If you have had the experience of seeing this man on stage, the eight minute clip below will come as no surprise. Live on stage, he owns the interminable fuse and phenomenal explosion, both for comedic and dramatic (and sometimes both) effect. He does something in a theater that film has not captured well. Until, trivially, now. So bravo to the camera, and the person behind it, for finding Alan Rickman’s inner tea party gunpowder and lighting it:
Videography
Telling Story
Click the image to the left for a five minute view into the art of story-telling in the words of one our own age’s Homeric wonders (thanks to Atlantic Monthly). The team tasked with capturing and explaining his craft is thoughtfully artful:His signature style is so well known that Apple’s iMovie has a function — a slow zoom on a still image — called “the Ken Burns effect.” For a documentary filmmaker, it’s hard to imagine a more intimidating project than making a documentary film about Ken Burns.
Food Play
In the best of cases food both nourishes and inspires. Who’s to say that it can’t amuse as well.
Drifters
Despite its “Science Fiction Trilogy” sounding name, The Plankton Chronicles is a series of short, compelling educational videos made in conjunction with Tara Oceans Expeditions (a scientific expedition to “sail the seven seas” collecting plankton samples to understand and hopefully mitigate the effects of climate change) and the Observatoire Oceanologique de Villefranche-sur-Mer.
Viewed as a set, they invite the viewer into the kaleidoscopic world that exists in a teaspoon of seawater as well as the open oceans. Click on the image for a macro lens glimpse. Continue reading
Flat Proof (Rare Ad Promo: We Like Bikes)
Conducting, Captured
Since we began here last year, we have had some interns, volunteers and employees who graduated from some great programs at some great universities. But NYU’s Mocap program is unlike any of those programs at any of those universities. And we do not have anyone on our team who can do this.
Thank You NASA
In case you wondered what happens out there in the great blue yonder of our earth’s liquid surface, here is a visualization. Continue reading
In the Shadow of Books
For centuries books have held a place of honor in our collective hearts and minds, whether housed in the great libraries of classical civilizations, the libraries of the “Great Houses” of Europe, or the wooden niche in a country home.
Whether related to their historical relevance or their long beloved history, books resonate with the stories they tell, the places they carry us to and the way they make us feel. Continue reading
Swimming Elephants
We happened to meet Mr. Senthil – a planter who regularly assists the Forestry Department, who is also a frequent customer at Cardamom County. He shared one of his rare videos taken near the southern region of the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
Night Boarding
Stars Shine, Colors Flow
Some pieces of art are so iconic and powerful it is difficult to imagine any interpretation or alteration that wouldn’t result in angry outcries. (The cleaning of the Sistine Chapel ceilings is a case in point.) The piece below, created by Greek artist Petros Vrellis successfully balances reverence and imagination.
Ecological Adventure Careers
Click the image above to go to the location of this video featuring ecologist and explorer Mark Moffett who
has trekked across the globe to find his stories and capture them on film. Just like the creatures he photographs, Mark can be found crawling in the dirt or clinging to the tops of trees to get that perfect shot. Joined by a scaly friend, he shares his breathtaking work, urging all of us to go out and find stories of our own. Continue reading
Being There
If you have not seen this short promo for Being There, these few minutes are enough, in the words of one of the characters, to get you… Continue reading
It’s A Bird’s Life
A post from early November saved a similar video of starlings for the end. Twitchers (a nickname for seriously devoted birdwatchers) were expected to read to the end and see that video as a crescendo of beauty. Continue reading
Man, Birds, Bees & Co-Adaptation
There may be many cases of co-adaptation between species, but we do not encounter them frequently. This video clip is one sampled from the thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of hours that the BBC has invested in for the sake of it various nature programs. Because it is made available on Youtube, which has an intellectual property rights vetting process, it seems to be an example of the BBC’s generous contribution to the commons.
New Symphony Of Science
Although we are partial to the Carl Sagan & Cosmos origins of this series, John D Boswell’s latest gift may be his best yet. Only a few minutes long each, the music-video-remix of scientific explanations is a novel approach to getting the hook in. This one is about evolution.
Aesthetics are always a matter of taste, so the particular style of music, the fast-cutting images, the lighthearted transition from the speaking voice of a well-known scientist to a singsong dub-repeat-dub–all may have their detractors. Continue reading
Fun On The Range
His comments about technique, tools and time taken to put these three minutes on film are interesting. He seems to go a bit nuts at the end, but all in good fun.
As Seen From Space
In retrospect, it seems that everyone I’ve met wanted to be an astronaut at some point in their life. And then we found out about the mind-blowing mental requirements, and hastily adjusted our horizons to firemen or veterinarians, or for the ambitious, treasure hunter. But today’s astronauts aren’t the chiseled-from-fossilized-textbook astronauts of the past (at least, that’s how I’ve imagined them) – besides academic brilliance, creative thunderstorms seem to be commonplace in those launched into space. Continue reading
Last Chance To See
Thanks to Scientific American and its excellent blog posts, this video above is set up with some context. The video shows what will likely be the one chance most of us get to see of this animal. Continue reading
Inside, Thinking: The Box
Something must be in the air with boxes, because we keep noticing them in stop motion. For anyone who stares down a blank page from time to time, this one is a winner. Continue reading
Organikos 