Monday, April 25, 2011

Video Poetry

This week, I am posting about two videos that are worth taking a look at. "Symmetry" and "Words" by Everynone, made to accompany Radiolab's shows by the same titles.

http://www.good.is/post/intermission-words-a-video-poem/

http://www.good.is/post/intermission-everynone-s-stunning-symmetry-video/

Aside from the interesting photography and camera choices in both videos, I think it is particularly interesting to us a designers how the artists compile these pieces and make them flow. I saw "Words" first, and it took a little while to really see how each thing transitioned. The more times you watch it though, the more it makes sense and is interesting to see the different words represented that are being represented through the visuals.

Although these are videos, I think we can use some of these ideas in print design as well. The idea that there are so many ways to interpret different words is particularly applicable. It might be cliche to represent chaos by showing football players watching their coach draw out plays, but when that transitions with children jumping and playing in circles, do we still see it as chaotic? How it time represented? at 1:42 in the "Symmetry" video, we see 2 clocks - both at 9:01. But one is analog and one is digital, and (at least for me) I associate the analog with daytime and the digital with nighttime. This is just one example of how these images can convey meaning that they may not even intend. It's important that we look at what we're designing and think "what else could this mean?" and "how can I represent this visually?" instead of just assuming that everyone will see what we see and that what we intend is what is being seen.

There are many more videos to enjoy on their website http://everynone.com/

14 comments:

  1. The two videos are so relaxing to watch. The symmetry one was very interesting and seeing the comparisons. The comment on the bottom of the video mentioned that some comparisons throw the viewer off guard, and I felt the same about some of them too.

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  2. These videos were great and I love how they take normal everyday things in life and compare them. The symmetry one was really cool how they paired things together that were opposite yet went together like the peanut butter an jelly and the baby walking and then it turning into an old man walking. The words one was cool to me because some words have so many different meaning like "Light," they showed it with the sun and then a flashlight. It all flowed really well! Great post!

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  3. I liked the second video. It can be very powerful to see contrasts placed side by side and in some cases, such as the birth/death, very striking (to me at least).
    Yes, there is definitely a possibility for mis-reading a message placed in an ad or design of some type. My first quarter in the design program we had to create a piece with an intended message, a secondary message that supported the first and a tertiary message that was an unintended message. My capstone will have the obvious meaning that exists between the word/image but there is another read to what is shown. I don’t think you can completely eliminate the possibility of someone seeing something unintended in your design, but then again, that can be a great aspect of the work.
    People see 2001: A Space Odyssey, and have different interpretations. Arthur Clarke supposedly went on record as saying that if anyone actually “got it” then they had failed in making the movie. I think as challenging as it is to create a layered work, it can also be incredibly rewarding to hear different interpretations of the work.

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  4. TONY! you were the first person I thought of when watching words. This is good inspiration for you to think of when trying to match your images to your concepts for your capstone.
    Katie- Very cool, thanks for sharing. I think this is such an interesting way to think about imagery and text. This totally could relate to print. It shows the diversity of a word/thought through context.
    Its one of those "I wish I would have thought of that" moments.

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  5. The videos were very creative. I couldn't even say which one I liked more because they both give off different ideas but both are interesting to look at visually. I really enjoy when people can incorporate two different ideas and combine them into one central theme.

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  6. Man, this is a total case of Better Than It Sounds. Those videos are so simple in concept, but very compelling in execution. I think part of the draw was how very visceral everything was. I'm not sure whether it would have had the same effect were it all animated, even in a hyperrealistic style.

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  7. Love how simple, yet unique the videos were. They really drew me in and kept me interested with the visual components and central idea behind it.

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  8. Very cool! Thank you for sharing

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  9. Love the energy of the first video and how everything flows into eachother.

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  10. LOVE LOVE these videos there so relaxing.

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  11. thank you so much for sharing this, katie. the videos are quite beautiful. this is actually how i wanted to shoot the ad for my site. i'll definitely use this as a reference!

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  12. poetry seems to be able to adapt to any form, which is why I love it so much! thank you for sharing!

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