Thursday, October 31, 2013

Video animated short: "Contre temps - Against Time" directed by Jérémi Boutelet, Thibaud Clergue, Tristan Ménard, Camille Perrin, Gaël Megherbi, Lucas Veber

Watch the animated short "Contre temps - Against Time"  A science fiction futuristic fantasy set in a surrealistic world which lives time by the cycles of the ocean, and features a man who collects clocks when the waters recede at low tide. 2012 graduation project produced at Supinfocom Arles (University of Communication Science) a computer graphics university with campuses in Valenciennes Arles France and Pune India. Official selection at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and at the Siggraph 2013

Directed by Jérémi Boutelet, Thibaud Clergue, Tristan Ménard, Camille Perrin, Gaël Megherbi, Lucas Veber Music by Nathan Blais and Sylvain Livenais

View the concept art and design 




Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Video short film "Telescope" directed by Collin Davis and Matt Litwiller. Written by Eric Bodge


Watch the short science fiction film "Telescope" The year is 2183. Earth is dead. With all evidence of organic life lost, a cosmic archaeologist travels faster than light into deep space to capture images of the once vibrant planet.
When his vessel is damaged he must take matters into his own hands, risking his life to witness humanity’s lost home. Telescope, which was shot in glorious 4K, is co-directed by Collin Davis & Matt Litwiller, written by Eric Bodge, with cinematography by Travis Labella.














Artist's Statement: "With the help of many friends, telescope was completed in in 2013 in Los Angeles... This short sci-fi film was conceived as a retro-futuristic musing on the concept of "old light," looking, in essence, back in time across distances on a universal scale."

Concept Art by Courtland Lomax used for visual direction - many became shots in the finished film. Music by Ken Ross 

All image credits and copyrights belong to "Telescope" filmmakers

Video short film "The Pale Blue Dot" - Sagan Series, created by Reid Gower + Tedx Talk "Defining the Frontier"

Watch the video "The Pale Blue Dot" Created by Reid Gower part of "The Sagan Series", an educational project working in the hopes of promoting scientific literacy, for every one of us on the planet Earth.

Video of Tedx Talk: Reid Gower - Defining the Frontier
Reid Gower has a passion in promoting scientific literacy in the general population leading him to develop his video series. His media creation, called The Sagan Series, borrows the words of the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan and has gone on to inspire millions across the world. Reid is Canadian and lives on Vancouver Island. He is a graduate of the University of Victoria. Facebook  Google+  Twitter

Video photo timelapse of "Elemental Iceland" by Stian Rekdal

Watch short time-lapse film of the beauty in Iceland by Stian Rekdal 
Photographed in September of 2013, over three weeks, nearly 5500 kilometers, more than 40000 photographic images taken.

Shot with Nikon cameras and lenses. Post-processed with LRTimelapse, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe After Effects. Motion control sequences done with a Stage One dolly from Dynamic Perception and a Celestron Skywatcher pan/tilt head.

Music:'Chasing Time' by Dexter Britain

Thank you to Micheal Levy for his excellent photographer's map of Iceland

All image credits: Stian Rekdal 

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Video short film "Record/Play" directed by Jesse Atlas, Written by Aaron Wolfe and Jesse Atlas


Watch: "Record/Play" a short film where peace, war, fate, and a broken walkman transcend space and time in a science fiction love story. Directed by Jesse Atlas and written by Aaron Wolfe and Jesse Atlas.
(full credits)



Thursday, October 17, 2013

Video short film: "West of the Moon" by Brent Bonacorso

View the short film "West of the Moon" written, directed and animated by Brent Bonacorso. Loosely based on several hundred interviews with children about their dreams. Part science fiction, fantasy, dreams of lucid life and love.

"West of the Moon" is the story of one man's lost love and his strange path to redemption, aided along the way by a gambling robot, a wayward monkey, and a healthy dose of determination. Winner of several film festival awards around the world.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Video short documentary "They Call Us Mohawks, Ganienkeh - A Way of Life" produced by Turtle Island Trust Documentary 2013

Watch this inspiring Ganienkeh video documenting peaceful leadership of Elders, Children, all people making choices to embrace gratitude, Nature, and the true Nature of humanity. Ganienkeh, which translates "Land of the Flint" is a community located on about 600 acres near Altona, New York. It is a rare case of an indigenous people reclaiming land from the United States.

This video includes a conversational-sharing, a few spoken words by the state of New York politicians, on why they felt supporting the Ganienkeh would create "important longevity of peace and harmony" for the state of New York and it's people. Mutual support of peace creates mutual strengthening the people's mind and body. Importance to earn from Ganienkeh people to feel "we" before, "me".

The Ganienkeh nationals (a.k.a. Mohawks of Turtle Island) establish the embodiment of standing tall in gratitude for their traditional way of life, while embracing present time, and care taking the planet for the next generations not yet born.

A few words from Ganiennkeh.net 
"The Ganienkeh Council Fire and all traditional Kanien’kehà:ka people are a sovereign entity independent from those entities of North America referred to as the United States of America and Canada.

"This is a fundamental part of each traditional Kanien'kehà:ka’s lifelong education. Our education has been conscientiously passed down by those who lived before us and will continue to be relayed for the generations of Kanien’kehà:ka not yet born."
More story via  link

Film Credits end of the documentary.
Niawen’kó:wa to all the people of Ganienkeh who inspire and remind the world to be, and we are all people of a whole sustainable planet.

Article: Despite Online Land Auction, Ganienkeh Will Never Leave Its Land

Iroquois Museum website


Sunday, October 6, 2013

Space Audio/Video: Videos of Ascent Commemorating Shuttle Launches and Audio of Sounds in Space Riding The Booster (with Enhanced Sound) ~ Produced by Matt Melis at the Glenn Research Center with Ben Burtt Jr. and the Team at Skywalker Sound


Videos and Audio of Shuttle Launch and Sounds in Space ~ It has been over 18 months since the Special Edition DVD was produced and NASA has still not found a way to make it available to the public. Even after having the Riding the Booster video go Viral, we haven't been able to make headway to get the video content in the hands of the people.

Photographic documentation of a Space Shuttle launch plays a critical role in the engineering analysis and evaluation process that takes place during each and every mission. Motion and Still images enable Shuttle engineers to visually identify off-nominal events and conditions requiring corrective action to ensure mission safety and success.

This imagery also provides highly inspirational and educational insight to those outside the NASA family. This compilation of film and video presents the best of the best ground-based Shuttle motion imagery from STS-114, STS-117, and STS-124 missions.

Rendered in the highest definition possible, this production is a tribute to the dozens of men and women of the Shuttle imaging team and the 30 years of achievement of the Space Shuttle Program.

The video was produced by Matt Melis at the Glenn Research Center. Ben Burtt Jr. and Team at Skywalker Sound helped with Riding the Booster Video.

All photographs on this page by Dan Winters


Friday, October 4, 2013

Sound: Crickets Audio Recording Slowed Way Down by Jim Wilson released on album "God's Chorus Crickets" and featured in the song "Ballad of Twisted Hair" versioned on the albums "Medicine Songs" and "Robbie Robertson: Music For Native Americans"


The story behind the God's Cricket Chorus recording is that it contains two tracks:
 1) the sound of the crickets slowed down to match and mirror the length of the average lifespan of a human being 
2) the natural sound of crickets chirping. 
The angelic chorus you hear accompanying the sound of the crickets is NOT a synthesizer or a human voiced chorus singing. It's the crickets themselves slowed down which creates the effect. 

Science article on cricket sounds and slowing down the recording

The "God's Chorus Crickets" recording was created by Jim Wilson as an extended digitally remixed and mastered version taken from the original 1992 cricket recording first recorded for background ambiance in the song titled "Ballad of the Twisted Hair" from the album "Medicine Songs" by David Carson (Jim Wilson's Uncle and co-lyrics writer with Jim Wilson) and Little Wolf Band (Jim Wilson). 

Produced by Jim Wilson and released on Raven Records. "God's Cricket Chorus" released as CD in 1992 by Grammy Award winner Jim Wilson

 "The Ballad of Twisted Hair" is also on Robbie Robertson: Music For Native Americans, and this features the cricket chorus, Native American Sioux opera singer Bonnie Jo Hunt's voice with Robbie Robertson etc to create the final mixed produced ballad.

Listen to Bonnie Jo Hunt on "Earth Song" National Public Radio Interview about singing with crickets for Jim Wilson and Robbie Robertson (April 2004)

Article from Hearing Voices: Bonnie Jo Hunt, A Sioux Singer Layers opera over insects (Broadcast Nov 2004)

Audio recording of crickets and Native American singing with music
Listen/purchase "Ballad of Twisted Hair" 


About Jim Wilson 
(Brief intro) Jim Wilson was born in the state of Oklahoma, of Choctow and Irish descent, in the month of August 1946. Childhood years were mostly spent in the small towns of west Texas and southern Oklahoma. At the behest of his grandmother, who was very active in Native American issues throughout the 1900's, Jim moved after graduating from high school in Richardson Texas, to Lame Deer Montana. He worked with the Northern Cheyenne Tribal council on projects to create and expand employment opportunities for the Cheyenne people. During this time he was gifted a great number friendships and experiences with tribal elders and the medicine men of this area. In later years, this experience became an invaluable source of inspiration in Jim's contemporary Native American music creations. Jim moved to Vancouver Canada in 1976. In 1992, Jim met the musician Robbie Robertson (Mohawk/Jewish), who had heard some of the "Shaman" tracks while visiting with mutual friends in Vancouver. Moving to the US, Jim and Robbie began some deep musical explorations contributing to world peace.
(Click Here for more of Jim's life-story + photos)



Tom Waits (on Jim Wilson): "Wilson, he's always playing with time. I heard a recording recently of crickets slowed way down. It sounds like a choir, it sounds like angel music. Something sparkling, celestial with full harmony and bass parts - you wouldn't believe it. It's like a sweeping chorus of heaven, and it's just slowed down, they didn't manipulate the tape at all. So I think when Wilson slows people down, it gives you a chance to watch them moving through space. And there's something to be said for slowing down the world."

July 2012 - In Memory of Jim Wilson (a friend who passed through this world) by Robbie Robertson 
In Memory of Jim Wilson: Over many years, I have had the opportunity and good fortune to work with some of the great musical masters of our time. For me, working with Jim Wilson was one of the most profound and meaningful experiences of all. Jim, what a gift, what a talent, what a rhythmic soul. All the songs we wrote together were unique musical journeys, that I’m not sure either one of us fully grasped. They were almost like creations from another place and time. Like a red clay mesa in the desert, Jim just stood there until it rained. His patience and gentle heart brought music out of many native artists, that they didn’t even know they had, including myself. All of our collaborations took us to a higher place, and were mystical and bold, whether a Peyote hymn or Ghost Dance. What an extraordinary spirit, what a beautiful person.
~ With love and blessings, Robbie Robertson


About Robbie Robertson and  Website
Robertson was born Jaime Robert Klegerman in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His mother, Rosemarie Myke Chrysler, was of predominantly Mohawk descent. His father, Alexander David Klegerman, was Jewish. His father died when he was a child, and his mother re-married to James Patrick Robertson, who adopted Robbie and whose surname Robbie had taken. He had his earliest exposure to the music legends of the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation (Ontario, Canada), where he spent summers with his mother's family. Robbie Robertson himself became a musical legend. He has won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. He was the primary songwriter for the critically acclaimed group "The Band", penning Americana classics like “The Weight” and “Up on Cripple Creek”, and toured and recorded with Bob Dylan. After "The Band" bid farewell to performing in "The Last Waltz" concert, filmed by Martin Scorsese, Robertson followed his longtime fascination with film. He was a creative executive at DreamWorks, and has scored and/or been an executive music producer on a number of films. He has also acted in, written, and produced, other major motion pictures. Robertson recorded five solo albums. The fourth, the Grammy nominated "Contact from the Underworld of Redboy", inspired the one-hour PBS documentary "Making A Noise: A Native American Journey with Robbie Robertson". Robertson’s 2013 latest release "How To Become Clairvoyant" featured collaborations with longtime friend Eric Clapton. Currently 2013/2014, Robbie is working on a new record, the music for Scorsese’s new movie, and his personal memoirs and promoting the new Oct 2013 children's book release: "Legends, Icons and Rebels: Music That Changed the World" authored by Robbie Robertson, Jim Guerinot, Sebastian Robertson, Jared Levine. Book comes with CDs and is described as: "Part memoir, part tribute, and all great storytelling.."