Creating a Visual Poem with Tiffany Joy Butler

In her review of Eric Baudelaire’s new documentary Un Film dramatique, New York Times critic Teo Bugbee writes, “Some scenes are riveting, as when the French-Romanian student Gabriel-David debates his French-Ivorian classmate, Guy-Yanis, over what it means to have a country of origin if you’ve never lived there.” Inspired by the film’s sociopolitical conversations and experimental filmmaking elements, MoMI Media Instructor Tiffany Joy Butler will lead a virtual one-hour, do-it-yourself filmmaking workshop exploring self-expression with a small group discussion on cultural identity. This will include a guided mini project that teaches participants how to make a one-minute visual poem—a video work that expresses the interests, identity, and environment of the maker—recorded on a smartphone and edited through Adobe Spark Video. The workshop will introduce different film production techniques, such as writing, lighting, creating a camera shot list, setting up a camera, and editing the video.   

Materials needed: a Zoom account; an Adobe Spark account, which is accessible through any internet browser; and a smartphone with a video camera capability.

Participants are encouraged to watch Un Film dramatique before participating in this free workshop and will receive a code for $2 off the film ticket price upon registration. 

This workshop is open to teachers, teaching artists and anyone interested in learning more about experimental filmmaking.