Stop-Motion Studies

January 24, 2003 5:06 AM

Stop-Motion StudiesIn these photographs, the body language of the subjects becomes the basic syntax for a series of Web-based animations. Many sequences document a person's reaction to being photographed by a stranger. Some smile, others snarl, still others perform.
posted by dydecker (23 comments total)

Fascinating link. Disconcerting to see this people moving the way they do...
posted by Erasmus at 5:29 AM on January 24, 2003

Great link! Visual poetry. The rest of the hosting site has some great stuff too.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 5:37 AM on January 24, 2003

Bravo. One thing I can't tell... are the pictures flashing up in a random sequence, or is it just a chaotic predetermined sequence? Whichever it is, it's brilliant.

Hadn't seen anything quite like this before. Thanks Dydecker.
posted by Ynoxas at 6:19 AM on January 24, 2003

This is utterly mesmerizing. Like meditations on the smallest twitches in public behavior, these sequences tells more than gross movements...
thanks for the link.
posted by chandy72 at 6:25 AM on January 24, 2003

#19 reminds me of that Fatboy Slim video. Great link, thanks!
posted by riffola at 6:41 AM on January 24, 2003

great link!
this is such a great alternative to video - it really captures the movement and life in a scene without having to be a big clunky over compressed video file. makes the subjects much more fun to watch too - if it was just video of people fidgeting it'd probably get very boring very quickly.
posted by soplerfo at 7:02 AM on January 24, 2003

Couldn't agree more. I was expecting something more clinical from the description, but these are artistic little snippets of life. Must... resist... using... [brackets]
posted by daver at 7:04 AM on January 24, 2003

Neat. Are these taken in Montreal? I think I liked 8 and 9 the best.
posted by crunchland at 7:14 AM on January 24, 2003

Are these taken in Montreal?

Ummm. From the "intro" page that is linked from the FPP:

"All imagery was shot in Paris, France between November 8 and November 11, 2002."

#16 is my favorite. One she looks like an old girlfriend of mine, and two she is blowing kisses at the camera. Well, she looks like she is blowing kisses :)
posted by terrapin at 7:23 AM on January 24, 2003

my favorite from the boston gallery.
posted by VulcanMike at 7:37 AM on January 24, 2003

I really like these. Thanks for the link.
posted by xammerboy at 7:42 AM on January 24, 2003

Those are amazing. Some how including these small movements does seem to make the subjects seem more human.

Number 1 didn't seem to work for me though. Does anybody else see anything other than some soft, shifting colors when clicking on 1.
posted by willnot at 7:57 AM on January 24, 2003

This is nifty. Makes me want to learn more about what exactly he did. Looks like he had to have a tripod? The camera seems to be very still, especially for a subway.

Also wonder what sort of Flash programming took place. I guess you could do similar things by shooting dv and then exporting as an image sequence.
posted by jeremias at 8:03 AM on January 24, 2003

curse these failing eyes! I scanned the intro, but didn't see the city named.
posted by crunchland at 8:18 AM on January 24, 2003

Incredible! I also liked the animals series -- stock photography of animals set to Missing Persons and Ramones songs. Very trippy.
posted by sparky at 8:58 AM on January 24, 2003

For whatever reason, they made me think of scenes from a horror movie, maybe Jacob's Ladder. Watching them, it was as if I was there, and everyone was moving at blurring speeds, disconcerting.
posted by jonson at 9:10 AM on January 24, 2003

Number 1 didn't seem to work for me though. Does anybody else see anything other than some soft, shifting colors when clicking on 1.

#1 appears to be a very overcast sky, the light moving is the sun behind the clouds.

I'm *pretty* sure that's what it is.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:18 AM on January 24, 2003

Fabulous link, dydecker. I love #11 especially, it's really creepy: the way the man's chest moves up and down, and the way the woman next to him seems to be angry or frightened, there's a whole story in there. In #12 it looks like she's waiting for a chestburster to make an appearance.

I agree with jonson that these are very Jacob's Ladder, and some of them seem to touch that nerve of creepiness that Jacon's Ladder did.
posted by biscotti at 9:53 AM on January 24, 2003

Excellent. Thanks.
posted by bullitt 5 at 11:26 AM on January 24, 2003

Reminded me of Rodney Ascher's Buddha Bar [link is to interview, scroll down to view movie] although Ascher used some digital tricks to create his 'still photo' movie.
posted by m@ at 12:47 PM on January 24, 2003

Maybe they can do a version of "Wittgenstein meets the rude Italian hand gesture"...
posted by troutfishing at 3:33 PM on January 24, 2003

Fabulous find, dydecker - thanks! I love the slice of life feel to the subway series, and this Parisian street scene really enchanted me - it seemed like an impressionist painting come to life.
Thanks to everyone who pointed out other interesting features too - 'specially the Boston gallery - thanks VulcanMike. (the London gallery is good too.)
posted by madamjujujive at 4:48 PM on January 24, 2003

I loved this, thank you.
posted by redfoxtail at 1:45 PM on January 25, 2003