Exploring Premier Pro – Visual Poetry

along this road
no one goes
this autumn eve…

During the week 2 workshop we were directed to create a visual haiku, the limitations were that the shots must be still and not of peoples profiles. Tessa not yet having Premier Pro, we banded together and took footage of the interior and exterior of building 9, before returning to the classroom to upload the footage. As someone who has limited experience with Premier Pro (most of my previous work has been edited on Final Cut Pro) this exercise was invaluable to me. With sheets outlining editing aspects we must explore, in alignment with restrictive components of the exercise it was a well structured introduction to the software I was still getting my head around.

To be entirely honest I am not the biggest fan of poetry. I have some exceptions to that rule but it is definitely not my forte when it comes to literature. I could understand, however, the use of haiku for this exercise in particular. Not only are the poems short but they have a sense of rhythm just as all good edits must. Bringing the poetry together with the visuals and the sound proved to be an exercise in balancing the elements of the project to keep all in alignment with one another.

Whilst I took this challenge seriously, Tessa and I did play around a little with the style, giving it some hyperbolic elements. Tessa speaks Japanese and so we decided to use an old Japanese haiku to bring the form of poetry back to its roots. We also found royalty free flute music to tie that theme together even more. As we are reaching Autumn this particular Haiku seemed appropriate, the visuals of leaves, dust and warm colours giving off an Autumnal vibe.

All together we tried to have fun with this project, playing around with transitions, title placement and even frame-rate to see how all the elements tied together. The last frame we actually ended up flipping horizontally so that the positioning of our text from frame to frame would be more in balance. This was a great exercise in understanding Premier Pro a little more and developing a tactile sense of the software’s interface. It also got me back into the project work flow and having limitations and expectations around the work that I am producing. Whilst the poetic element of the project may not have been my style, it was good practice to work within a strict visual rhythm and to be pushed to create work that is outside of my usual creative repertoire.