The Stone Artist Poetry Video

An abstract animated poetry video that used edited photos and graphics to convey the idea of the cycle of life, for submission to the Vancouver City Poems Poetry Video Contest hosted by Vancouver Poet Laureate Fiona Lam.

The contest aims to stimulate public engagement and interest in poetry about historical, cultural and ecological sites within the area that we now know as Vancouver and the UBC Endowment Lands. My poetry video was the final project for an upper level film course in SFU.

Tools and Skills

Adobe Premiere Pro & After Effects — Composing the Animation
Adobe Photoshop — Editing the Photos and Graphics
Adobe Illustrator — Customize Vector Images
Unity — Animating 3D models in selected scenes

Poem Selection

Among the many poems presented to us, “the stone artist” by Theresa Rogers drew my attention. It is a beautiful and thought-provoking poem that explores the circle of life and the nature of creativity. The vivid descriptions of the objects in the poem also makes it an ideal choice for an animated poetry video.

Pre-Production

Upon selecting my poem, I created a pre-production document package. This package included a logline, synopsis, moodboard, and storyboard, which helped us plan out our production. By having everything organized and thoughtfully laid out, we were able to streamline our production process, resulting in greater efficiency.

The Stone Artist Pre-Production Package Screenshot Two

Rough Cut

To achieve the bright video style I envisioned, I watched 2D poetry video animations online for inspiration. I began by creating the graphics in Adobe Illustrator to then transfer the graphics to Adobe Photoshop as Smart Vector Objects before importing them into Adobe After Effects. Finally, I used After Effects to animate the graphics and bring them to life on screen.

After presenting the rough cut to the instructor, TA, and the Poet Laureate, I received feedback suggesting that I should convey the meaning of the poem in a less literal and more abstract way. This prompted me to start the video from scratch, keeping this artistic approach in mind.

Final Video

Instead of creating a cartoon-like animation, I decided to use capture some photos myself and find some free-to-use photos online. I then used Photoshop to edit and manipulate these photos to achieve the desired style and composition that I had planned out. This approach allowed me to create a unique visual aesthetic that effectively conveyed the abstract interpretation of the poem's meaning. Here are two unique elements in my work to highlight.

Unity

Vancouver's Trans Am Totem plays a big role in my video, however, the art installation was removed for repairs in 2021 and it was impossible to capture the desired shots myself. With the limited number of photos online, I used a creative way to get the shots I wanted, 3D modelling. The model was assembled with realistic materials and lighting, placing them in a green environment to capture the shots for later editing in Photoshop.

Google Earth Studio

In one of the scenes in my video, I wanted to represent the poem's theme of returning to the original form by using stacked cars to paint the world in their vibrant colours. Filming this part was out of the question so I turned to the innovative tool of Google Earth Studio. It allowed me to create a cinematic sequence of the cars going from Stanley Park to the whole planet, which was then edited again in After Effects for the video.

Conclusion

In the end, the project went extremely well. I was thrilled to gain more confidence in my After Effects animation skills for future projects. I also received compliments and appreciation from the poet Theresa Rogers. The video has also been submitted to the Vancouver City Poems Contest to share with a wider audience.

Credits

Music and Sound Effects

Narration by Theresa Rogers

Thank you to the Vancouver Poet Laureate 2022-2024 Legacy Project (coordinated by Fiona Tinwei Lam) as overseen by the: City of Vancouver Cultural Services, The Vancouver Writers' Festival and the Vancouver Public Library.