Project(or): Snow

February 11, 2013 2:16 PM

"During a blizzard, I pointed a video projector out the window and projected a movie onto the snow. These are the results in motion, and you can also see high-resolution stills."
posted by maxwelton (31 comments total)

Neat!
posted by brundlefly at 2:22 PM on February 11

What film did he project? And why did he choose such bland music? Other than that, good stuff!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:24 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Very 70s and love it. But I need to stop reading Reddit. I adore Metafilter, the banter and discussions, but Reddit is like the buzzkill for good posts here.
posted by stormpooper at 2:24 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

Who watches movies on snow? That doesn't work at all!
posted by cjorgensen at 2:28 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

sort of the opposite of HD.
posted by HuronBob at 2:31 PM on February 11

Neat idea but I wish he had set it up further away so that you could see the projector and the cone of light projecting endlessly into the dark night.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 2:31 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

Pretty flakey idea.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 2:33 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

*sigh* orange and teal...
posted by whittaker at 2:35 PM on February 11 [7 favorites]

I thought he was gonna end up with Tupac.
posted by cmoj at 2:36 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Kids today! If we wanted to turn a movie into a snowstorm all we had to do was sit in the wrong part of the room while watching the telly.

(The still photos are pretty neat).
posted by yoink at 2:41 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

for people asking, it was the lorax (read the comments when it showed up on teh reddit a couple days ago)
posted by nutate at 2:45 PM on February 11

I have done this! It looks really cool. It's also fun to project on mist from a fountain (I have tried fog, but it's rarely concentrated enough to really resolve.) A waterfall would be fun, but I don't usually have a projector when I am around one.
posted by louche mustachio at 2:47 PM on February 11

If the precipitation is concentrated enough, you get a ghostly, almost three dimensional look.
posted by louche mustachio at 2:49 PM on February 11

Magical lights.
posted by zagyzebra at 2:51 PM on February 11

for people asking, it was the lorax

Was kinda hoping it was The Dark Crystal.
posted by hal9k at 2:52 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

Focus!
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:53 PM on February 11

Neat.

On the other hand I had to fight my recently acquired reflex to immediately shut off any video that starts with piano music.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:06 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

If anyone's in Massachusetts and wants to try this, we have a Dense Fog Advisory on, so tonight's the night.
posted by maryr at 3:12 PM on February 11

This is a great idea, and turned out pretty good too. I'd like to see how it'd work with bigger, west coast flakes.
posted by Flashman at 3:26 PM on February 11

Hmm, DLP, eh?
posted by pla at 3:39 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

Does anyone remember a children's story about a magical snowman who could create snow in different colors? At the end he stays out on top of a flag pole during a blizzard, and the next day has disappeared, but the landscape is covered in huge multicolored snow drifts.
posted by metaplectic at 4:17 PM on February 11

The blizzard outside was the color of a projector tuned to a dead input.
posted by Avelwood at 4:33 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

This is one of my favorite things of 2013 so far. Really lovely.

it would be fun to try with different movies base on their color fingerprints

http://cinemetrics.fredericbrodbeck.de/
posted by bobdow at 4:34 PM on February 11

Does anyone remember a children's story about a magical snowman who could create snow in different colors?

My neighbor's dog used to magically create snow in different colors. It tasted horrible!
posted by Strange Interlude at 4:34 PM on February 11 [5 favorites]

Well, what do you expect from someone who bought into that Weather Channel bullshit storm naming?

Disappointment. You expect to be disappointed.

I do,anyway.
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 4:36 PM on February 11

But I need to stop reading Reddit. I adore Metafilter, the banter and discussions, but Reddit is like the buzzkill for good posts here.

Where's the thread? I wanna join em.
posted by mrnutty at 4:47 PM on February 11

Looks almost like fish. It'd be cool in slo mo.
posted by yoga at 4:49 PM on February 11

Hmm, DLP, eh?

I noticed this too. Yuck.
posted by aubilenon at 5:11 PM on February 11

One of my favorite really simple effect moments is at Disneyland's Fantasmic show, when they spray water into the air and then project movies onto the spray. It gives the images depth and movement, and is a very effective and surprising thing when you first see it.

I was expecting something more similar to that here, but this was lovely in its own way.
posted by hippybear at 5:57 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

I've done this at parties with a fog machine. It works really great.

This video, though? I thought it failed pretty miserably. I can imagine it looking pretty cool in person, but with the lack of scale, focus, anything resembling context, this pretty much just looks like blue and red droplets falling. I too was hoping for something a little more like "fantasmic" but this just didn't do anything for me. Great idea, though.
posted by ShutterBun at 7:30 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

I'm delighted to see the result of the experiment, but yea, it could have been better. I always had intended to get around to trying my projector pointed at our swimming pool, from the balcony above, but never got to it (when we lived in South Africa).

I've always loved watching snow fall, and I especially like watching it in headlights while going down the road (preferably as a passenger. LOL).
posted by Goofyy at 12:25 AM on February 12