Posts Tagged ‘video’

A moving postcard of the past

This is one of the most profound and engaging glimpses of the past – of a Western city – that I’ve ever seen. Applause go to Tim Sparke for posting it on Vimeo. And to Claude Frisse-Greene, who made this movie as part of a series of travelogues in an age when colour was almost unheard of. Beautiful.

For me, connecting on a personal note, I’ve only ever visited London (clubbing in the 1990s and noughties, and later savouring the history and culture that resides forever there), never lived in the place; but it is a remarkable and fascinating city throughout all ages.  Rather wonderfully, the video focuses a lot on the area of the Thames around Tower Bridge – which is the location of the first scene of the novel I’ve been working on since last year (The Social Club - click here to read notes on work in progress). Lovely to see the location in a historical context.

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God Seed a sci-fi dark fantasy novel by British author David J Rodger

Available in Paperback or Kindle

Paperback : from LULU & Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)

GOD SEED { novel } For acclaimed documentary film-maker, Adam Kyle, this was going to be another feather in his cap. Embedded within a team of highly trained corporate mercenaries, he was covering the start of an operation in England. But when the operation goes terribly wrong, Kyle finds himself battling for his life, his sanity, and maybe even his very soul as a new and dramatic story unfolds, dragging him across the globe…and beyond. It isn’t just his documentary that is at stake, but the fate of every living thing in the Universe. David J Rodger delivers a gut-wrenching and epic journey in a novel that plunges deep into the crawling chaos and takes you to the edge of the membrane of human existence.

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Underground Bristol

Somewhere in the undergrounds of Bristol (England) lurk corridors and chambers filled with music and characters of strange breed.

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LIVING IN FLAMES

Living in Flames a sci-fi dark fantasy novel set in Bristol by British cyberpunk horror author David J Rodger

Available in paperback or kindle

Paperback: from LULU

Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro), FR (Euro)

Living in Flames { novel } Bristol, UK, the near future, the lives of three people collide in a gruesome twist of fate. A former marine turned to crime, and two enigmatic figures concealing their true identities, skimming the city’s underworld of drug-cartels and shadowy tendrils of old merchant families. A carved African idol is discovered clutched in the hands of a dead man who is barely human. Greed unlocks a centuries-tarnished mystery about the origins of the idol, and brings back to Bristol a banished bloodline hell-bent on vengeance and diabolical glory. A carrion God lying dormant for three hundred years risks being returned to the world of Man.

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The Age of Steam

Just come back from a fantastic weekend in Devon. Stayed at The Grand hotel, 99 years since Agatha Christie had her honeymoon there and I’m sleeping in the very next suite. Walked down the passage to reach our door overlapping history and actual vision in my mind. The hotel is shabby with age and in need of some TLC but is chic and very comfortable; staff are excellent. Bar is fab with large sofas everywhere and great views of the sea through tall windows that dominate the exterior walls. It’s a short hop from Torquay to Paignton. Old-world train station, part museum, part cafe – the guy there makes and sells Cortada – my first one in England. There’s rolling stock from the classic days of steam and a wonderful burly locomotive, green plate and bulging curves, metal, metal, metal.  Called Hercules, it spent a couple of decades rusting away on the sidings until some volunteers took on the task of restoring it.  A massive mound of coal and the muffled shoomph, shoomph, shoomph as everything ticks over whilst the beast takes on water.  Then we’re off.  Riding the coastline and punching through squalling rain. It’s bleak but beautiful because of it.  It’s very Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier / Hitchcock). The journey is 30 minutes. You arrive in Kingswear after crossing several viaducts and the river Dart opens up to your right. Across the harbour is the small wonderful town of Dartmouth. Get off the train, walk 50 metres from the platform straight onto a ferry that takes you across. Fish and chips and a pint of real ale in the Royal Castle hotel. It doesn’t get better than that. Apart from later, back in Torquay, going for sunset walk, smothered in clouds and increasing rain, the waves crashing and booming against the harbour walls; then getting back to the Grand and flopping down in wingback armchairs in the library, in front of a roaring open fire, supping a large whisky and Drambuie (Rusty Nail). Bliss.

Here’s a video stitching together bits of the journey with plenty of steam

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Ghostriders II

Photo still of Ghostriders II when the dead travel Paris streets by bicycle

Photo still of Ghostriders II – click for full size

Nifty short video with music by Gesaffelstein that should appeal to folks who enjoy the electro beats of The Hacker’s album Rêves Mécaniques, and those with a taste for nocturnal glimpses of a European capital city. Arty, quick and very well done.

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Infected

Unknown scientific study of the Infection that swept the planet following the Callisto burn-up and explosion in the atmosphere; the event known as Yellow Dawn.

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Other Zombie Infection Videos

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Reality Fail

I suppose using a video camera in any sense of distorting reality doesn’t ring true and is more like a “cheat” than a fail, but this is a rather wonderful, simple and effective demonstration of a sound and water experiment.

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You can see more illusions & science videos via Brusspup YouTube Channel.

This illusion is achieved by generating a 24 hz sine wave with the subwoofer and setting the video camera to 24 fps. Result is the camera’s frame rate syncs with the rate of the vibrations of the water so it appears to be frozen or still.

If you play a 23 hz sine wave your frame rate will be off just a little compared to the sine wave causing the water to appear to “move backwards”. Alternatively, play a 25 hz sine wave and cause the water to appear to move slowly forward.

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L.E.D. Surfer

Artec pro snowboarder William Hughes cuts up snow-covered slopes of Tignes in the Rhône-Alpes region of south-eastern France, wearing a custom-rigged L.E.D. suit by designer and electronics magi John Spatcher. Filmed by the sickeningly talented (positive) Jacob Sutton – normally encased in studio walls with the heat of bright lights – the composite outcome, I think you’ll agree, is breathtakingly wonderful.

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I was really drawn to the idea of a lone character made of light surfing through darkness.  I’ve always been excited by unusual ways of lighting things, so it seemed like an exciting idea to make the subject of the film the only light source.

- Jacob Sutton

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It took Sutton three nights sliding around on a skidoo with his trusty Red Epic camera, guzzling red wine, with temperatures of -25C, to capture Hughes carving masterfully through the fresh powder – with immaculate results.

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Read the epic snowboarding thriller by David J Rodger

Edge - a sci-fi dark fantasy novel by British author David J Rodger

Available in paperback or kindle

EDGE { novel } In the near future, a prolific inventor is close to burn out. Desperate for a break he grabs an opportunity to go snowboarding in New Zealand, thinking it will refresh his mind and spirit. But a malign and alien force is oozing back into our reality, older than humankind and growing strong as it emerges after centuries of absence. Zen Dow snowboarding and ski resort, perched in the foothills of the volcanic mountain Ruapehu, is about to experience mind-shredding consequences as one of the Great Old Ones returns. On the other side of the world, an unscrupulous concept scout scrambles onto the trail of a new technology that has vanished from the corporate R&D labs. Quickly out of his depth, it becomes a race to track down the missing components before competing corporate agents kill him. David J Rodger’s trademark relentless narrative pace is here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that blends corporate espionage, with a creeping, spine-chilling horror.

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Paperback : LULU & Amazon Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)
BUY > iBook : from iTunes Store

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A myriad of Bonds

This chap / chapess has created a mosaic overview – insect like – of 22 Bond movies.  It’s a bit disorientating to watch but is an engaging watch.  I think it could do with some better syncing – in particular the gun barrel and blood slick moment, but I’m guessing that’s not the purpose of the exercise.  For me it was interesting to see the different styles of filming, colour and quality framed within the hallmark Bond movie start over the last five decades. Watch and see what you think yourself.

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I’ve been seeing the headlines circulating around the web for the past few hours but only just had a chance to grab some time to watch it.  This made me laugh out loud. You can imagine these folks getting super-excited about creating what they probably think is just a fun bit of multi-media and whooomp – it’s now racked up over half a million views in just over 24 hours.  Fair play to them. It’s got that sense of gung-ho happy-go-lucky humour that was the hallmark of 1980s pop videos before it all got so…. glossy.

Jolly good fun, ya!

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Cyberpunk edging closer to the mainstream?

Maybe you like your niche sub-genres to stay that way but the decades-old concepts of Cyberpunk (and even Steampunk for that matter following journalistic narrative at the London Paralympic Games) are starting to attract the more mainstream attention. It’s not surprising, as everyday technology begins to bleed seamlessly into the crossover between Science Fiction and Science Fact. This, combined with social and economic paradigm shifts  as the excesses of corporate greed are exposed and then, deftly, acknowledged and more-or-less ignored as the status-quo; and the financial greenhouses that were first built-in the 1950s and given an extra layer of insulation in the 1980s  suffer from shattered window panes and a superstructure caving-in on itself.  More homeless on the street.   And a more organised and sinister set of groups ready to exploit the shadows on the street…

Here’s a short film by Stephan Zlotescu, that nails the cyberpunk theme like a Gloxx neural interface jack custom grown for a private client.

Scott Glassgold, co-chief of IAM Entertainment, is managing the risk-riddled campaign of consolidating the vast interest in the short film in order to expand the concept rapidly and “get it out there” to a wider audience in more formats. The key point here is that Hollywood might take more notice of the sub-genre and the flavours that are vital to this particular techno-criminal-fashion-candy soup. Selective surgery; cybernetic and bio-engineered implants; reality augmentation and infinite digital realms; the individual as zero and god-like hero; corporations as warring states with private armies of varying degrees of quality and legality.

Cyberpunk…

It’s a beautiful sub-genre. Sci-fi has never had so much burning chrome plating its lower flanks.

Enjoy the short movie.

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God Seed a sci-fi dark fantasy novel by British author David J Rodger

Available in Paperback or Kindle

Paperback : from LULU & Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)

GOD SEED {cyberpunk  novel } In the near future, a documentary film-maker is covering mercenaries engaged in corporate espionage. A nervous executive wants to smuggle stolen data to Cairo. Yet events rapidly and frighteningly escalate out of control. The film-maker finds himself battling for his life and his sanity as a new and dramatic story unfolds, dragging him across the globe…and beyond. Fascist extremists, Islamic terrorists, corrupt government officials and a religious sect that worships a nefarious avatar of a many-faced God of the Outer Void, become fused into a gruesome knot of lies, treachery and mass-murder. David J Rodger’s trademark gut-wrenching rendering of a dark and edgy reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that plunges you uncomfortably deep into crawling chaos festering and feeding on the membrane of human existence.

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Classic Realms of Adventure

This is one of the real delights of the Interweb. Encountering positive, enthusiastic and like-minded people.

One such chap is Wes, who has been shouldering a lot of effort and stress as he single-handedly creates a new online resource for gamers, with a helpful slant towards folks who are new to RPGs and gaming in general. All of this from over four decades of experience and a jaw-dropping spread of different game types and systems.

There’s a healthy adoration of all things Lovecraftian, too.

Classic Realms of Adventure is the umbrella site, folding in several strands such as a YouTube channel, Darkness over Dunwich (my favourite, of course) and some old-school war-gaming joy mixed in with board games.

So if that whets your appetite then please step through the portal into a different land.

Darkness over Dunwhich part of Classic Realms of Adventure blog

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iamamiwhoami

jonna lee -iamamiwhoami - cyberpunk electronica with dark and surreal roots in Nordic folklore

iamamiwhoami

I first discovered this creative enigma (now revealed) back in 2010. Somebody showed me a short video that struck me as a glimpse of somebody’s dream – sliding precariously along the edge of sanity between wonder and nightmare.  Behind the incredible visuals and electronica (ambient, synthpop, and trip hop)  was a potent sense of complex thought and planning.  Here was a mystery worthy of Dale Cooper versus Windom Earle.  Or even of Holmes v Moriarty if those Victorian legends were placed within a Steampunk context.  The clues, woven through visual metaphor and titles creating coded references to a word or phrase, built up over time in videos released through iamamiwhoami’s YouTube channel.

On a personal level it was evocative of the cypher clues laid down in the sci-fi cyberpunk novel EDGE, where a scientist finds evidence of corporate espionage but needs to crack a code to expose it.  Or the darker novel, Dante’s Fool, where a London police detective desperately tries to decipher coded squares tattooed onto the victims of a cult – the trail of symbolism leads him to discover demons lurking amongst the heads of a corporate giant.

The creative output of iamamiwhoami placed me in a state of excited anticipation.  Who was the female artist who never quite revealed her face?  Always obscured by make-up, dirt and the detritus of Mother Nature and artistic lens distortion.  Who were the musicians behind the blissfully weird electronica? And what the heck did it all mean?

And so the mystery grew – as did the collection of video clips and music.

Here’s a taster from those early days.

An explanation follows, whilst many of the YouTube video pages contain some interesting comments and theories.

The early videos display a series of digits, like a code, as part of their title.  Mapped onto the alphabet, you get such words as  (officinarum) (welcome home) and (mandragora). Mandragora officinarum refers to the mandrake root, which has strong associations to the occult, witchcraft and study of hallucinogens. The mandrake root is supposed to grow beneath gallows thanks to the ejaculated semen of male victims of hanging. And in Nordic myth, the mandrake is a plant root that craves to be human.

Enjoy the videos, enjoy the music. Enjoy the visuals and the symbolism.

iamamiwhoami released their first studio album Kin in June this year (2012), available on CD or MP3 download.

Audio Visual Bliss

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Part of the California Road Trip, I filmed this in South Lake Tahoe. Sitting on the balcony of Blue Water Bistro, enjoying an ice cold glass of Boont beer and watching the sun set. This woman launched the ball into the water again and again and again, and the dog went after it with exstatic glee.  It was so great to watch that at one point everyone in the bistro had stopped eating and the whole place was out on the balcony watching, taking pics and laughing with delight.

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Stars Wars – Gotye parody

Once in a while somebody comes along with a custom-crafted video that just hits the mark. This one by  brings together the superb combination of sound and visuals of Gotye (Somebody That I Used To Know) – and some quirky one-liners to give George Lucus and his prequels a highly qualified pasting.   I love the stand-in for the ft.Kimbra role. It ain’t a woman. The actor really plays (him) well.  :o)

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You treat me like a Bantha and I feel so low

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What Happened to the Star Wars that I used to know?

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And what’s the deal with having me be dubbed over (Noooooooooo!)

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CREDITS

DARTH GOTYE: Tyson Apostol
GEORGE L: Mike Loveland (http://www.ollibird.com)

MUSIC ARRANGED BY: Israel Curtis, http://Somakat.com
ADDITIONAL INSTRUMENTS: Josh Aker, http://Somakat.com
DARTH VOCALS BY: Israel Curtis
GEORGE VOCALS BY: Ryan Richardson

LYRICS BY:
Eddie King
Jeremy Warner, http://jeremywarnerclassic.com/
Joseph Winter

CREATED AND PRODUCED BY:
Teddie Films

WRITTEN BY:
Eddie king

CINEMATOGRAPHY BY:
Tyler Marshall

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT:
Vanessa Winter

ART:
Mike and Alma Loveland, http://www.ollibird.com
Vanessa Winter
Emily Jacobson

MAKEUP AND COSTUME:
Emily Jacobson

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Joseph Winter
Bree King
Kumari Marshall

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One cop. One superhero. Wrong interrogation room.

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2 minutes and 55 seconds of comic brilliance.

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A quick video of British Sci-Fi and Dark Fantasy author David J Rodger, giving an introduction to the brand new hardback version of “Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur”. Originally published in 2007, a new updated version was released in February 2012 (version 2.5).

This is a hardback edition of version 2.5.

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The video provides a view of the hardback and brief overview of a couple of key changes made to the Yellow Dawn during the recent overhaul.

You can find the hardback edition of Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur (2.5) on LULU, here:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-j-rodger/yellow-dawn-25-special-edition-hardcover/hardcover/product-20012076.html

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Hardback version of Yellow Dawn The Age of Hastur

Available exclusively from LULU

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It is also available in its original softback cover (version 2.5) here:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-j-rodger/yellow-dawn-the-age-of-hastur/paperback/product-18893919.html

More information available through official Yellow Dawn webpage:
http://www.davidjrodger.com/yellowdawn.htm

YELLOW DAWN – THE AGE OF HASTUR

The Earth has been ravaged by viral pathogens, the death of billions observed by the orbital colonies and deep-space habitats that were largely unaffected by the Outbreak. Terrified of infection, nobody came to help. Less than 30 percent survived the first few weeks. Then came the 2nd Wave of infection, spreading steadily outwards from the impact points, and that was when the horror really began… YELLOW DAWN: This book is crammed with everything you will need to create characters, run scenarios and experience horror and adventure in the fictional world of David J Rodger. FEATURES: The Influence of Hastur; Medical theories on the Infection; Zombie surges; Comprehensive scavenging system; Computer hacking and drug abuse; Non-human characters; Enhancements through cyberware and bioware; Weaponry, equipment and armour; Complex political, corporate and quasi-religious tensions; Schools of Elemental Magick, occultism, demonology, and the alien horrors of the Outer Chaos — the Cthulhu Mythos.

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If you’re not a game player or just want to get a richer flavour of the world of Yellow Dawn then check out the novel, Dog Eat Dog:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-j-rodger/dog-eat-dog/paperback/product-18954442.html

Dog Eat Dog - a crime thriller set in post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn written by British Sci-Fi Dark Fantasy author David J Rodger

Available in paperback or kindle

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A little under 10 minutes this is a wonderfully atmospheric cyberpunk post-apocalyptic short that plugs straight into your adrenal gland.  Definitely make sure you’ve got big sound, full screen and a do-not-disturb holo hovering above your skull.

There’s a fantastic absence of dialogue, adding to the enigma of the story’s background: what is the character searching for and why did this happen?  Is the character even human, or something else?  Great sense of peril from the autonomous machine response.

It would fit seamlessly into the post-apocalyptic universe of  Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur, except for the fact it shows nature having reclaimed the abandoned cityscape. In Yellow Dawn, one aspect of the Infection that dominates the daily life of survivors who have chosen not to seek sanctuary in the Living Cities, and is part of the pervasive Influence of Hastur, is the fact that the flora and fauna of Nature does not grow anywhere there are significant populations of Infected victims (erroneously called zombies by survivors and media).  Even 10 years after the event known as Yellow Dawn happened, the Dead Cities remain free from the choking overgrowth of weeds, trees, wild grasses or anything else; adding to the intensely disturbing atmosphere to these places.

Here’s the video:

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Story by Wes Ball. Produced by Oddball Animation

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Sci-fi & Cyberpunk Future – Today

This is an informative little video showing experiments using nano quadrotors (developed by KMel Robotics) at the GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania.  It gets a little surreal and unnerving near the end when you consider that in only a few years these swarms are going to be out on the battlefield with military applications, and possibly out on urban streets performing surveillance (and enforcement?) by police & dubious corporate security teams.

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If you liked this then take a look at the concept of heterogeneous attack swarms, with different systems in a swarm providing unique roles in a synchronised manner.

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UPDATE 2nd FEB 2012:

And as if to reinforce the point, the Guardian website just posted this article about the long-term PR campaign being launched by corporations wanting to see these robots brought further into public life.  Surveillance drone industry plans PR effort to counter negative image – click to read

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Cyberpunk futuristic thriller corporate warfare using mercs - Iron Man Project by British author David J Rodger

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Costa-Concordia-Sunk

Costa Concordia lies toppled on her side after a collision with rocks

This is unbelievable.  Friday 13th the news reported the tragic episode of the Costa Concordia running aground and toppling over as it began to sink. Eye-witnesses described the chaotic scenes during the evacuation as… “like living through the movie Titanic”.  Many of the crew have been applauded so-far for the way in which they acted, despite the apparent absence of Captain Schettino.  The Guardian website has just released this video (audio recording) of a telephone call between the Italian port authority and Captain Schettino – who, it now transpires, hadn’t stuck around to ensure his passengers were safely evacuated from the sinking ship… but had in fact escaped as the evacuation had barely begun. In the telephone conversation you can hear (and read subtitles) the coastguard becoming rapidly exasperated by the behaviour of Captain Schettino and furious with his continued absence from the ship.  At one point he has to literally order the Captain to return to the ship and manage the evacuation.

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Investigators are still trying to determine what caused this technologically advanced vessel to crash into rocks… but preliminary findings suggest it was a result of Captain Schettino showing off (allegedly).

They’ve so far found 11 bodies on the ship; there may be others… and there may even be some people still alive, trapped in dark cabins unable to get through the doors that no longer work because swipe cards don’t work underwater when the electronics have fried.

Captain Schettino – I think that name might become a byword for something unpleasant – and dereliction of duty.

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Smile…

This planet is beautiful and you’re a part of it.

Arizona Utah stunning time-lapse video by Dustin Farrell beautiful uplifting imagery

Stunning time-lapse video by Dustin Farrell (click for full size)

Landscapes: Volume 2 is the second of a three part series by the patient and talented Dustin Farrell; using motion controlled HDR and/or night time-lapse he highlights some of the most eye-dazzling scenery of his home state Arizona and neighbouring Utah.  Every frame of this video is a raw still from a Canon 5D2 DSLR and processed with Adobe software.

You can watch it here – recommend full screen, high def, and big sound:

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Farrell is not shy of his abilities here and is keen to help others with their time-lapse projects. He is reachable at 888-444-2739 or DustinF@crewwestinc.com

Most of the motion control for this video was done with the Stage Zero Dolly by Dynamic Perception. Once I got comfortable using the DP dolly I fell in love. I can set up shots now in much shorter times. More importantly for me, it is much smaller and much more portable than my homemade motion control. Without it, shots like the Delicate Arch shot in Utah would be nearly impossible due to the length of the hike. Buy the Stage Zero Dolly if you are looking for quality, inexpensive, easy-to-use motion control.

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Pre/Post Graphics: Chris Pettit of Digital Skye Media Development

Soundtrack“Sunshine (Adagio In D Minor)” by John Murphy. #15 – available on itunes here

Dustin Farrell on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/dustinfarrell

Dustin Farrell on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/dustin_farrell

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