Reactions to slideshows and flipbooks and movies...Oh My!

I have to say that these were some interesting and original sites we were asked to comment on this week. While not all of the links worked properly, the ones that did led me to a wealth of exampes on how creative you can be on the Internet.

The first site I visited, entitled Between You and Me, took a little while to load on my computer but was well-worth the wait. The "film," which won numerous awards in 2005 and 2006, was created by Patryk Rebisz. We were even given a link to read his comments about his creation. It turns out that he was broke, and needed to do a project which required no money and no dialogue. And so, 'Between You and Me' was born.

The "video" is actually over 2,000 photographs stitched togeter to form the illusion of movement. And believe it or not, it looks good! I really liked the opening scene, with the sights and sounds of New York city after dark. Initially, the movement of the people walking kind of scared me; it reminded me of the awkward movements I've now become accustomed to seeing in horror films. I also really liked the idea of stitching pictures of running water together. The scenes of water running out of the shower and faucet, flushing down the toilet, and rippling at the shore of the bay were really neat.

I also thought that the music and sound effects were compelling and really added to and complemented the visual story. The cat at the end was a nice touch and a cute way to end the film.

Lastly, I found that if you paused the video and clicked on the fast-forward or rewind buttons, you could almost see each seperate picture being put together to form movement. I found this to be a very unique and creative way to tell a story.

I also viewed the flipbook slideshow entitled The Cardstacker. The site introduces us to Bryan Berg, a professional cardstacker. Through audio, Berg tells the story of how he's been stacking cards since he was a child, and tells how his parents were always supportive of him. While he speaks, we see photos stitched together of Berg building giant card buildings. He stands on chairs, cinderblocks, and even ladders as he builds his creations.

I enjoyed the photos, as well as hearing Berg speak over the pictures. I thought this was a really neat project, though not as ambitious as the previous one. I liked being able to hear Berg's thoughts though, as opposed to reading about them after the fact. It was nice to know his thoughts on his creations, that this is his way of showing people that they, "...can really do anything."

The second part of the slideshow suprised me. Berg takes a leafblower and destroys all his creations. The photography is fantastic, with cards flying everywhere and buildings crumbling to the ground. The only audio is the sound of the leafblower, the cards flapping around in the air, and the crowd cheering and clapping as the buildings topple to the ground. I thought this was a great way to end the story.