Lightscapes - a different take

I thought I'd start sharing some more behind-the-scenes and work-in-progress stuff on the blog, since that's what I usually like reading on other blogs. It's great to see the end result, but even more fun to get a glimpse of how it all comes together.

On that note, above is a still from a video project I'm currently working on. It's a different take on my Lightscapes work, where I try to create interesting effect using long exposures. The difference is that usually I do this by moving the camera around (it's not called Intentional Camera Movement photography for northing), but in this case I move the light around while the camera stands still. The reflection of the moving light source, in this case a LitePanel Micro Pro, creates an interesting sense of motion. Will share more as the project progresses. Stay tuned...

Sharing the experience

A few days ago we lauched HDtravel, a new online magazine that features our favourite travel experiences in large photos and high definition videos. The idea is to present the stories with a personal touch and to create an uncluttered experience in order to create visual and emotional impact.

Designing the interface

One of the most important considerations when designing the interface was that it shouldn’t get in the way of the experience. The flow of the story shouldn’t be interrupted by the user having to click on images to see larger versions. Nor should users be distracted by other information on the page. Ideally, I wanted the interface to have an app-like experience, focussing on one thing at a time. This would also make it intuitive to use on iPads and other mobile devices.

I came up with a clean layout that displays large images and video in a continuous horizontal row across the screen. In theory it would have been possible to have each photo or video fill the whole browser window, but that would create too much of a slideshow feel. When looking at one piece of the story, I wanted the next and previous pieces to be partially visible in order to create context and visual flow.

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[ STRONGER ]

A little experiment using the camera's built-in picture styles. For this video I created a very contrasty black & white picture style, instead of converting to black & white in post. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, this keeps things kind of raw and spontaneous and very much affects the way you shoot.

Another experiment was the "rasterized" effect you see in certain shots. This was created by exporting some of the footage to my iPhone, and subsequently filming those clips playing back on the iPhone screen. However, instead of just filming the screen, I filmed though a second lens (a Nikon 50 f/1.4 in this case) that was sitting on top of the iPhone. This produced an interesting kind of macro image, where the individual pixels of the iPhone are visible. Below is a image of the setup.

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Unintentional abstracts

As I'm about to release my latest short experimental video, I grabbed a number of frames and saved them as stills to post on Flickr. The above image is one of them. It turned out there were a lot of interesting abstract compositions in there, which you don't notice as much when you're just watching it as a video. I posted some more framegrabs after the link.

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Auris impressions

A while ago I shot some impressions of the Toyota Auris, together with Marc Cornelissen, who has been featured on this blog before. The Auris is a new hybrid model that Toyota is introducing right now, combining a traditional car engine with an electric engine, which makes it extremely fuel efficient.

We decided to film at the "Maasvlakte", an artificial extension of the Rotterdam harbour. Here you'll find traditional heavy industry and coal-burning power plants right next to windmills, representing a move towards renewable energy sources. We thought it would be a nice metaphor for the gap that the Auris is trying to brigde.

Hope you enjoy the end result. The spoken parts are actually in Dutch, but if you don't speak Dutch, hopefully the images speak for themselves.

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Trailer for Marc Cornelissen

Recently I finished this trailer for Marc Cornelissen, dutch polar explorer and sustainability pioneer. The project was quite involved and presented a lot of interesting challenges. I'm in the process of writing a long blog post about how it all came together. In the mean time however, enjoy the end result. This one is in dutch since we're still working on the english version, but I think you'll get the picture anyway.

The Edge of Africa

It’s been a long time in the making, but I finally finished my latest short film titled The Edge of Africa. It was filmed in South Africa back in July 2009. You may have already seen some of the footage from that same trip in A short hike in Gansbaai.

The Edge of Africa took a bit longer to come together, and was recorded at Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa. It's where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. The local ocean currents and temperamental weather have caused many ships to end up in pieces on the rocks. I tried to capture the moody and rugged atmosphere of the place by using a dramatic, contrasty black and white look.

Everything was filmed on a Canon 5d Mk2 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. Color grading was mostly done in Magic Bullet Looks. The music is Only Now by Red Friday. It’s available on iTunes here.