The Border

The Border
by jamh
08-Jan-2011
 

I was driving south
very tired.
The car in front
slowed down in an empty lot.
The driver, the passenger
their seats were bare.

My nightmare #2,
my deja-vu
of the border.

I was driving south,
through the rainstorm.

As I braked,
a lion jumped into that window.
Like a car-wash scene,
its mane pressing on the glass.
It was both agile and mad.

With power,
shaking the car from side to side,
the whipping tail smearing
complex shapes in white.

Horrified, not just
from the carnage inside.
A savageness
a fury I didn't understand.

Then I noticed, left on,
the radio by my bedside
broadcasting news
of the border.

jam11

Balatarin
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Azadeh Azad

Thanks!

by Azadeh Azad on Sun Jan 09, 2011 06:47 PM PST

Thank you, jamh, for your explanation. I have worked with the Final Cut Pro editing software. It's relatively easy to use and the result can be quite ''professional.'' I watched your video again and again today. It's such a neat work, so cool, so imaginative. The sound of a hammer, or something like that, pounding creates a terrifying atmosphere. You have done a great job mixing sounds. I’m inspired now :-)

Cheers,

 Azadeh


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jamh

To Azadeh

by jamh on Sun Jan 09, 2011 04:33 PM PST

Thank you for your compliment.Yes, I did this video, really quickly. I was waiting for my daughter's dance class to finish and it started to rain. I just focused on the windshield where the rain drops were playing with the light of the street lamp. The narration at the end is the radio in the background. It fit well with the music (I did that too) and I just left it.Since you asked, here are the technical elements: the camera is a panasonic gh2 which can record in 1080 HD format. I used an old leica 35mm lens from the 30's on it. The YouTube video is actuall quite high res if you expand it to fit your screen, but this is overkill for its simplicity. I use Final Cut Pro editing software for all my video work. It's a bit complex but once you get the hang of it it's very powerful. Many Hollywood movies were made using it.The poem is a rework of an earlier poem to fit better with the video (the rain aspect). I quite like the way it came. And yes, it is based on an actual nightmare. I had left the radio on, and when I woke up from it, I realized that the radio was broadcasting news (as always bad news) from Iran. I thought of the imagery of the nightmare and this made me smile. How appropriate that the lion be mad..


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Azadeh Azad

Interesting!

by Azadeh Azad on Sun Jan 09, 2011 02:15 AM PST

I like this poem of yours, jamh. Dreams ans nightmares are great sources of inspiration. Did you make the video as well? If yes, what software did you use and where did you get that white light? Thank you,

Azadeh 

 


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