Lotte Time Lapse - Birth to 12 Years Old

http://vimeo.com/40448182

This video is a time lapse showing the evolution of a baby growing up to be a pre-teen. I most admire the filmmakers dedication. He committed himself to this project twelve years ago and continued to film his daughter from birth until she was twelve years old. I like that the progress is relatively slow, it does not jump around from year to year, although the beginning end transformation is very obvious and drastic. I have seen time lapse videos before that is strictly a slideshow, but this video stood out to be because he recorded her face speaking and moving, which also changed as she aged. The inclusion of more than one video for each year definitely added to the intricacies and dedication to the piece. He clearly spent a lot of time gathering the materials, and was very patient as he waited twelve years to make the video. I wonder if in the future the artist will continue this tradition and make the video longer? Will each segment become shorter? 

As for the music, I think the video works better without it. The music reminds me a bit of elevator music or something you would hear playing in a restaurant. It carries no meaning and distracts from the images and movement the video has to offer. I think an interesting addition would be Lotte's voice laid over the piece to give some idea of what she sounded like during different stages of her life. From gibberish when she was an infant, to broken English, to higher vocabulary in middle school. That could almost be a separate video all on its own: analyzing her speech development. 

A Story for Tomorrow

http://vimeo.com/36519586

Oh man. I'm not sure where to start with this one. I think this film is just so intelligent. The pace kept me at ease until I felt like I wanted to run with the story and, exactly at that moment, the film picked up. The beginning brought me serenity and patience and the pace helped me to notice every little thing in every shot. I also was extremely impressed when I watched it a second time and started to think about all of the places the artist needed to leave the camera just to get a shot of him walking up a sand dune for 20 seconds or driving down a road for 10.

The amount of effort that goes into films really is what is so inspiring to me, almost more than the content sometimes. I happen to enjoy most everything I saw in this film since I am very moved by nature, but in general, I tend to have an automatic appreciation for a film once I start to realize how much effort went into it.

I think the music also just kind of exists with the film and brings the film forward/keeps it in motion rather than distracting the audience. That was impressive to me as well.

The amount of motion in the end of the film just really made me think about how I could do something like this, how I could live a more exciting life...just so many things. It made me want to travel more and do what I love. I love when that occurs by simply watching other people travel and do what they love.

A strong film.

Jostens Clarksville Plant: Portrait of a Place

Reminder: I will not be in class Wednesday (in Tennessee on a press run for the BC yearbook).

RUIN - an animated short set in a post-apocalyptic universe

http://vimeo.com/38591304

I was drawn to this video when a celebrity mentioned it in a tweet and recommended people check it out. The "Oddball" animation short film features incredibly lifelike CGI, and can be seen in 3D and 4D theaters (which would probably make it all that more impressive). The beginning of the film starts with an overgrown, deserted city. The lifelike structures made me second-guess whether or not the short was actually animation or not. The film is a long chase scene between a human that has electronically-glowing skin and a hovercraft. Through a series of bombs and explosions, the human eventually conquers the hovercraft. This superhuman must have powers of some sort to have survived such attacks – you get the notion that this was not the first – from some higher power. The effects in the film range from explosions to slow motion and very lifelike panning landscapes. The short ends with the title “RUIN” fading in and out of black. The end credits run over a night scene of dark blues and blacks that suggest the attacks last past the duration of the film. The most interesting part of the film is what has been left out. How did this “human” survive the apocalypse? What was the apocalypse like? How do they live now? Are they the only survivors? It makes you wonder about what the future holds…

The louder you scream, the faster we go (2005)--Phil Collins (b. 1970)

http://www.ubu.com/film/collins_louder.html

The louder you scream, the faster we go is actually comprised of three separate promotional videos for three unsigned acts. The first two minutes were recorded at a film festival, and I thought the footage was really beautiful. I loved the captured raw and candid emotions that the crowd exhibited as they swayed to music and enjoyed their atmosphere. I think the employment of close ups, so that every detail of their face, and subtle hints at emotion, made the captures so interesting. I would've much preferred if the video had ended there, but instead it moved onto the next clip, which featured mature women performing ballet, with alternative rock in the background. It definitely reversed the mood I had experienced from the previous clip, and actually left me really confused. Though, once again, I like how Collins ended the clip with a close up of a woman clapping with a raw and magical happiness on her face. The last clip was of a man pleasuring himself for about a minute. It is quite amazing how many different reactions I felt from one video. The choice of clips really got me thinking about what his overall message might have been, rather than watch a story and have the answer handed to me. If I had to guess, I would say that Collins attempted to capture reality in three separate scenes, that features emotions captured through candid videography. Although I didn't really agree with the choices of clips, I do like how this was something very unique to what I have seen in my life. This video got me thinking a little more creatively for my own personal project.

Sade's Green Dream

This is the video I was trying to show in class last week.

Hans Richter

The black and white shapes, negative and positive space, creates an interesting visual abstraction for film. I can imagine this a 2D narrative series of work horizontally displayed. The use of film also makes the video more authentic.