Austrian photographer Christoph Malin assembled this short by stacking image sequences taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station:

These “stacks” create the Star Trails, but furthermore make interesting patterns visible. For example lightning corridors within clouds, but they also show occasional satellite tracks (or Iridium Flashes) as well as meteors – patterns that interrupt the main Star Trails, and thus are immediately visible.

Bonus link from Malin: see also fragileoasis.org/blog/2012/3/on-the-trails-of-stars/

Last week I had the fortune of attending a small conference hidden away on Staten Island called ‘The Future of Storytelling‘. It was organized by Charlie Melcher and brought together a few hundred people to talk about the art, tech, and science of how and why of we tell stories.

As part of the conference prep, several outstanding short films were commissioned to accompany each of the talks, and this is one of them. Produced by Already Alive, it documents the work of Local Projects led by Jake Barton in creating the software powering the 9/11 Memorial, and along the way, tells the story of how the very act of sharing creates a bond between us all.

Director / Music / Edit – Michael Marantz – michaelmarantz.com
Director of Photography / Writer – Jared Levy – jaredlevy.me
Producer / Writer – Jason Oppliger – jasonoppliger.com

Produced by:
Already Alive – alreadyalive.com

This black and white animated short by Keita Onishi (with music by Haisuinonasa) uses the agglomeration of shapes to create a visual understanding of how the elements of a song fit together:

Each note from the instruments is represented by a geometric shape in the animation; while these shapes move in sync with the song, they also form the parts that create the subway itself.

h/t to Paul Dateh!

How we’ve gone this long without mentioning Bad Lip Reading — the comedy series that claimed its space with bad lip readings of political videos and music videos — is beyond me.

So here we go.

Bad Lip Reading has recently moved into parodying movies (their Twilight video was an instant classic) and it turns out their formula works pretty well here. For evidence, check out their overdub of The Hunger Games above.

Everyone is excited about the augmented reality features of Google’s Project Glass and rightfully so. What I and other videobloggers find more interesting is the possibility of recording live POV video.

It turns out that fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg thought the same thing. After becoming aware of Google Glass through a meeting with Google co-founder Sergey Brin earlier this year, Von Furstenberg incorporated Glass into her show at New York Fashion Week. This video is the result.

Reverso is a French animated short by Kimberly Honma, Clément Lauricella and Arthur Seguin about a boy who experiences life upside down as “his sense of gravity is inverted.”

I’ve been watching a lot of shorts without dialogue as of late, part of my effort to better understand how to “show don’t tell” when presenting a story. Reverso is a great example of this, establishing mood and back story through character reactions and tiny details. It’s a good piece through and through.

A feelgood animation about a bookmark stuck in a forgotten book that is one day knocked over by wind by Philipp Comarella and Simon Griesser.