Posts tagged 'Rain'

Shelter

First off, you better have some killer headphones at the ready before diving into the attached. I honestly can’t remember ever featuring a video with better sound design; it’s easily the star of the show.

That’s not to say the visuals are in any way lacking – they aren’t – but having such well-mixed, tangible foley work and layered, atmospheric background noise goes a long way to selling the immersion…especially when dealing with subject matter as conceptually out-there as this.

I don’t want to spoil where this one is headed but my favorite sequence kicks off at 4:38. Over the course of a scant 30 seconds, director Carl Burton makes four perfectly-timed cuts that both establish the scene and give you a concrete sense of place within it. My first viewing was late last night and the instant sense of ‘cozy’ I felt at 5:00 was palpable; it was as if I was there, temporarily shielded from the rain. It’s magic; just stellar stuff.

A big thanks is due to the aforementioned Mr. Burton who took the time to write-in and share his work with us. For the measly asking price of $3 you can own an HD download of Shelter, an 18-page making-of PDF and a bunch of wallpapers. It might seem silly to spend money on something you just, moments ago, saw for free (legally, too) but whenever I do I feel better. Why?

  1. He didn’t have to ask.
  2. I didn’t have to give.

It’s a truly voluntary act that helps break up the monotony of my daily obligations and an opportunity to express my appreciation for art someone made beyond a ‘Like’ or a ‘Comment’. It’s IRL ‘Like’. It’s ‘Here, I want you to make something else awesome real soon, please.’ Facilitating that is easily worth the price of a coffee.

[ Shelter ]

Datamosh

“Now that television transmissions have gone completely digital you have probably seen this effect before.  You’re watching TV and then suddenly the image freezes.  Then, instead of glitching back to the next shot, its as if the next shot appears to be wearing the information from the previous shot.  It’s a surreal effect that can be hard to explain.”

Don Whitaker (of Squircle Zoom fame) wrote in to tell us about a video mashup technique called ‘datamoshing’ that, “uses video compression artifacts as a composition tool”. If you’re interested in trying it for yourself be sure to check out this three part tutorial that utilizes free, readily-available-on-the-internets software.

The attached music video – for the tune Mande Burung by Odelia – was created by Charlie Visnic and is an excellent application of the technique. Mind-bending, mellow and trip-tastic – enjoy!

Thanks for the heads-up, Don!

[ Mande Burung by Odelia via The B-Roll ]

Dancing in the rain

'Dancing in the rain' by Yasemin Kahraman

We have Yasemin Kahraman to thank for this fantastic photograph of sparrows enjoying the rain in a field of wheat.

[ Dancing in the rain by Yasemin Kahraman ]