Week 6 Response (Cathy's Section)

The Poetics of Storytelling by Harold Scheub is about the strong connection and importance between the story and the poetic background it holds. Scheub says that a story cannot exist without poetry and poetry cannot exist without storytelling. There has never been a story without a poem in it. A story is centered and based off a poetic center, which gives the story its smooth flow and consistency. “Within that interior is the engine of the story, that which animates and motivates, that which keeps the narrative in motion, that which provides the rhythmical flow of the story, that which elicits, controls, and thereby shapes the emotions of the audience into metaphor—the poetic center of the story.” This is the main explanation of how a poem is integrated into a story. The poem and the story are intrinsically connected in every aspect, for neither one could exist, nor hold appeal without the other. The Poem of the story is the most important part of a story, for it gives its fluidity, smoothness, and appeal. The story is sustained by the Poem; the poem is the main backbone for which a story’s appeal is based upon. The Poem creates images that help the audience see the story better, which in turn, the images are the main building blocks of a story. The storyteller must also evoke the emotions of the audience and must turn those emotions into the poem, which is the main core of the story. The Poem, which creates the story, is derived from the emotions of the audience or the emotion of the storyteller. Emotions, from the storyteller and from the audience is the most important thing when it comes to stories. The emotions help create the poem, which in turns creates the story. Most storytellers deal with the emotions of our hearts, something that we can feel for and understand. The most effective way of creating a story with emotions is creating a story that one has experienced, or one can see eye-to-eye on. Another way a storyteller can use emotions to create a story, is that they are sometimes purely based off their own feelings and emotions. A storyteller may have a generic fear or dream that they share with everyone else. A storyteller uses their own feelings of love, hate, their dreams, hopes, or even their nightmares to help create an effective emotional story. The emotions must be well suited for the story that is being told. Images and the performers conveyance of the emotion and the audience’s emotions must tie together to have full effect. The Poem and Story The Poetics of Storytelling has been the most interesting thing I have read so far; creating a connection and dependency on the two between poem and story is really intriguing and valuable to know. Knowing that poetry and emotions are the main roots of a well told story can only improve my skills to tell and recreate a story that will somehow either influence or effect my audience.

Jennifer Ma---People often say that a good story can touch our heart and evoke our emotion. But what are the essential keys to create a festinated story for the audience? According to Harold Scheub, the answer is poetics narrative. Scheub states that by using poetics narrative, a storyteller can “summon emotions from a willingly submissive audience, and weave those emotion into the poem that is at the core of the story” (216). Scheub also says that, “the poem never exist without a story nor can a story stand without a poem” (216). A poem is always a sort of story; it has something to tell. This idea can also correlates to the narrative of film. It can enhance the plot, timing, and emotion through out the whole film. Any story without a poetic structure will not be moving. Through poetic story telling, “the audience is emotionally caught up in the performance, as its own well-being is at stake. The emotions of the members of the audience are knitted into the images being performed, and so tensions are temporarily tightened and resolved. This is the effect of the performance, the tightening and releasing and redistribution of tensions through form, the tying in of current uncertainties with the permanence, enlightenment, and seeming ideal perfection of the past” (219). There is always a message in the poem, story, or film that the director/ author wanted to share with us; “poets and storytellers make a community of us, enabling us to experience ourselves at our best, and at our worst. The poetry and stories are an art form that richly remembers and celebrates our finest impulses, as it recalls and commemorates our cruelest proclivities” (219). This article was very clear on how to express emotion in form by using poetry. Scheub’s point was very apparent in the sense of allowing the audience to gain an emotional connection to your story and to gain an emotional appeal which is important in most stories and the information was a slight eye-opener.

After a stressful and strenuous effort all week... I am finally able to get online. I haven't had internet at all this week. So, I apologize for my lateness and I hope it won't affect my grade. Harold Scheub’s “The Poetics of Storytelling,” The Poem and the Story, was an exquisite piece. It was fun to read and enjoyable to study. It starts out with a philosophical understanding that is practically universal. The piece is very mental. It deals with the complexities of the psyche and its relations to story and plotline. I felt that the line, “The art of composing imaginative narratives is something that was undertaken by the first people - long ago, during the time of the ancestors. When those of us in my generation awakened to earliest consciousness, we were born into a tradition that was already flourishing….Members of every generation have grown up under the influence of narratives” was rooted in this piece. It is almost a byline to a discovery of narratives just by the fact that it gives such a wonderful narrative of narration itself. “The Poetics of Storytelling,” The Music in the Story was a piece that added auditory elements to the exploration of narration and narratives. The dialogue served just as the piece said, to provide a rhythmic and almost musical sense to the story. A story is nothing with out the sound of the plot. Because stories are seldom new, it is a nice touch when Scheub says that “poems and stories regularly bring us into communion with the past, with the beliefs and behavior of our parents and their ancestors.” We are all connected and share similar lives, though usually not in specifics. We all have experienced love, loss, pain, joy, tragedy, or anger. These feelings, therefore, are universal and are foundations in many timeless stories today, stories that keep being retold in different settings, with different characters, in slightly different situations. This is an integral part of the options for narrative and story and plot. When Scheub states his opinion of how “poetry and stories are an art form that richly remembers and celebrates out finest impulses, as it recalls and commemorates our cruelest proclivities,” he is directly congruent to what I stated above. Life is a cycle. “There is nothing new under the sun: our traditions regularly remind us of this [fact].” Language does a lot with plot and story. Two different versions of the same story can sound like different stories. This is evident when he gives the example of “The one” and “He was so tall”. I really liked the phrase that said that “the nonverbal rhythms create a form of the image-evoked emotions, giving those experiences regularity, imposing a regular flow on those images.” “Novelty is always the condition of enjoyment.” I find it interesting how fantasy and reality are considered to be both vehicles from story. Stories are definitely interconnected and interactions that provoke an interesting plot. I must say that this study of story and plot is very interesting and a wonderful study of people. Relationships are a funny thing. Every person has a relationship with each other. They all are interconnected and now interrelated. I enjoy learning the psychology behind a classic story.

Prior to reading ‘The Poem and The Story’ I had never considered the fact that every poem contains a story and that every story contains a poem. After reading the article, I completely agree with everything that it explained and was surprised to find that I had never interpreted poems and storytelling this way. I found the line stating “The storyteller deals essentially with the heart, with our emotions” very powerful and true. After reading many books and viewing many different films, it stands completely true that what is being conveyed in a story directly touches and affects our heart and our emotions. In the article it also states “It is in the nature of storytelling that the narrative is constructed around a poetic interior” does this mean that storytelling could not be the core of a poem? Storytellers have two goals when approaching a story, they attempt to summon emotions from an audience and incorporate those emotions into the poem which is the backbone of the story. In poems, the greatest ‘raw material’ used is emotion. Emotion is shaped into form through ordering the imagery of a poem. When poems are given orally, it is to express, evoke, mold and explore the various feelings that the audience has. Imagery within poems or performances can cause the audience to become so emotionally involved that they feel as though they are one of the characters within the poem or story. By creating this feeling of involvement between the audience and performance it is as though a bridge being build between the world of the audience and the world of the storyteller. Often times when poets are telling their story, and they address a certain character, it is actually the audience who they are addressing. The last line of the final paragraph which states “Story involves the unleashing of a considerable power”, is describing how telling a story lets people’s imagination run free and causes them to think our of their normal realm of though. Thus making poems and storytelling extremely powerful. In Wenders’ “An attempted description of an indescribable film”, it is made clear that trying to capture the true essence of a film without viewing it yourself is very difficult but can be done. In reading the line explaining that he wanted to make a film which made you feel what so many films attempted to make the audience feel and failed, was very powerful and clearly explained what it was that Wenders was trying to convey. He wanted the audience to feel “a feeling, in the air and under your feet and in people’s faces, that makes life in this city so different from life in other cities” and when I pictured this in my mind, I understood what it meant and could almost feel exactly what he was trying to explain. Wenders approach to the film was very genius and valiant in his quest to make a film which produced “ONE story about division.” Wenders nobly admits that he was not after screen time but instead wanted to clearly express a feeling which one could get in Berlin. He wanted the film to benefit the audience more than himself. By dividing the movie into half black and white and half color, he is creating a contrast which helps to better get his vision across to the viewers.

The Poem And The Story, The Poetics of Storytelling Fashion is a message without saying any word, so our out fit is our way of expression; also, we relate our out fit with icons or symbols that have had meaning to our societies for centuries. Kings as well as queens have to dress up within certain fashion’s codes with the only purpose of reminding people who they are, the message is implied. The pope dresses with his particular outfit so that every body can recognize him as the pope, again he does not need to let us know in advance who he is, and by his outfit we can recognize him. We can discriminate military forces from ordinary people by their uniforms; further, during a wedding, we recognize the bride “generally” because of the colour of her dress. We definitely use traditions, beliefs and customs in our outfits; fashion industry has linked for years fashion’s tendencies to connect our past and our present. Although fashion has had several strong changes, there is always an almost nostalgic way that fashion industry uses to tie people with their past and still look trendy in their present. And I am highlighting this topic because I was absolutely surprised when I realized how close was the inspiration of fashion designers with the inspiration of poets and storytellers. In The Poem in the Story, Harold Scheub describes the insides of poets and storytellers. He emphasizes in how our traditions assure us the feeling of belonging; our ancient beliefs and familiar images provide “connections between our contemporary experiences and our past” he says. Scheub (31) With the same extent poems and stories connect the two worlds, the past and the present, our nowadays life with our parents’ and our parents’ ancestors’ lives and beliefs forming societies. He also states that “for better or for worse, poets and storytellers forget nothing; they scrutinize our history…” and I think that in this particular issue poets and storytellers have an enormous responsibility conveying history, since poets and storytellers can manipulate the audience’s emotions not only in literal oral tradition, but in implied manner. Scheub also stresses that to solely elicit emotions by images would be aesthetically and irresponsible; therefore, he states that images have two functions: to move the story in a cause and effect manner, and to move the audience in an emotionally resonant way. Also, Scheub conveys “story involves unleashing of a considerable power. Fantasy and reality are aspects of story, with interactions and interconnections.” I ponder if audiences are always sufficiently prepared to distinguish between the reality aspects of story and the fantasy. (Scheub 36) An attempted description of an indescribable film*, From the first treatment for Wings of Desire Wim Wenders in his description clarifies entirely the former article about The Poem and the Story. Although, it is not my intention to overlap the two articles, I found that Wenders’ poem about his movie, The Sky Over Berlin, follows the rules, the guides that I understood from the former article. He first has a muse, who is Berlin and its internal conflict that he somehow sees similar with the worlds’ conflict. Then he has an inspiration, a desire of revelling Berling’s struggles to the world. He needs to attach his ideas with emotions and images and all of them with a story about the history of Berlin. Indeed, I immediately think about Harold Scheub’s article where he conveys that the ordering of imagery into form is the poem in the story and he describes its vital rhythm by talking about images, he states that historical images “(the contemporary images shaped by myth)”, the narrative “(the narrative movement of images from conflict to resolution)”, and the aesthetic “(the shaping of the released emotions into form).” I think that is the success in Wim Wenders poem, (his film); he took the appropriated steps of writing his poem by looking into a method to describe to the world not the plain Berlin, but the Berlin he could sees in depth. And he finds the “rhythm” using historical images and the narrative images, which in this case have the angel’s help for the narrative “movement from conflict to resolution” and finally the aesthetic. (Scheub 25)

Wim Wenders describes his intention of creating the film “Wings of Desire” and the beauty of it in “An Attempted Description of an Indescribable Film.” He approaches the article in a poetic way: in page 7 4 to 77, he writes his mind out like a poem and whos the relation of ‘angels’ to his film. It is interesting how he associates every little thing he wants to incorporate in the film and then make metaphorical connections between them. He dismantles and then analyzes the initial name of the film, “THE SKY OVER BERLIN,” and finally gets to the point: angels. Although I first thought the association of Berlin and angels is ironic because of the image of the war I had, the thought changed 180 degrees as he describes the process of creating the film and how exactly he is going to incorporate the angels. I do not know any history of Berlin besides the fact that it was divided into four regions. Wenders wants the film not to be historical, but he focuses on how the people are because of the history them went through. Angels come in the role of seeing everything, yet not all. They know the history of the people, but they “can’t imagine what colours are. Or tastes and smells. . . . fear, jealousy, envy or hatred” (80). From angels’ point of view, Wenders tries to show Berlin and its people. Even from the short scenes we have seen in the lecture, we can see that the angels are trying to know more about the human world; how does the girl feel when she lost her job; why do people read; what is it to be a human. The black and white screen and minimum narrative creates the “pure COUNSCIOUSNESS” (81) of the angels and the feeling of poem. Since I have not got to watch the entire film, I would love to watch the film while paying attention to Wenders approach of incorporating the angels to portray the “one perennial question: how to live?” (74). The essential elements of storytelling, images, feelings and rhythm, are described in “The Poetics of Storytelling” by Harold Scheub. “The poem never exists without a story, nor can a story stand without a poem” (25) Scheub says. I have not thought about the power of poem in the art of film, narrative, before reading this article. Poem was one thing I did not really understand. Despite my lack comprehension, Scheub successfully and interestingly convey each of the important elements based on Mdukiswa Tyabashe. He says that the feelings drive the story with successful use of music creating rhythm while the images provide historical and artistic vision. Still, all relate to the experience of emotion. Although it is hard to get a sense of rhythm through texts, how Scheub described the poet’s speech to the king created a sense of dynamic, intense emotion, history of tradition, and love to the country.

“There never was a story without a poem” (Scheub 23). In the “Poetics of Storytelling,” Harold Scheub delves into the complex world of storytelling and how poetry lies at its core. According to the article, at the explosive center of storytelling rests our deepest hopes and fears and nightmares. Movies, created to tell a story, rely on these characteristics for their emotional force and their meaning. Consequently, as the class movies into fictional, story-driven movies, a complex understanding of story and how a story is developed will be necessary. According Scheub, a “storyteller instinctively knows where the force of the story lies” (Scheub 24). This force translates into emotion from the audience and the ability to weave those emotions into the poem at the core of the story. The poem of a story provides a necessary rhythm and pattern of images. “The poem is the key” (Scheub 25). Poetry affects the organization of the images. This imagery, according to Scheub, is the essential building blocks of the story. This idea is what movies are built on. But, without a rhythm, a meaning, images alone create nothing. It is the emotion images evoke. That is their true power. As a filmmaker, two things should be kept in mind regarding imagery; images move both the story and the audience. Consequently, one must be aware of certain images emotional impact and their effect on the story. Scheub brings up mythical images as especially relevant. Mythical images have important connotations because of their place in our culture. They hold much of our hopes and dreams, our ideal as humans. In a story, mythical images serve as great reminders of what the humans should be able to accomplish, but, also, how far humans can fall from this ideal as well. Mythical images are important to the force of the poetry in a story. Consequently, it is the rhythmic imagery and the emotions evoked by this imagery that make the core of a story, its poetry. This poetry, this core of the story, can be applied to film. Film must work through the organization of scenes and images to create a films rhythm. Through each scene, a filmmaker tries to evoke emotions that the audience will respond to and attempts to move the story along as well, “the tightening and releasing and redistribution of tensions through form” (Scheub 30). In creating a story, filmmakers search the “ancient depths of our human experience” (Scheub 31). The historical tradition that filmmakers sometimes draw from can many times be applied to our own lives and situations or can teach us something about ourselves. The poem, or sometimes referred to as the song, is at the core of the story whether in film or otherwise. The poem provides the pacing, the tone, the rhythm. Around this core, images are built. These images, through “repetition, the rhythms, the patterns of performance,” reveal the meaning of the story (Scheub 35). Many films utilize these ideas to create a meaningful story, a story with emotion and the knowledge of human experience.

In the article “The Poetics of Storytelling” by Harold Scheub, Scheub deals with storytelling and explains how within every story there are poetic elements that help narrate the story and make it complete. According to Scheub, a story cannot exist without a poem. There is always a poem or a poetic interior to a story and whether it is hard to realize or is hiding, there will always be a poem within a story. The poetic interior is where a story begins and later develops the narrative which is kept in motion by the poetic core. The poem keeps the rhythm of the story flowing and changes the audiences’ reactions/emotions throughout the whole story. How do we remember stories and movies? One reason is because of how the story was told or portrayed. Scheub argues that a storyteller’s main purpose is to deal with the audiences’ heart and emotions, which almost every storyteller does. By dealing with one’s emotions, a story has deeper meaning and shall be remembered and appreciated by all. Almost every movie/film/story plays with the audiences’ emotions and the audience themselves realize that whatever movie they are watching, their emotions will alter at some point during the movie. Imagery is also important in a story because the images in a story help the story moving and the images affect the audiences’ emotions. So, basically as Scheub mentions, the “ordering of imagery into form, this shaping of emotions into form: that is the poem in the story” (Scheub 26). Imagery is part of the poem that a story cannot exist without. Where there is a story there is a poem. In the article by Wim Wenders titled “An Attempted Description of an Indescribable film”, Wenders beautifully explains in depth his film about Berlin. His film is a great example of how within a story there are poetic elements. After reading this article and realizing his passion/desire to create this film I realized that almost anything is possible as long as you try your hardest and put your mind to it. Wenders wanted to show the world something amazing and he gave it all he had with his creative imagination. His description and portrayal throughout the whole movie was poetic and it kept the movie going with a unique storyline. His incorporation of angels to the story is a plus for his movie and the way he tells it moves the audience. Wender’s film, Wings of Desire is different from the other movies during that time and that is what Wenders wanted. His film which is “indescribable”, he says, is a wonderful film with a story and a poem. “There never was a story without a poem” (Scheub 23).

Wim Wender’s attempt at describing the film “Wings of Desire” was masterful, he exuded a fevered intensity with his obvious love for the film and convinced me that this film would be worth seeing. His prose is like poetry, it flows and emphasizes and illustrates a beautiful story. In this sense, I believe that the way he wrote this piece demonstrates how a poem cannot exist without a story and vice versa, as stated in Harold Scheub, in "The Poetics of Storytelling”. The piece felt as if it were pieces of his inspiration, his thought process when beginning the journey of making this movie. He brings up many points that intrigued me, his description of Berlin as two cities with only the sky and language in common helps me to visualize what this film may potentially look like. The first half is filmed in black and white, whereas the second half is filmed in color, shows further division. “ He states himself that he doesn’t want to “tell a STORY OF UNITY, but something harder: ONE story about DIVISION.” I can praise him for making such a bold choice, especially with a story about Berlin, where’s division has been such a tragedy/problem. Everyone wants unity, everyone belives that unity is the only way to have peace. But I disagree, perhaps like Wender’s disagrees, for peace, and for happiness, we must have division, but more importantly we must understand and accept what divides us, and what makes us different. “Wings Of Desire” tells a story of angels who have exist in a wandering limbo. They are not full angels, and they are not mortals. They travel the same streets, and look over the same people, but they exist to no one but themselves. They flow through a city haunted by the ghosts of its past, and they observe the lives of mortals, and of course they become curious. What is it like? How does a fire feel? What’s so special about sex? So what if they’re immortal, they may live forever, but what’s the point if they are not allowed to fully live? “ They are pure CONSCIOUSNESS, fuller and more comprehending than mankind, but also poorer. The physical and sensual world is reserved for human beings. It is the privilege of mortality, and death is its price.” Truer words have not been spoken. Wender’s description is lively and ultimately a beautiful portrayal of mortal emotions. There is passion and there is reverence, and perhaps even a little hesitation. All these things represent what it is like to be human, and that is maybe what he tries to portray in his movie; what it is to be alive, what it is to live, honestly and truly. They way he writes is poetic, the way he feels is human. And maybe the two are intertwined because it seems as if human beings have this inner rhythm that recognize things that sound beautiful, recognizes words that provoke emotion. And we try to expand this recognition into the arts.

“There never was a story without a poem,” meaning that one does not exist without the other. There is a reason and/or a story behind a work of art such as a painting, film, and etc. As Harlod Scheub states the materials of the storyteller “are rhythm, music, ritual, metaphor, and, most consequentially, the emotions." Rhythm is an important element to convey a message and tell a story in any film. I agree that there should be reason behind any piece of art. I found this article to be a little confusing because Scheub does not really state what the subject of his article is. Throughout this article, he talks about the elements necessary to be a good storyteller. “An attempted description of an indescribable film” an article by Wilm Wenders, talks about how to create something that did not exist before or introduce something in a new way. “At first it is not possible to describe anything beyond a wish or desire. That’s how it begins, making a film, writing a book, painting a picture, composing a tune, generally creating something. Then Wender talks about how he would make his film about Berlin. He describes that he does not want the film to be just about the place, Berlin, but about people-“people here in Berlin that considered the one perennial question: how to live?” Wender states Berlin as a representative of “the world.” He names his film to be “Wings of Desire,” a film about Berlin and it’s people after World War II. Core of a poem (or a film) is metaphor that Wender uses carefully in his film by using the two angels as a metaphor. Angels are the emotional elements of this film. He says that sky in the only thing that connects the world. My favorite thing about this article is the way Wender describes the different stage of creating a story/film. He describes every thing that goes on in his mind very well. Winder really tries to describe his film as he states: “I’m not after a ‘screen-play’ here. All I can do is go on describing what’s ‘ghosting around’ in my mind.” My understanding about this film is that it’s about peaceful humanity and what people have to go through to gain it, which are pain and fear. This article was great to make me understand how one comes up with a new idea or story.

In the The Poem and the Story many details were discussed of a successful narrative; a narrative that explores the uses poetics to tell the story. One aspect that the article failed to mention but was plainly obvious in its examples and text is the concept of simplicity. Its primary example uses many short and simple phrases to express ideas. These phrases are intensely powerful because of their simple structure. They are plain, short and to the point. They do not use difficult words to understand or are ambiguous in any way. They are clear and concise. In creating a narrative this is an extremely important aspect that the article failed to mention. In expressing ideas and feelings often times these ideas and feelings are incredibly complex. It is then up to the storyteller to convey these complex ideas and feelings through poetry using simple phrases. This is what makes a good poet and storyteller great: the ability to convey complex ideas and feelings through short, simple and concise phrases. // Then article points out that ‘Oral poems evoke, express, explore and mold feeling.’ This statement is incredibly true, however there is one factor that the article did not explore. This is that feelings are molded through not just, words, but also the tone and quality of the voice. A raspy voice brings a much different connotation than a deep masculine voice. // A narrative that works is going to be one that everyone can understand. Unfortunately this limits some of the vocabulary and material that can be used. The example that was used in the essay was simple. It appealed to the masses, and not all poetic narratives should be subject to that type of filter. It may define a narrative that works on a mass scale, but something that works on a mass scale does not necessarily mean that it is quality. This is inherently an issue with this type of narrative. // The article states in its last line the most profound and true statement. “Words are a beginning, but only a beginning, of the architecture of stories.” This is so true on so many levels. Unfortunately the best way to express and show this truism would be not on paper. Paper expresses the least in terms of a poetic narrative. It uses punctuation in a feudal attempt to express tonality of voice, one of the major elements of a poetic narrative. However, it fails. There is no way to truly express the complexities of a poetic narrative on paper. There are too many factors that cannot be expressed on paper. The article would be better fit as a movie or recording- where all the elements of a poetic narrative could be accurately portrayed.

“The Poetics of Storytelling” by Harold Scheub was an unnecessarily long piece discussing who knows (?!) what considering I was confused while reading it. The first few pages were a bit more interesting than the rest, but still were much too repetitive for my liking. I also did not understand the poem about the kings. I had no idea who/what/when the poem was addressing. Besides the lack of clarity, the whole article can be summarized with one single quote: “Again, this is of significance: Rhythm, patterning, other forms of ordering shape these responses into a common response, a vessel composed of emotions woven through with the melodic themes of the story, so that the images, historical and artistic, become a part of an emotional experience. Rhythm, music, ritual, metaphor, and, most consequentially, the emotions: these are the materials of the storyteller.” To be honest, had the piece included this quote, and this quote only, the article would have been a lot easier to understand and a lot more effective in that the person reading it would not have to re-read it to find out what the writer was attempting to get across. However, I did find it interesting to read that the core of a story, any story, is a poem. As Scheub claims, you cannot have a story without a poem. I was not quite sure what Scheub meant by the word “poem,” but I assume he does not mean it in the literal sense. Unlike the first reading, however, “An Attempted Description of an Indescribable Film” by Wim Wenders was so incredibly fascinating that I did not want it to end. It was interesting how the readers are literally able to read Wenders’s thought process of making the film, Wings of Desire. It was great walking through the course of writing a story and thinking of an idea for a film. Wenders states, “You have a wish. You wish that something might exist, and then you work on it until it does. You want to give something to the world, something truer, more beautiful, more painstaking, more serviceable, or simply something other than what already exists. …And in the end you have a picture or pictures of something, you have music, or something that operates in some new way, or a story, or this quite extraordinary combination of all these things: a film.” This definitely helps get the ball rolling for our next project, the narrative. The reading shows you through an example how to attack the project and how to sort through your thoughts. It shows that all you need is to have a simple idea of what you want your film to be about, and then work with it, throwing your thoughts down on paper and working out a sort of outline of your ideas and potential film.

In the article, “The Poem and the Story”, Harold Scheub describes the essential aspects of successful narrative. He maintains that poetry and storytelling are mutually dependent, and “it is the nature of storytelling that the narrative is constructed around a poetic interior” (23). The story is driven by the poetic pieces which stimulate and inspire, helping the narrative develop smoothly. It enables the story to flow rhythmically and also triggers the emotions of the audience by evoking imagery. Therefore, the successful storyteller does not confine himself to a linear narrative; rather, he builds his narrative around a poem. Scheub places emphasis on imagery as “images are the building blocks of story” (25). Images serve to move the story as well as move the audience. The formation of the images is essentially the poem in the story. This ordering is a kind of rhythm which “[shapes] responses in a common response, a vessel composed of emotions woven through with the melodic themes of the story, so that images, historical and artistic, become a part of an emotional experience” (35). Thus, the storyteller’s key resources are rhythm, music, ritual, metaphor, and most importantly, emotions. I believe Wim Wenders’ film “Wings of Desire” encompasses many of these aspects. I can sense an underlying rhythm in the film. The film itself is like a poem in that it helped integrate the feeling of the times, capturing “a feeling in the air and under your feet and in people’s faces, [making] life in [Berlin] so different from life in other cities” (232). The film evokes a mood of reverie, elegy and meditation. Not only is the film a description of Berlin, it is a film about the people. Wenders ties in the emotions of the characters in a way that feels honest. The angels in the film move invisibly through the divided city of Berlin, watching, listening, and comparing notes. Often they stand on high places such as the shoulder of a heroic statue and the tops of buildings, but sometimes they descend to comfort an accident victim, or to put a hand on the shoulder of a young man considering suicide. They cannot directly change events as the young man does kill himself, but perhaps they can suggest the possibility of hope, the intuition that we are not completely alone. The film doesn't release its tension in a smooth plot payoff. It creates a mood of sadness and isolation, of yearning, of the transience of earthly things. If the human being is the only animal that knows it lives in time, the film is about that knowledge. For me, the film is like music or a landscape: It clears a space in my mind, and in that space I can consider questions. Some of them are asked in the film: "Why am I me and why not you? Why am I here and why not there? When did time begin and where does space end?" Ultimately, I felt the film was intellectually and emotionally stimulating.

An analysis made by Bernstein explains and clarifies different aspects of Michael Moore’s 1989 film, Roger and Me. In using Bill Nichol’s ideas, he gives clear details of different modes and method Moore uses. Modes include: observational, interactive, expository, and reflexive. In each aspect that is given, we see connections of different ideas that are focus on in the film. It is easier to understand Moore’s feelings towards society and his solutions to these problems. At the same time, the argument weather his is a documentary or not allows us to focus on the details of his film. Despite the reasons he has for not calling it a film, his technique and style in showing background information and exclusive information of politics and public opinion makes his work a masterpiece. He gives his audience the feeling of being in someone else’s shoes feeling. He creates an emotional atmosphere in which so that he can get his viewer to bond with not just his ideas, but also the people in the film. With proper editing and order of footage, he is able to show it as if it were a story. As he shows the footage, he doesn’t give only one conclusion to his ideas. He gives different ways to look at the evens he has shown and finally inputs his ideas of the “truths”. The most stunning part is when Moore interview people but they ac act is if everything is normal. He highlights parts of denial and a show of innocence. In his movie about the shooting of Columbine, hi is able to put all of these ideas and techniques together. He puts in arguable ideas such as carrying firearms in the U.S. and the lack of support we give to students in need. In “War Porn”, we are shown how the media can capture the minds of many people. With it’s constant show of images, information, and new footage, the public and memorized on one idea for a long time. The more that is exposed, the more interested the public will be. This resembles that of pornography because it gets the public hook on exposure. Weather it is good or bad, the more shown that is shown, the more the public will pay attention to fulfill their thirst to know. It also talks about how people are causing self turmoil. People “mask” themselves so that they do not show their true selves. They hold in their pain, troubles, and sufferings. This also points at the reason why people like to focus on the TV so much. To keep their minds off their own life, they keep themselves busy with what’s happening to the outside world. I think that the reason they do this, is because they don’t’ want to feel alone in the world. They want to feel that somewhere out there, there is someone experiencing the same thing they are or even worse. As I read “The Poetics of Storytelling” by Harold Scheub, I was interested in Scheub interested in his concept of for there to be a story, there as to be a poem. If we think about it profoundly, he is correct in the sense that all stories have the elements that are needed to create a story. Elements such as a mood, a setting (physical or metaphysical), and a theme, proves Scheub’s prospective. I agree because that is what a poem is also. It’s like a short version of a story. It is like summarizing someone’s thoughts, events, and feelings all in a few lines. Other examples are how the story teller is trying to catch the audience’s attention and mood and how the author must find a way to connect all the concepts smoothly while enriching the entertainment. In the article “An Attempted Description of an Indescribable Film” , Wender(the author) tries to explain all the ideas that was but in the film “Wings of Desire”. This piece was a very beautiful piece in my opinion. They place that is shown is almost like god’s angels on Earth. Kind of like how guardian angels are constantly among us. They try to bring happiness though their singing and mourn for those that are suffering. They cannot on fully interact with the physical world, but the can only hope. At the same time, they learn from humans. They see their interactions, human nature in one sense, and are interested who it is like. In a way this portrays a saying that I’ve heard long ago. “The immortals envy us because everything seems more beautiful to us”. It reminds me because I think of how the “angels” alive, but they don’t have to worry about anything. In doing so, I wonder what it’s like doing the same thing every day and wondering the same thing every day. The reason the person who made this film chose to film in Berlin is because he wanted to emphasize unity. Because Berlin was in a country “torn in two”, it was a perfect example of for him to show how a place can rebuild itself. Although it was divided, its own will brought the society up. Here we learn that self motivation, teamwork, and constant support can help benefit everyone if they are just willing to try. In the end, the author brings angels closer to humans, as if they were like humans. Although they were holy, they still had a lot to learn. At the same time, they have to work together to accomplish the goals they wish to be fulfilled.

This week’s readings were interesting, but I could not help but feel as if the first reading, The Poetics of Storytelling, would have been more at home in a lit class discussing epic poems. I guess that what we were supposed to get out of this reading was that stories can be centered around a poem. I felt that this was not the clearest, in the sense that poems cover a wide range, and somehow I cannot see all poems being easily carried over to story, except for the epic poems similar to those written by Homer. I was also slightly confused to why it was discussing poems and the storyteller. For the idea of narratives, the discussion about what ingredients the storyteller uses to advance his story and to get an emotional response from his audience seemed to be much more relevant than the idea of centering around poetry. Where is says, “…Rhythm, patterning, other forms of ordering shape these responses into a common response, a vessel composed of emotions woven through with the melodic themes of the story, so that the images, historical and artistic, become a part of an emotional experience. Rhythm, music, ritual, and, most consequentially, the emotions: these are the materials of the storyteller” (221), I thought was important. I think that these elements, while important for the poem, are important for most if not all stories. The reading, An Attempted Description of an Indescribable Film was interesting on the fact the author essentially allowed the audience into this thinking process when coming up with an idea for a film. I thought that it was interesting how Wenders broke up the sections from starting with the initial thinking process where he is coming up with place settings, etc, to later, where he simply starts to lay out the skeleton frame of the film. It would make sense that a film maker would have to go through an initial mapping, or storyboarding process, and that this process would vary depending on where in the process the writer is. It was interesting to me to see how Wenders went through explaining why Berlin (what attracted him to Berlin to film), and how he wanted to go about trying to look inside of Berlin. The use of angels to accomplish this goal is an interesting decision. I dislike the use of angels, but I suppose they can accomplish what regular people might not be able to in films. I also thought that it was interesting when Wenders talked about going from a black to white film, then switching to color as soon as the angels turned human. That as a effective way, in my opinion, of allowing the audience to know that they are looking originally through the angels’ eyes (who can only see in black and white), to knowing that they are know looking at the world the way the angels who have just turned into humans, are. It seemed to me that the film would lose much of its potential effectiveness if it did not use this idea.

The recurring theme in the reading “The Poem and the Story” is that the poem never exists without a story, nor can a story stand without a poem. A poem is always a sort of story; it has something to tell. Similarly, without its poetic element, the story cannot be moving. The poetry and the story go hand in hand in order to make something that reaches out to people. A Zulu child, according to Scheub, when telling a story focuses more on its patterns and rhythms rather than its linear construction. I wonder if their way is more effective than the conventional structure-focused narrative. This reminded of another reading from a communications class. The reading was about how children are born a linguistic genius. Because they are not bound with rules of structure and grammar and what not, their mind is able to think up all kinds of interesting, creative words and phrases. They use a language of their own. It comes straight form their hearts and minds. They are able to literally, ‘speak their minds‘ as if by instinct. Poetry, too, is something that is supposed to come straight from the inside, it is something in which you contain your feelings and emotions. In the Wenders article, he talks about describing the indescribable. He chooses to accomplish that task by writing his thoughts down in poetry -form. This emphasizes the fact that poetry is something close to the instincts -raw and emotional. Hence, it can help to describe something that would otherwise be hard or impossible to do so. Because the film that Wenders wanted to describe, or any film or similarly deep artwork for that matter, is something that summons the emotions, can’t exactly be contained in structure or mold. His thoughts are jotted down -in sequence as they came to him. This way, it is more real. More fresh.

Alright, this is Eugene Lee and this is my response. I find that Wender’s reading piece is a lot like a story and a poem in itself. It begins by telling the story of a Zulu child, and many times, uses figurative and metaphorical language. Wenders says that a storytellers essentially deals with the heart and the emotions, and that a story is almost always interconnected with a poem, and vice versa. Wenders claims that a storyteller’s job is to draw out the emotions of people. Wenders also talks about the importance of imagery, and how they can be used for the story and emotions, and how the ordering of imagery is the true poem of the story. He ten went in depth into how the poetics of storytelling contribute to the music in the story, and starts telling an oral poem all of his own. I found it very informing about learning the patterns established by rhythm and image, and and the importance of oral oetry. I believe that Wenders does a good job in giving an example of the usages of images in poetic stories, but sometimes it could be a bit hard to keep up with what exactly he was saying, because sometimes, overly flowery language can be detrimental to the main idea of a piece, because it can make it hard to understand. However, I enjoyed many of the flowery moments of the reading, for I am a singer myself, and can appreciate the good points of a song that produces good imagery. The narrative stories made me realize that we really do live in a world where most narrative storytelling has become obsolete with our televisions, DVDs, books, internets, and most annoying of them all: copyrights. In my opinion, copyrights do tend to discourage, to some degree, these oral poems, because they are afraid others might benefit from their creativity! However, the fact that there are written texts does help to preserve long standing ideas in a more pure form. I also appreciated it when Wender talked about how poetry and storytelling provide people with a sense of community, and link us with the past, for I very much agree with him and can easily relate to what he is saying. Wender basically says that artists have been one of the key forces in shaping society inn their review of the past, present, and future. Wender also analyzes the oral poem extremely well and helped me to understand the poem a lot better. One of the most important lines of the piece was the poet John Ciardi said “The purpose of analysis is not to destroy beauty but to identify its sources”. It helped me understand the importance of metaphor and rhythm and repetition, and how they can bring out many emotions. Overall, the reading was one of the better ones, in my opinion, for it was really artsy. I love stories from all different kinds of media, from books to movies to graphic novels, and it is one of my key goals to write a story and portray it in a manner that can really make people feel something. I am looking forward to the lab this week of scripting, preproduction, and location scouting, for it will be a step forward in this goal.

Harold Scheub, in "The Poetics of Storytelling", emphasizes the interrelativity of story and poem; how one cannot exist without the other. He says," there never was a story without a poem, and there never was a poem without a story."(pg.24) In "The Poem", he goes on to say how at the heart of it all lies emotion, and that is the key that both the performer and the audience must get. The poem in the story lies in embodying imagery and emotion into a form. Although in literature, this can be understood and is often obvious; to thrust it into film can be quite tricky. All the elements and subtle nuances of a film, from camera angles to the lighting to the plot, everything must come together to form poetry. The discussion of Mdukiswa Tyabashe exemplifies how even the subtlest things can become powerful through meaning; we see how a gentle shift of posture of Tyabashe can signals his emotions and the underlying meaning of his saying. When his body slumps from the king, we know he’s not talking to the king an when his body becomes erect, we feel a ring of joy in his voice. It can be difficult to label exactly what makes something poetry, but certain elements are granted. As the storyteller from “A Page from a Journal” expresses, these things are “image, feeling, rhythm.” When and if used correctly, they have the power to turn any storyline into beautiful poetry. However, when the story itself is beautiful, very little is needed to make it poetic. This is the case of “Wings of Desire.” This is an interesting inside look at film that seems to have so many unquantifiable elements to it that it almost seems indescribable. Undoubtedly, the poetic description gets at the heart of what the film is about; even the summary is moving. The format of the description resembles something of an epic poem, adding to the poetic effect. Making the sky the universal factor that both lies at the heart and cements everything together is ingenious and it is true that no matter how much whatever is underneath changes, the sky never does, and will always remain, watching. This is a parallel metaphor to the film's subjects: the angels. The juxtaposition of angles and Berlin transcends the history of Berlin into a being a story and ultimately a poem. In the film, we see how easily the angels are able to talk about shocking things such as the way a person committed suicide, with the same tone and expression as they say something trivial. The fact that it is black and white gives a sense of dreariness and lifelessness and asserts how the angels cannot “feel” life. All they can do is observe and know, never feel. Their situation raises many questions in the audience, as we try to understand what it must be like without being able to “feel” what their ‘life’ is like. It almost is an exchange of curiosity, of the unknowns. I’m really looking forward to finishing the movie.

“There never was a story without a poem” (215). In Harold Scheub’s article “The Poem and the Story, The Poetics of Storytelling,” Scheub discusses how all stories or narratives contain a poetic core, shaping images with a rhythmic flow that evokes emotions from the audience. This article was lengthy and confusing at times, but in many ways, I found it interesting because it sort of draws a connection between poetic storytelling and film. In film, images are used creatively to convey a message or story; however, they can also involve the audience by drawing them in emotionally. “The images have two functions: to move the story and to move the audience” (216). The director must know exactly what emotions he/she is attempting to produce through the story of their film, and then be able to successfully convey them through images. Such storytelling should contain a rhythm that would allow the audience to feel moved by what they saw and to experience the emotions the filmmaker intended for them to feel. In Wim Wender’s article, “An Attempted Description of an Indescribable Film,” Wenders talks about wishing for the existence of something and working until it comes true. In his case he wished for, and eventually created, a film about Berlin—not only about the city but the people as well. I found this article to be particularly fascinating. Throughout the piece, Wenders is attempting to explain the first treatment for his film, “Wings of Desire,” and the story behind it. However, what I found to be the interesting part about it was that midway through his explanation, Wenders begins to write in such a manner that seems poetic both in appearance and in content. From the point where he begins to discuss the idea of Berlin representing ‘The World’ to the point where he introduces the use of ‘Angels,’ it almost seems as though he is writing a free verse poem about his film. I thought it played out well with the idea (from the previous article) that a story cannot exist without a poem. In this sense, even his explanation about the background to story of his film can be told poetically. I also liked how passionately Wenders spoke about his film. He seemed to have so much of it well developed and thought out in his head. I thought the reasoning behind his choosing of the title: “The Sky Over Berlin” was perfect—that “the sky is maybe the only thing that unites these two cities” (232). His incorporation of history, WWII, into his storyline about the ‘Second Angel Rebellion’ and the ‘fallen angels’ was very creative, and I found his combination of reality and fantasy, humans and angels, to be quite interesting as well. Although I have not seen the whole film, this article was very intriguing and made me want to watch it in its entirety. I especially want to see how the use of metaphors, symbols, black and white v. color, reality v. fantasy, mortals v. immortals, and so forth effectively play out through the telling of his “wish.”

Even though our next segment is on fictional story telling, I have not really thought deeply about it before: what it entails, its essential elements. After reading Harold Scheub’s “The Poetics of Storytelling,” I think I have a grasp on the most important elements of a story. It is the poetry, music, and rhythm inherent in any story. Even Scheub’s little article was poetic in the way he presented the contents, its wording, flow, images, and order. Now that I think about it, I guess it is true that at the heart of every story is a poem. Before a story can be told, its poeticness has to be comprehended because “within that [poetic] interior is the engine of the story, that which animates and motivates, that which keeps the narrative in motion, that which provides the rhythmical flow of the story, that which elicits, controls, and thereby shapes the emotions of the audience into metaphor – the poetic center of the story” (Scheub 23). However, it is also true that the poem is not just a poem, but it is a poem with a story and “the raw material is emotion, that of the performer and, most signally, that of the audience” (Scheub 25). This definitely makes sense because when I go to watch a movie, I am expecting to experience a certain emotion. For example, when I watch Talladega Nights, starring Will Ferrell, I expect to laugh and maybe at times feel exhilaration because the main character had just won. There is a poetic story to it, of course; the good guy goes through trials and tribulations, learns some life lessons, overcomes those obstacles, and finally a happy ending. Harold Scheub also tells the story of the poet Mdukiswa Tyabashe who appears in the court of King Diliz’ Iintaba Mditshwa to tell a story of the history of Mpondomise. Just by reading Scheub’s account of Tyabashe’s story, I get thrills. Imagine actually being there and listening, seeing as he told the story with all its poetry and musical flow! Wim Wenders article “An Attempted Description of an Indescribable Film,” is also poetic. He describes the atmosphere of Berlin so well and what it represents in the context of the movie. Obviously, the poem he includes is also poetic, but there are less noticeable elements. The story starts off with desolate angels in Berlin, and as they follow the lives of the people, they begin to want to become human; thus, a couple angels do follow that route and turn into humans – experiencing all our emotions, senses, fallacies, and goodness. The story, in itself, is poetic. It tells a story, but not in a normal way. There is a unique spin to it that makes the story stand out. For all his humbleness is titling the article, Wenders does a great job of describing the “indescribable film.” Documentary film-making did not hold much appeal for me, but our next foray into making films seems interesting. Even though, it is a group project I hope to add my own “wish” for something to exist and maybe that wish might translate into a good story with a beautiful poetic heart.

Michaela Simmons November 5, 2006 This week's readings and films focused on narratives that use devices other than dialogue to convey emotion and message. Harold Scheub delineates the keys for a narrative in his article "The Poem in the Story." He says that the poem and the story intertwine, and that there is never one without the other. "Poetry is the temper of the story" (216); its rhythm helps not only construct the organization of the piece, but also to helps to evoke imagery. He states that "nonverbal rhythms create a form of image-evoked emotions" (221), and that the materials of the storyteller are not words, but rather "rhythm, music, ritual, metaphor, and, most consequentially, the emotions" (221). Most of the narrative films we have watched in this class have evoked their own rhythms through imagery, and have not relied on dialogue. In both narratives and documentaries, the rhythm is very important in establishing mood and conveying messages. In the film, "Morvern Callar", directed by Lynne Ramsey, the viewers learn from the characters' expressions and actions, as opposed to their words. In this film, the main character's boyfriend commits suicide leaving her with a tape, among other items. Thus music plays a key role in the film's choice of expression. Not only does the music act as a means of conveying a message, it also helps establish the rhythm of the film. The charcter's quiet and disillusioned state plays out in the film's mood and in its rhythm. This is most notable when the main character sits beaneath a tree, lost somewhere in Spain, letting ants crwal over her hands. The scenes are generally quiet, with a hint of hopelessness amidst what seems to be a girl trying to maintain hope. Ramsey displays mood well without words, instead using the emotion of the characters and the rhythm of the scenes. Another film that demonstrates an unusual narrative is the film "Wings of Desire," directed by Wim Winders. This is an emotional piece about Berlin after the Second World War. A few angels are banished to this place of hopelessness after disagreeing with God's belief that a peacful humanity is possible. The angels can walk anywhere and not be seen, even across The Wall. Winders states that to him, the sky is the only connecting piece between the East and the West. The film does not have much dialogue, but instead relies heavily on the whispered thoughts of the people, and always finds a moment of hope or beauty in their lives. I think this piece is a great example of the article "The Poetics of Storytelling," by Harold Scheub, in that the story is so artfully and emotionally woven, and that it has more than just the "ingredient" (222) of words, but it has "image, feeling, [and] rhythm" (223). Winders even states that he was not attempting to write a screenplay, but rather was trying to "[describe] what [was] ghosting around in [his] imagination" (223). In the end, he is showing, through angels, the price humans pay for pleasure and emotion, which are fear and pain, as well as showing that there is a glimmer of hope for humanity.

Although I can see what Harold Scheub was saying about poetry and storytelling being equal components of one another, I had a difficult time reading the article. It's understandable that poetics would contribute greatly to the success of a story piece, especially the way in which Scheub included symbolism as a poetic manner useful in conveying things in a way that "the connection between images is not always apparentl rather, it is felt." (Scheub, p.30) I agree it's true that the two are vital to the success of the other, but I don't feel that the structure of the story – its rhythm, emotion, etc – is more important than the story line itself as it felt Scheub was trying to argue. If the storyline in itself were one of the lesser components of the story and contributed little to its effectiveness, I don't believe people would be as attracted as they commonly are to cheap suspense novels. Though they often lack in dazzling imagery, these pieces generally have the storyline of any other novel – perhaps only separating itself through its poor use of "poetics." The same would be for those movies which contain almost every aspect of "poetics" – constructing intense and effective atmosphere – only to leave the audience with a lacking sense of fulfillment with a poor conclusion or insufficient resolve to the original conflict. Though I agree it is important for the storyline to be portrayed in a manner that envelopes the reader – fully utilizing the rhythm, emotion, and imagery of the piece – a work with no true direction or baseline to begin with is nothing. The creation of a storyboard prior to the inclusion of the methods through which to portray the story supports this argument as well. In this way, I disagree with Scheub's argument; however, I acknowledge the importance of poetics in storytelling, only to a lesser extent. In Wim Wenders' film "Notebook On Cities and Clothes," I saw this connection between poetics and storytelling. Considering Wenders' idea for the film had already been rather abstract and roughly put together as far as storyboarding goes (his going to Japan in search of this designer without any real knowledge of what was to come from this experience), this "story" had already been put on its way to being constructed from more poetic parts from the outset. Using different cameras and overlaying screens and projections, Wenders used poetic imagery to better convey his ideas to the audience in what he felt and how through his own eyes and perspective. The narrative as well had been rather poetic in its moments of silence and music – leaving the eyes to interpret the story before them. The film seen during discussion regarding the girl's quest to publishing her boyfriends' novel had also shown these characteristics. Though I primarily disagree with Scheub's argument, Wenders' film as well as the film seen during discussion very well shows the effectiveness of poetry in storytelling – however this skill must be very carefully acquired and is not likely to be that which many people can portray effectively.

In the piece, ‘the Poem and the Story’, it talks about the need for all stories to have a poem, to act as an agent to create the rhythm in the story. This idea then correlates into the need for poetry in films when films talk about their narrative; it forms the timing, dramatization, and the emotion in the film. I find it rather interesting at first that the author would create a connection between poetry and film until I realized that many of the films I watched and enjoyed had a certain underlying rhythm to them, an unspoken poetry that helped integrate the feeling of the times, the performance, and tie in the emotions of the characters in a way that felt honest. There is always a message in them, a meaning, a lesson waiting to be learned in these films, whether the viewer realizes this or not. The article uses an African tribal bard and his story involving the king and his desire to maintain tradition in order to convey the message of the piece. Moreover, there were many different examples of poems and different rhythms that these poems produced which also paralleled to films and how they also had their own varying rhythms. The second article is Wim Wenders talking about how he would describe his film: ‘Wings of Desire’. I found it tied in with our current subject matter rather well –how he talked about how he wanted his film to be more about the people in Berlin and how they live instead of just about the city itself. He talks about how he ties in angels with this Berlin story, which is also integrated into the poem that parallels the Berlin film. It was interesting how the idea came to him, as if there was a barrage of insistence that he had to include angels, from seeing paintings to hearing it on the car radio. Then Wenders goes on about how he thought about the story behind these angels and why they were in Berlin, whether people could see them, how they interacted with other angels or demons lurking around Berlin. Then he describes the excitement of the angels, if one of them were to become human, how they could react, how they would love it and revel in being able to enjoy the sounds, sights, tastes and smells of life. He talks about the fears of something new, and how like humans, some angels cannot take the newness of being human and went mad, while others got used to it and adapted. I enjoyed how he so thoroughly thought out the behavior of angels once they became human and the varying affects of overwhelming sensations and how it can create such a fear as to drive on mad. The author/creator of the film is very thoughtful of his story, of his creation and I enjoyed the movie very much, but I think I enjoyed it even more after reading his creative processes for the film and the poems.

It is remarkable how some film directors combine film with poetic story telling. As a result the film piece not only tells a story, but also sends a message to the viewer and eventually evokes several emotions. In order to achieve this poetic effect the film must also become a poem and follow some of the rules of poetry. For instance, tone, rhythm, repetition and so on. Most important, according to Harold Scheub in his article The Poem And The Story, Poetics of Storytelling, “a story cannot exist without a poem”. This holds true by the fact that a film not only displays images, but also evokes emotions with these images. Even though I would like to think, most films are like poems or vice versa, some films vaguely hold true to these values or don’t hold to them at all. A film can sometimes signify nothing, or evoke no emotions at all even if it tends to follow a poetic guideline. In most cases, this type of mediocre film may try to narrate a story, but fails to do so for lack of description, rhythm, melody and in most cases, emotion. Eventually the viewer becomes bored, will not understand the message and become confused. In order for the poem and the story to coexist, the director needs to know what he wants to demonstrate or make the audience feel. Like in a poem, the director is able to control the viewers’ emotions. The director becomes a poet. For example in the film, by Wim Wender’s “Wings of Desire” the director fuses film with poetic story telling. The use of metaphors for instance the two angels that interact with the population work as emotional evokers towards the audience. As the viewer watches the film, the two angels bring curiosity and yet a sense of joy in the viewer. Again this is the act of poetic story telling combine with film making. Personally, I think a poem can only be conceived if the poet is feeling a strong emotion, then if the poem contains much of the poet’s feelings and thoughts, in most cases they may reflect on the reader. Surprisingly, this can also work on a film. The director may feel such a strong emotion that when narrating his film, it can cause a great impact on the viewer; this fact emphasizes the relationship between poem and film. Most important, Scheub in his article states that the three essential factors between poems and stories are image, feeling and rhythm. In fact, without these it would almost be impossible for a film to cause that poetic impact on the viewer. While the image works as backbone to the entire process that is, it portraits the main message, feeling and rhythm emphasize the emotion the director or poet wants to come across. Overall, the fact of combining or using poems and films is very fascinating, and I find it arouses a lot of emotions on the viewers. – Diego Ley