très moving
September 4, 2012 5:34 AM   Subscribe

Paris in Motion is a beautiful time-lapse stop-motion video by Mayeul Akpovi.
posted by quin (5 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Music is Angel by Massive Attack
posted by blue_beetle at 6:26 AM on September 4, 2012


I do feel something of a moral duty to tell anyone who's seen this video and hopes for such gleaming azure skies in Paris – the sky is practically never that blue. (Pretty sure it's been edited for that, all the colors are very saturated.)

Also, as my friends with an apartment not far from Montmartre just pointed out, it's strange to see that part of the city without its assortment of pimps and counterfeit dealers.

But enough of the down-to-earth stuff – yes, the landmark sights really are that beautiful. As simple as the Eiffel Tower can first seem, I still haven't got enough of it after seeing it dozens of times. She's got a combination of immensity and grace that's just breathtaking. (The sky was not edited in that photo, a rare blue-sky evening just before sunset... in December!)
posted by fraula at 6:49 AM on September 4, 2012


That was awesome. I love these 'walk lapse' style videos. Here's an awesome one of my hometown Edinburgh that's been doing the rounds recently. It's such a good portrayal of where I live that it made me homesick while I was actually sitting in the city itself.
posted by Happy Dave at 7:07 AM on September 4, 2012


Paris has a glow, especially for Americans, that is undiminished by reality. I have pointed out that London and Paris have essentially the same weather. But London is miserable and cold whereas Paris is not. Of course.

This contrast between the ideal and the reality is a part of Paris syndrome.

My wife loves France (she speaks French fluently too) but is prejudiced against Paris because she hates the grime and omnipresent graffiti (see 26 sec. into the video) and the urban crime. Last time we were there we rescued an older South American couple in the Metro from a pair of shady characters who were clearly about to rob them. We've also had to enlist the help of Parisian friends of ours to help a relative who had gotten into a fistfight in Pigalle.

I sort of enjoy the chaos but it is definitely not what honeymooning couples from the US have signed up for.
posted by vacapinta at 7:18 AM on September 4, 2012


Wheee! I was there during the time this was apparently shot, and I like to think I am slinking around in the frames somewhere.

The weather was, as fraula indicated, idealized in that. In fact, most of the time over the course of those days it was cold, rainy and grey. (Bliss for me, but not for others.)

And vacapinta, I found some awesome graffiti which said, "PRAISE BE TO PRADA" -- in the Marais, naturally.
posted by jph at 8:33 AM on September 4, 2012


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