Video: Obsolete technology meets arty film student
posted at 8:46 pm on August 9, 2007 by Bryan
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
Using hundreds of Polaroid photos (dead trees and chemicals) and probably scores of hours (lights on while the artist arranges the photos) to accomplish what a video camera can do in real time can’t be a good carbon tradeoff, even if the art that’s achieved wins an NEA grant. Which it probably will.
For some reason, it reminds me of this. Must be the headache talking.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages:
And, Herein, we see the Great Decline.
Weight of Glory on August 9, 2007 at 8:57 PM
That was pretty cool, I thought. I like seeing old school technology like this.
BadgerHawk on August 9, 2007 at 9:10 PM
Very cool indeed!
Ordinary1 on August 9, 2007 at 9:22 PM
This is great. This is really great.
Kudos to this guy and his team. It brings me back to art school days. *sigh*
Grantman on August 9, 2007 at 9:27 PM
much MUCH more patience than I have.
And at minimum 60cents a polaroid (retail they’re a buck a piece) that was expensive too.
Creative yes, but I think he stole the idea from the HP TV ads…
shooter on August 9, 2007 at 9:43 PM
Still photos come to life!
Very cool indeed. Where did I put my retro 80s clothing?
Kini on August 9, 2007 at 9:53 PM
you’ve got to give him credit. that was harder than your standard, move stuff around, take a snap, move stuff around anim.
jummy on August 9, 2007 at 9:54 PM
That’s just really clever.
High Desert Wanderer on August 9, 2007 at 9:59 PM
How do we know these are real Polaroid pictures and not just a bunch of video frame grabs texture mapped onto a Polaroid-like model, and then arranged and animated in a 3D modeling program like 3D Studio Max? Once you have made a 3D model of the Polaroid paper and selected your images from a video, it would be an easy matter to crop them to a different aspect ratio and texture-map them onto the model of the Polaroid paper. Then its just a matter of adding some sepia filters and adjusing the timing.
Not trivial, but not all that difficult either.
This crossed my mind because the series with the water in the background looked more like some kind of filter effect than real water. And there would be no way (that I can think of off the top of my head) to make the wave motion look synchronized with real water and some sort of time-lapse photography.
Herikutsu on August 9, 2007 at 10:15 PM
Those were made with carbon paper?
andycanuck on August 9, 2007 at 10:28 PM
Are we sure there was no CG in the mix here?
- The Cat
MirCat on August 9, 2007 at 10:55 PM
Regardless of technology, I thought it was pretty clever, and well done. Fed funds worth, no…but still pretty clever.
tickleddragon on August 9, 2007 at 11:00 PM
pleasant
RushBaby on August 9, 2007 at 11:10 PM
Well I wasn’t saying it wasn’t kewl. Just that is reminded me of This.
- The Cat
MirCat on August 9, 2007 at 11:17 PM
Speaking of the 80s, did that remind anyone else of the music video Take On Me? Ah, memories…
inviolet on August 10, 2007 at 1:19 AM
I didn’t see any gre-e-e-nie message in the vid, so I’m not sure why there seems to be an accusation of his being a Goreocrite (does that word work?) in doing this project.
A lot of photographers (my brother included) are spending time doing “hands on” work which they find quite satisfying as opposed to digital. He’ll be co-leading a large pinhole camera workshop early next year.
And I guess you could say that there was a little temporarily federal funding on the project (though not NEA). One of the credit pages said “FUNDED IN PART BY:” and included “TAX RETURN ‘07″
eeyore on August 10, 2007 at 5:36 AM
Unless you have a box dedicated to rendering, that could consume your processing resources for a week. :) Also, it sounds like a whole lot of trouble for an effect that would not be flawless. There would be visual artifacts that could be detected by pixel hawks such as yourself.
Stole the idea? Good grief, are we past the point of being able to acknowledge originality?
Originality in art is overstated. Most artists create works which derive from an evolution of ideas and techniques handed down. Rarely does an artist completely change things. (Escher, Hendrix, Brown are a few standouts) There is little room for objectivity in art.
It’s all a matter of style and personal taste.
Regarding the animation, the technique synthesizes old and new photographic and developing technologies with amazing detail and results.
But, I’m a nobody. Here it from the horse’s mouth, Jordan Greenhalgh:
The Race Card on August 10, 2007 at 6:30 AM
I like this part “Funded in part by … Tax Return ‘07.” Damn that G. W. Bush giving him money back as payment for wasting carbon units! Global Warming!
Neo on August 10, 2007 at 7:17 AM
I might have been annoyed by the video if it had been trying to make some sort of statement…especially a “green” one. As it is, I thought it was a pretty cool video.
flipflop on August 10, 2007 at 7:27 AM
Stop-motion animation. From Gumby to Wallace and Gromit, always an art of patience, preciseness, and skill.
MadisonConservative on August 10, 2007 at 8:26 AM
This is entertaining. Al Gore isn’t. Al Gore has done more to set back global warming through his actions than any other single being on this earth.
Dead Dinos in his jet fuel, Dead Weight following around with a fancy “Sierra Club” hat, Dead Trees in his books, Dead Heads at his concerts. The man’s actions clearly indicate global warming isn’t real. If it were, Al Gore would be just a little bit more forward thinking than putting Goreco flourescent bulbs in his home.
BKennedy on August 10, 2007 at 9:21 AM
Very cool….very well done. I hope he wins/gets something for all his trouble
RobG on August 10, 2007 at 9:51 AM
reminds me of Polyphonic Spree’s video for “Running Away”
clghitis on August 10, 2007 at 6:22 PM
Comment pages: