"The sun's beat down", by Jo Eaton & Thomas Scovell

Thomas Scovell and Jo Eatons "The sun's beat down" was judged the Best poem inspired by the New Zealand Poet Laureate in the 2010 Mix and Mash Competition. This category was sponsored by National Library of New Zealand.

Description and content sources

"The sun's beat down" is both a remix and a mash-up. We took set 2's words, "moment, light, curve, attend" and image, as inspiration. Both made us recollect our childhoods and long summer days. The image reminded us of washing the sand off ourselves before we were allowed inside after a day at the beach. The words reminded us of the intensity of the sun and those shared, but precious, moments under it that we all recall as Kiwi kids.

Wanting to mash our own stories with another one that New Zealanders would typically share we chose "Te T?nga a M?ui i Te R?" or "How M?ui slowed the sun". Told in various mediums to children throughout New Zealand this traditional M?ori tale should be familiar to many and tells the story of how M?ui made the days longer.

A word from the set is used in each verse. The "chorus" is the story of M?ui told in simple prose.

To accompany the poem reading, rather than selecting visuals to match the narrative, we chose something less intrusive but also a mash-up in itself. We first found a selection of Creative Commons licensed summer beach images from the locations in the poem on Flickr, then mashed them up with the "Mean annual solar radiation" layer from the LRIS portal for environmental data.

This was achieved by normalising the exposure of each image (in greyscale) and then taking the lowest mean annual solar radiation from any location as the base, then overexposing all others by the appropriate percent. Each image, now representing both location and the intensity of the sun at it, is then displayed on screen for the appropriate percentage of time as per the story - showcasing a lifetime of sun exposure.

We hope you enjoy.

Mix and Mash poetry category, 'Set 2' words, "moment, light, curve, attend"

LRIS portal for environmental data, "LENZ - Mean annual solar radiation" layer (Landcare Data Use License)

"Te T?nga a M?ui i Te R?" ("How M?ui slowed the sun"): Traditional story rewritten (no copyright)

Flickr - Creative Commons licensed photos of New Zealand locations (see video for full list)

Judges’ comments

This is an engaging blending of a traditional Maori legend with a personal story about developing melanoma, an experience shared by many Kiwis. The judges enjoyed the mix of audio, text and creative commons licensed imagery to a work that can be shared across multiple platforms. The addition of environmental and location based data added to the sophistication of this remix. One judge commented that the style of delivery, visual content and the blend of ancient and modern stories meant that she was engaged right to the end of the clip, and when she got to the end, she wanted to start all over again.