‘Letter To A Cycad’ is a Cinematic Poem Short Film Produced and Directed by Anders Drud.
‘Letter to a Cycad’ is a visual homage to the historic Palmhouse in Copenhagen, and a reflection on the evolution of plants and our human impact on the planet. Using a fictional voice of the late botanist Frederik Liebmann (1813-1856) who found and described the cycad species Dioon edule, the oldest specimen in the Palmhouse, the film explores life histories and the current biodiversity crisis.
PRODUCER Anders Drud
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Frederik Wolff
MANUSCRIPT Rasmus Zwicki
VOICE AND SOUND Rasmus Zwicki
ART DIRECTION, STORY BOARD AND ANIMATION DarkMatters.dk
“OZYMANDIAS” is the animated 3D adaptation of a poem written by English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in December 1817. It was created with a series of wash paintings animated with the Unreal Engine and EbSynth to test an experimental 3D animation pipeline.
Additional info: Using EbSynth, a texture synthesis / transfer tool created by Secret Weapon, we applied wash paintings to 3D scenes created in real-time with the Unreal Engine. The result is a unique look and a promising experimental pipeline which dramatically speeds up the production of 3D animation stylized with traditional 2D art.
About the poem: Written in 1817 by Percy Shelley, “Ozymandias” refers to pharaoh Ramesses II and was perhaps inspired by the acquisition of a large Ramesses statue by the British Museum the same year. References to this poem have often appeared in pop culture, though Shelley himself might not have considered it to be one of his major works.
It was first published in the 11 January 1818 issue of The Examiner of London.
Credits: Directed and animated by Alvaro Lamarche-Toloza Wash paintings by Estelle Chauvard Voice by Bryan Cranston, taken from the Breaking Bad Teaser Trailer “Menkaure colossal statue base” model by Zhejiang University “Ramses II” model by Taoetsia “Horse Skeleton” model by Diego Luján García
‘OZYMANDIAS’ By Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
“On Being – Ars Poetica #100” is a Cinematic Poem Short Film Read by Elizabeth Alexander Directed by Jocie Juritz
Illustrated, Animated and Directed by: Jocie Juritz
Commissioned by: The On Being Project Sound by: Galina Juritz
Written and Read by: Elizabeth Alexander
An animation for On Being as part of their new series sharing poetry with the world. Based on the poem “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe”, written and read by Elizabeth Alexander.
Each frame was hand painted in gouache onto the pages of the book ‘Crave Radiance’, which contained the original poem. For lots of behind the scenes details visit my website – jociejuritz.com/on-being/
“Lost Places” is a Cinematic Poem Short Film Created and Directed by Fabian Aerts.
Created, Produced and Directed by: Fabian Aerts
Words and Narration by: Alan Watts
Lost Places is a little series i worked on the last couple of weeks. The initial idea was to challenge myself in the creation of full CG environments. I wanted to create large scale scenes and elaborated landscapes. But next to that, the mysterious beauty of abandoned places always fascinated me. I’m addicted to travel but unfortunately the current pandemic and the lock down forced us to stay safe at home for long months so i guess it was for me the only way to explore some far away lands and imaginary countries. Alan Watts wise words resonated and helped me put all this research together and make sense of it.
“Most People Are Pretty Nice” is a Cinematic Poem Animated Short Film Featuring Author and Historian Rutger Bregman Directed by Stephen McNally.
Directed by: Stephen McNally
Produced by: Abi Stephenson
Animation: Jac Clinch & Diana Gradinaru
Narrated by: Rutger Bregman
‘We have taken huge steps towards tackling some of the biggest threats on humanity throughout history, and in many ways our lives have never been better! So where do we go from here? Author and historian Rutger Bregman argues that in order to continue towards a better world, we need big ideas and a robust vision of the future. Revolutionary ideas, that were once dismissed as a utopian fantasy, became reality through people believing there was a better way – but what if our progress is hindered by our own dim view of human nature?’
“A Mind Sang” is a Cinematic Visual Poem Animated Short Film Directed by Vier Nev.
Directed and animated by Vier Nev
ORIGINAL MUSIC | Yanis El-Masri
SOUND EFFECTS | Francisca Dores, Henrik Ferrara
SOUND TEAM MANAGER | Francisca Dores
RECORDING / SOUND PRODUCTION | Guilherme Correia
MUSIC ASSISTANT/RECORDING ASSISTANT | Miguel Serrão
A short film about perception, rebirth and transformation.
“A Mind Sang” is the winner of the Vimeo Staff Pick Award at the 2020 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
“Dismantling The Largest Oil Tanker In The World” is a Cinematic Poem Short Film Featuring Poem Written and Read by Mark Pajak Directed By Dominic Davis.
Directed and Animated by: Dominic Davis
Written and Read by: Mark Pajak
Executive Production: Poetry Cinema
Produced By: Helmie Stil
Soundscape by: Lennert Busch
Mark Pajak was the 2019 mentee for the Peggy Poole Award, a mentorship scheme for poets based in the North West of England, in memory of the poet and broadcaster Peggy Poole. Mark Pajak’s mentor was Michael Symmons Roberts.
Mark’s poem, ‘Dismantling the largest oil tanker in the world’, was part of a series of ten commissions by The Poetry Society asking past National Poetry Competition winners to respond to both the most and least commonly used words across the prize’s 40 year history of winners.
Original music was done by electronic music duo Gramatik & Luxas.
“We are wanderers Exploring our world As travelers without a map.
And our artificial intelligences Have long gazed deep into our world.”
Two A.I.’s — one older generation and one newer — wander through a looking-glass of a limbo world, gazing at humanity’s past and present in search of humans who might carry the torch into humanity’s future — and give what knowledge they can, in hopes that we may one day solve the problems we’ll face in the future.
This is a branded short film for the Japanese technologies company, HITACHI, where the company was seeking to find a way to tell an emotional story about the many crises we face as a human race, and our relationship to artificial intelligence. It was a unique situation where a technologies company sought to craft an abstract, art-driven and hypothetical film as a vessel to spread an important message to anybody developing artificial intelligence: that we must do so quickly and with a moral compass, in hopes that one day AI will be advanced enough and driven by empathy to help human beings solve potential crises together… as AI, being one of our greatest creations, may be the essential factor in ensuring the survival of the human race.
Production Company: SIOUXX
Executive Producers: Andreas Neumann, Khadija Donatelli
Creative Directors: Ken Hanada, Andreas Neumann
Producer: Michael Rodriguez Dueñas
Copywriter: Benjamin McAllister
Futurist: Julian Scaff
Production Supervisor: Jake Brown
Production Coordinator: Pure Brisbon
First Assistant Director: Adam Zimmer
Second Assistant Director: Luther Sartor
Director of Photography: Nico Aguilar
First Assistant Camera: Connor Lambert
Second Assistant Camera: Nick Vannatta
DIT: John Goodner
“The Mushroom Hunters” is a Cinematic Poem Short Film With Original Poem Written By Neil Gaiman, Directed By Caroline Rudge.
Artwork, Animation, Direction and Storyboard by: Caroline Rudge
Production, Storyboard and Additional Mushrooms: Alexandra Casswell Becker
Editing and Special Effects: Dann Casswell
The Mushroom Hunters Original Poem by: Neil Gaiman
Read by: Amanda Palmer
Bass, Percussion, Vibraphone, Piano and Original Score by: Jherek Bischoff
Cello: Aniela Marie Perry
Violin: Paris Hurley
Viola: Marta Sofia Honer
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Jherek Bischoff at Sweethaven
THE MUSHROOM HUNTERS by Neil Gaiman
Science, as you know, my little one, is the study of the nature and behaviour of the universe. It’s based on observation, on experiment, and measurement, and the formulation of laws to describe the facts revealed.
In the old times, they say, the men came already fitted with brains designed to follow flesh-beasts at a run, to hurdle blindly into the unknown, and then to find their way back home when lost with a slain antelope to carry between them. Or, on bad hunting days, nothing.
The women, who did not need to run down prey, had brains that spotted landmarks and made paths between them left at the thorn bush and across the scree and look down in the bole of the half-fallen tree, because sometimes there are mushrooms.
Before the flint club, or flint butcher’s tools, The first tool of all was a sling for the baby to keep our hands free and something to put the berries and the mushrooms in, the roots and the good leaves, the seeds and the crawlers. Then a flint pestle to smash, to crush, to grind or break.
And sometimes men chased the beasts into the deep woods, and never came back.
Some mushrooms will kill you, while some will show you gods and some will feed the hunger in our bellies. Identify. Others will kill us if we eat them raw, and kill us again if we cook them once, but if we boil them up in spring water, and pour the water away, and then boil them once more, and pour the water away, only then can we eat them safely. Observe.
Observe childbirth, measure the swell of bellies and the shape of breasts, and through experience discover how to bring babies safely into the world.
Observe everything.
And the mushroom hunters walk the ways they walk and watch the world, and see what they observe. And some of them would thrive and lick their lips, While others clutched their stomachs and expired. So laws are made and handed down on what is safe. Formulate.
The tools we make to build our lives: our clothes, our food, our path home… all these things we base on observation, on experiment, on measurement, on truth.
And science, you remember, is the study of the nature and behaviour of the universe, based on observation, experiment, and measurement, and the formulation of laws to describe these facts.
The race continues. An early scientist drew beasts upon the walls of caves to show her children, now all fat on mushrooms and on berries, what would be safe to hunt.
The men go running on after beasts.
The scientists walk more slowly, over to the brow of the hill and down to the water’s edge and past the place where the red clay runs. They are carrying their babies in the slings they made, freeing their hands to pick the mushrooms.
This poem was written by Neil Gaiman and read by Amanda Palmer for Maria Popova’s “The Universe In Verse” event in 2017 (you can read about that here: https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/04…).
The brilliant team at creative connection in the UK hand-drew this animated video to accompany the poem, and the music was composed and recorded by jherek bischoff. read about the making of this whole film on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/31517040
Cinematic Poems 