Port City Poetry Vol. 1 is the first in a series of mini-documentaries by filmmaker Christopher J. Pendergraft and poet Kevin Dublin, chronicling the proliferation and evolution of poetry in Wilmington, NC.
Vol. 1 features interviews from Ana Ribeiro - poet, reporter and manager of the Port City Poets blog, and poet Jeffrey “Just Jeff” Wyatt on their personal definition of poetry and where poetry is headed.
Also featured in Vol. 1 are highlights from Oct. 24th’s “Soul Slam” @ Bottega Art & Wine.
The Midnight Sun is a poem written by poets Kevin Dublin and Ana Ribeiro. The poem struck a personal note and I immediately began to tinker with the idea of shooting a short film based on it. I also realized this was the perfect opportunity to create a workflow for high definition video using Final Cut Pro, being that I’ve never edited HD video. Shot w/ Canon HV20, 1080i60, CineMode on the right frame.
The Midnight Sun by Kevin Dublin and Ana Ribeiro
The whole moon hanging high
I saw you at the bar, at midnight
Sitting, holding, sipping with your head tilted to the side
You averted your glance
But I followed your eyes
And landed on another bottle of wine
And for a second I died, because we weren’t together
I remembered the same scene years ago
And it led to a route of despair
When I thought of your midnight sun
Above summer skies and summer wind
In the confines of your hair
Where I imagine my hand nestle your cheek
The moment before you hit the road
Carrying all the worries of the world
And throwing them all back to me
Everything exists inside you
And inside me all is chaos
I want to bathe in your midnight sun
And forget that you’re not the one
And forget that I’ll always remember
And pretend this is the first time we met
And live in this infinite moment
Letting you light up the dark hour you caused
I could risk, I should–
No, perhaps I should remain–
And waste away any chance at happiness
Afraid of burning in your midnight sun
Written By: Kevin Dublin and Ana Ribeiro Directed By: Christopher J. Pendergraft Cinematographer & Editor: Christopher J. Pendergraft Narrated By: Kevin Dublin
Cast Lost Lover: Kevin Dublin Beautiful Girl: Anna Hedgecock
I spent part of this weekend shooting footage for a “visual poetry” project based off “The Midnight Sun,” by Kevin Dublin and Ana Ribeiro. Basically, “visual poetry” is a fancy term for “extremely short film.” This will be time I’ve worked with high definition footage. The project was shot in 1080p24, which is supposedly difficult to capture and edit. So far, I haven’t had much trouble with it outside of my Mac refusing to recognize my Canon HV20.
I’ve captured the footage from the HV20 to my hard drive using Final Cut Studio 6 and successfully performed an advanced pulldown of the 24p video. Apple has posted a very handy guide in their knowledge base for Canon HV20 users needing help establishing a 24p workflow. Check the guide out here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2410.
Unfortunately, editing may take a little longer than expected because I have to render each video clip in Final Cut before I can preview my edits… which can take up to 2 hours. Therefore, until I get a stronger mac (I’m eyeballing a Dual G5 system on Craigslist), I’ll have to employ some careful editing techniques and try to limit my renders to once a day.
The footage looks good. I’ve noted some things I could’ve done better to improve aesthetic quality, but given that the entire shoot consisted of 4 singular takes, I think we did a good job. Once it’s finished, I will go into detail about the entire process, including exact details on the equipment I used.
The Son of Man - Possible title for “The Jesus Piece.”
“The Son of Man” is a phrase used to refer to one’s “self” or humanity as a whole. In Christianity, Jesus Christ often referred to himself as the son of man to show not only was he the living embodiment of God, but also a human.
In this story, the phrase refers to a character coming to terms with his place in humanity, after being molded by the members of society and literally becoming, the “Son of Man.”
I’ve spent the last 2 weeks or so researching camcorders that are friendly to independent filmmakers. It seems that the Canon VIXIA HV20 kept popping up in my searches, primarily because it can be modded so third party lenses will easily attach to it. This allows for a higher degree of flexibility in shot choice. The camera also comes with a “cinema mode,” in which the camera will record at 24 frames a second (or 23.976/fps on the NTSC standard). Recording in 24p delivers an aesthetically pleasing “filmic” appearance to footage, and is considered a cheap alternative to shooting with film. The camera also has many other features, but I won’t list them here as it’s much easier to just read about them from the Canon website.
I, for one can’t wait to get my hands on it and start shooting stuff. I’m possibly heading to Wilmington this weekend for a Talib Kweli concert, so Kevin and I are collaborating on a script for a short sketch that we’ll film then.
If all goes well, I’ll also be shooting a short “documentary” on martial arts very soon.
