Floating Letters

October 6, 2006 9:23 AM

Float (youtube) is the first of a series of short films designed to stir the imagination. The brief film shows the streets of Melbourne as the letters & numbers from every sign in town begin to peel off & float away on the wind. The project lives here, and open contributions are being listed here.
posted by jonson (16 comments total)

I really like this, but...with all that care and attention lavished upon the visuals, why didn't they use a tripod? The oft-shakey camerawork kind of undercut the effect they were going after...

/ imho
posted by Stonewall Jackson at 10:00 AM on October 6, 2006

I'd gather it's done on purpose to make the effects look more real (if the camera was perfectly still it would look less impressive)
posted by imaswinger at 10:09 AM on October 6, 2006

The shaky camera is to show off thier elite camera tracking skillz.
posted by ryanissuper at 11:24 AM on October 6, 2006

Hm. Well, I guess. But for me, it would seem more "Kubrickian" if the camera wasn't bouncing around, distracting you from the signs floating away, etc.. Once again, imho. I really do think it's pretty nifty.
posted by Stonewall Jackson at 11:41 AM on October 6, 2006

What a pretty little concept! I liked the table guy, too.
posted by DenOfSizer at 12:30 PM on October 6, 2006

Argh! My imagination's been stirred!

Actually, that was pretty awesome. The camera shake makes it feel like it's some kind of apocalyptic event that's being captured on home video, which I like.
posted by buriednexttoyou at 1:37 PM on October 6, 2006

labels dissolving into chaos is liberating.

cool video.
posted by dminor at 2:50 PM on October 6, 2006

Float (youtube) is the first of a series of short films designed to stir the imagination.

The video is cool and everything, but I just can't accept this statement. Surely there have been other series of short films that hoped to stir the imagination? Isn't imagination stirring a fairly common goal of film makers?
posted by Hildegarde at 6:59 PM on October 6, 2006

This is pretty awesome...and yes, wouldn't be half as interesting if it was shot all locked down on tripods.

My only beef with this is that a few of the shadows are way too intense, and call way too much attention to themselves.

But the exterior shots of the cityscape look incredible (at least at YouTube quality)
.
posted by melorama at 6:59 PM on October 6, 2006

Nice little vid! I just happened to be in Melbourne a couple of days ago, for the first time ever. Unfortunately, I didn't see any floating letters. In Brisbane last night, though, I saw an ENORMOUS flock of bats, thousands of them, coming out of their trees at dusk. Amazing sight. Crazy country, Australia... floating letters, bats the size of chihuahas.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:01 PM on October 6, 2006

Hildegarde, read that sentence again more carefully...
posted by melorama at 7:02 PM on October 6, 2006

Oh.

Yeah, I can read. Why do you ask? LOL

Hey, it's been a long week!!
posted by Hildegarde at 7:15 PM on October 6, 2006

It's a nice idea, but the execution isn't so hot. The shadows the letters cast all look like horrible copy-fill with black-gaussian blur photoshop drop shadows from a 1998 webpage.

That shortcoming is less annoying towards the end, where the letters fly more freely and further from other objects, though.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:15 PM on October 6, 2006

I liked it.
posted by heylight at 7:27 PM on October 6, 2006

Surprised that the graffitti didn't blow away as well.
posted by SPrintF at 8:38 PM on October 6, 2006

In Brisbane last night, though, I saw an ENORMOUS flock of bats, thousands of them, coming out of their trees at dusk. Amazing sight. Crazy country, Australia... floating letters, bats the size of chihuahas.

Bats (flying foxes, actually) taking off at dusk from the Botanic Gardens & flying off to feed have been a feature of Sydney's inner-city duskscape for as long as I can remember.

However, they are problematic. Bat colonies are overwhelming Australia's gardens, and Sydney's bats are not so easily scared off.

/derail
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:53 AM on October 7, 2006