Sunday, February 11, 2007

Minutes


This is an idea I had a few weeks ago. I don't know how interesting it'll turn out to be but it costs nothing to have a go so what the heck.

Basically the idea is one minute photographs – shot as video with sound, but set up and framed as still photos. Sound is there to capture some of the ambiance along with each photo – the rain pattering on the window, distant police sirens, the muffled sound of the TV in the next room, whatever. And although the camera is fixed there will also be some movement in the image.

I'm not claiming this is an entirely original idea – directors and cinematographers have been doing this for decades – but I wanted to have a go myself. And to make each clip a standalone unit.

Technically, it's a bit lo-fi: just an off-the-shelf compact digital camera switched to video mode. And the video has been web-compressed. If it proves interesting I'd love to shoot some in a HD video format, and use a proper stereo microphone. But for now, see it as proof of concept.

I've made a blog to post them on: photominutes.blogspot.com. There are three on there at the moment, and I'll post new ones to that blog as they get completed.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

reminds me of cache by m haneke

Anonymous said...

I remember you telling me the idea and I reckoned that 1 minute would be too long and suggested a shorter period like 20 seconds. I was totally wrong. The minute is a perfect time: it gives you enough time to scan around the whole image optically and aurally. Ade this is top work (of course!), nice one. Babo

Zeno Cosini said...

Yes - the title sequence in Cache.

This is a great idea Ade, and I like this "minute" particularly - very atmospheric.

Unknown said...

Great idea - works really nicely. Would be cool to see them all playing simulatenously on a wall of screens.

Unknown said...

Thanks. I've added a few new ones. I think the first is still the best though.

Keep an eye on the blog or subscribe to the feed for more.

Sparrow said...

I like them Ade. They make you stop and focus. And they make me miss London actually! Good work.