Sixth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

William Wees notes that “a number of avant-garde film and video makers have created a synthesis of poetry and film that generates associations, connotations, and metaphors neither the verbal nor the visual text would produce on its own” (1984, p. 109). According to Wees the film poem may not use the written text in the film poem but produces poetic significance by using the narrative and moving image without relying on written or spoken text. This paper explores the creation of typefaces designed on the paralinguistic of the spoken vernacular from workers’ narratives and how they can have a significant influence on the making of the film poem. It further draws on the connection of people and place and examines how typography has a connection to the human condition. Based on interviews of workers from a small town community and the result of the closure of the only industry in the area it had on the community, this paper demonstrates how typography can influence the narrative of the film poem. Though a series of created film poems and designed typefaces, this paper discusses the creation of typographical design and film poems specifically produced from the workers’ narratives.