Planet Toronto
November 8, 2012 12:28 PM Subscribe
Planet Toronto - a timelapse video. After catching the attention of Toronto's tourist board through selfmade "video love letters to Toronto" uploaded to Vimeo, Ryan Emond was given a budget and access to more locations to create a longer version.
Oh man, I hate that bucket drumming guy.
Always, always with the drumming on the buckets.
Toronto, I don't think, is particularly beautiful city. But clearly some time and effort makes it look like one.
posted by Sleddog_Afterburn at 1:10 PM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Always, always with the drumming on the buckets.
Toronto, I don't think, is particularly beautiful city. But clearly some time and effort makes it look like one.
posted by Sleddog_Afterburn at 1:10 PM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
That was good, though with a bit too much focus on downtown. The best parts of the city are around it.
Still, now I feel a little homesick.
posted by Alex404 at 1:27 PM on November 8, 2012
Still, now I feel a little homesick.
posted by Alex404 at 1:27 PM on November 8, 2012
Toronto, I don't think, is particularly beautiful city.
I think Toronto is a beautiful city. I don't think he's filmed especially beautiful parts of it.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:31 PM on November 8, 2012
I think Toronto is a beautiful city. I don't think he's filmed especially beautiful parts of it.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:31 PM on November 8, 2012
Nice.
I really liked some of the different "fast pan shots", if that is what one would call them. It was a nice change from the usual slow-mo, Koyaanisqatsi - Life out of Balance thing that is present in just about every time laps vid.
I also liked that is switched up from buildings to people and back.
posted by lampshade at 1:31 PM on November 8, 2012
I really liked some of the different "fast pan shots", if that is what one would call them. It was a nice change from the usual slow-mo, Koyaanisqatsi - Life out of Balance thing that is present in just about every time laps vid.
I also liked that is switched up from buildings to people and back.
posted by lampshade at 1:31 PM on November 8, 2012
That's certainly the best shot I've ever seen of a Union Station pigeon.
Toronto is not a pretty city. But it is a beautiful city.
posted by bicyclefish at 1:42 PM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Toronto is not a pretty city. But it is a beautiful city.
posted by bicyclefish at 1:42 PM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
This is some beautiful stuff. I wouldn't mind seeing something of Toronto north of Bloor, though. ....Actually, you know what, after seeing the hipster timelapse I'm going to make a point of this.
Downtown Toronto sucks. It's generic and bland and there's nothing to do there. We haven't figured out how to include life in our downtown. Almost everything between Bloor and Front, Yonge and Bathurst, is pretty forgettable - inasmuch as it doesn't offer much more than any large city, by virtue of being a large city, can offer.
I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. I used to work downtown and I respect it as an economic necessity - with this many people, you need a downtown core to provide an economic engine for the surroundings and it doesn't really matter what those skyscrapers look like. The Hudson's Bay Centre is a case in point.
But if your purpose is to show off Toronto, there's a lot of places that, I think, are a much more important part of the identity of this city than this video gets close to showing. I don't want to turn this into a hipster rhapsody for the Ronces and the Beaches - but why not show those places? Or Bloor West Village. The Danforth. Chinatown. Sure, Toronto's a city of neighbourhoods that relies on our downtown, but damn, son, it's not like we live there.
posted by ZaphodB at 1:43 PM on November 8, 2012
Downtown Toronto sucks. It's generic and bland and there's nothing to do there. We haven't figured out how to include life in our downtown. Almost everything between Bloor and Front, Yonge and Bathurst, is pretty forgettable - inasmuch as it doesn't offer much more than any large city, by virtue of being a large city, can offer.
I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. I used to work downtown and I respect it as an economic necessity - with this many people, you need a downtown core to provide an economic engine for the surroundings and it doesn't really matter what those skyscrapers look like. The Hudson's Bay Centre is a case in point.
But if your purpose is to show off Toronto, there's a lot of places that, I think, are a much more important part of the identity of this city than this video gets close to showing. I don't want to turn this into a hipster rhapsody for the Ronces and the Beaches - but why not show those places? Or Bloor West Village. The Danforth. Chinatown. Sure, Toronto's a city of neighbourhoods that relies on our downtown, but damn, son, it's not like we live there.
posted by ZaphodB at 1:43 PM on November 8, 2012
Yeah I agree that it'd be good for more variety in the neighbourhoods he films... hopefully Tourism Toronto will see this as a success and will pony up some cash for a few more films. If they're trying to reach a younger tourist demographic than the folks who come to see the CN Tower and take a day trip to Niagara Falls, then it would seem logical to emphasize other elements of the city than the business core.
(Though in fairness that video does include a few shots of Kensington Market and Chinatown, so it's a bit beyond just a focus on skyscrapers and the financial district).
posted by modernnomad at 1:52 PM on November 8, 2012
(Though in fairness that video does include a few shots of Kensington Market and Chinatown, so it's a bit beyond just a focus on skyscrapers and the financial district).
posted by modernnomad at 1:52 PM on November 8, 2012
Seems like most western cities have a boring-ass section of the downtown core. I've gotten lost in parts of downtown London and Sydney that are indistinguishable from Toronto (and in that part of Sydney I almost starved to death trying to find somewhere to eat that wasn't a sports bar full of Aussie business bros).
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:54 PM on November 8, 2012
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:54 PM on November 8, 2012
After touristing around Montreal a couple times for week long visits, I concluded that Montreal felt like it had been built by short elderly hunched wild-haired Jewish men (picture troops of Lou Jacobies or Jack Gilfords with their sleeves rolled up) while Toronto in comparison feels like it was assembled by dentists. Kinda plastic. This video looks great, but it takes our factory made quality and spritzes it with dewiness. Our portrayal here is like that of the Big Mac in the advertisement. The burger you unwrap in the restaurant won't look like that. Down on the street Toronto is grungy, and you know how grunge and wear wraps itself around plastic. Can't buff it off like you can from old-world materials. Still, I like Toronto, and I like the downtown. We have people on our streets here, walking, cycling, running you over with their mobility scooters. I remember once visiting the business district of Atlanta. I took to calling it (probably unfairly - I'm not a good adventurous tourist and I was anxious about wandering into the wrong area of an American city) Neutron Bomb Town, because they had these tall glossy PoMo buildings but no one walking on the streets. Can't tell you how glad I was to see a photocopied poster stapled to a wooden hydro pole when I returned to Ontario.
posted by TimTypeZed at 2:39 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by TimTypeZed at 2:39 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
How's this for variety: Toronto Maple Sikhs in the Polar Bear Dip (slo-mo). With their very own Stanley Cup.
posted by Kabanos at 3:08 PM on November 8, 2012
posted by Kabanos at 3:08 PM on November 8, 2012
Somebody needs to bring back Night Moves
posted by emeiji at 3:25 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by emeiji at 3:25 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
As a Vancouverite you'd think I would be genetically programmed to hate this video - but I don't. I ike Toronto alot - it has a friendly mid-west vibe like Chicago (sorry Tdot - but you are NOT Manhattan of the North). Plus it's good that Canada have at least one city of genuine ambition. Do you know what it's like to live in Vancouver and no one even tries anymore?
If Canadian cities were a family:
Montreal - hippy older brother, can't understand what everyone else is worked up about.
Toronto - Super ambitious sister who is going to have. It. All. ALL OF IT. Dad's favorite.
Vancouver - Hipster middle brother who is too good looking for his own good. "Does the bow tie look good on me or is it too much with this vintage toque. I am going to curling class"
Calgary - Wishes it was the 1980's again. Thinks Wall Street is the best motivational movie ever.
posted by helmutdog at 4:18 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
If Canadian cities were a family:
Montreal - hippy older brother, can't understand what everyone else is worked up about.
Toronto - Super ambitious sister who is going to have. It. All. ALL OF IT. Dad's favorite.
Vancouver - Hipster middle brother who is too good looking for his own good. "Does the bow tie look good on me or is it too much with this vintage toque. I am going to curling class"
Calgary - Wishes it was the 1980's again. Thinks Wall Street is the best motivational movie ever.
posted by helmutdog at 4:18 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Halifax - asshole uncle who served a brief stint in the miltary and never shuts up about it.
posted by oulipian at 4:55 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by oulipian at 4:55 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Somebody needs to bring back Night Moves
Bah, for some of us, that is overnight-programming-come-lately. Me, I am holding out for Chuck the Security Guard and the All-Night Show to return.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:07 PM on November 8, 2012
Bah, for some of us, that is overnight-programming-come-lately. Me, I am holding out for Chuck the Security Guard and the All-Night Show to return.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:07 PM on November 8, 2012
> Vancouver - Hipster middle brother...
I really liked Vancouver the one time I visited, but my Vancouver Moment was going to some trendy restaurant/bar with a local (can't remember which one, this was 10 years ago) and seeing my waiter roll his eyes when I said "No thanks, I'm cool" after he asked me if I wanted to order anything else.
Note: this could totally be a story about an experience in a present-day Toronto coffee shop
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:15 PM on November 8, 2012
I really liked Vancouver the one time I visited, but my Vancouver Moment was going to some trendy restaurant/bar with a local (can't remember which one, this was 10 years ago) and seeing my waiter roll his eyes when I said "No thanks, I'm cool" after he asked me if I wanted to order anything else.
Note: this could totally be a story about an experience in a present-day Toronto coffee shop
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:15 PM on November 8, 2012
Ryan also did a particularly good job on another one of these in China. He's definitely a cut above most timelapse video producers out there. Thanks for the post!
posted by samsara at 6:12 PM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by samsara at 6:12 PM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Wowzers. Massive homesickness attack going on here.....and I, too, don't really even like downtown.
*sobs*
I wanna come home!!!
posted by Dorinda at 6:15 PM on November 8, 2012
*sobs*
I wanna come home!!!
posted by Dorinda at 6:15 PM on November 8, 2012
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For an example of how much T.O. has changed over the years, I recently wrote a series of articles for BlogTO about Toronto in album covers:
1960s
1970s
1980s
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:45 PM on November 8, 2012 [3 favorites]