. I use keynote for so many things rather than presentation. 🙂

    Thanks for sharing the information now needed for our fifth CLmooc 2017. Doodling / animating words!

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