COLUMNS,  Mobile Movies,  News

Mobile Movies Showcase – Week 38 – by Donna Donato

Welcome back to the thirty-eighth article in the column, Mobile Movies. We at TheAppWhisperer have been inspired by the Flickr upgrade of 1 Terabyte of storage for everyone and have wanted to launch a mobile movie section for some time. Now seems to be perfect, the new Flickr upgrade will allow for a full three minutes of 1080p HD quality video per single film and you can have as many as you have storage space for. Each week I (you can find me on Flickr here) will curate the movie uploads to our new Flickr group MobileMoviesTheAppWhisperer – I will view all the videos uploaded and comment on the ones selected.

”The internet has created other crossroads for films and videos. Mobile devices have democratized not only photography but also video-making. The availability of apps that give digital video the appearance of analogy film, such as grainy black and white super-8, is exciting and important. Now anyone with the desire can make a home movie or ‘film’ and upload it to the web. It is interesting to see what stories and messages people are creating and disseminating.’

All of the entries were either shot or created on mobile devices.

Here is TheAppWhisperer’s video showcase for August 16, 2014. We would like to thank this week’s contributors: monowave_jun yamaguch, shirleyforsyth, Vanessa Vox, Ger Van den Elzen Photography, Diane Nicholette Jeon, Mike Ryan, DraMan_Roger Guetta, kimartino1 Hipstafiend_Kim Martino, Aldo Pacheco, iCatMorris_Cat Morris, philippe_schlossberg_Philippe Schlossberg, Matthew Wylie, SLP, Armineh_H, Clearer Reflections_David Hayes, NaProsvet1_Natali Prosvetova, juta.jazz and Chad Rankin / @sirreal, for their submissions. Take a look at these latest gems; you’ll be glad you did. Please share our Column with your family and friends, encouraging them to create and submit their mobile videos. We are seeking all platforms, Windows, Android, iOS… Joanne Carter and I will also be scouring the web in search of mobiles movies to present to our readers.

 

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‘entrance’ – monowave_jun yamaguch
Flickr link

In this dreamy, black and white ethereal piece the viewer is privy to an overhead, time-lapsed view of the entrance of a high trafficked area.  Found myself watching the changing, slow-mo shadows as well as the walking people. The musical loop emphasized the seemingly endless repetition of people in and out of the area.

 
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‘The Long Walk Home’ – shirleyforsyth
Flickr link

This video, using a variety of visual elements and the stark, lonely sound of Ry Cooder’s “Paris, Texas” takes the viewer on a journey home. Liked the ending with its suggestion of where home might actually be.

 
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‘Floating hand in the rain’ – Vanessa Vox
Flickr link
This piece presents a disembodied hand and arm, which seem to be moving like underwater seaweed. Found this video rather mysterious though ostensibly it seems very straightforward. Liked that the drumming rain was the only sound.

 

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‘So many colors fill the sky. So many good things to come’ – Ger Van den Elzen Photography
Flickr link

A large rainbow colored kite comprised of 15 or so individual units is shown moving across the sky.  A man I assume is flying the kite can also be glimpsed at the bottom of the screen. Various groups, including the peace movement, have adopted the rainbow concept and I want to think the kites were skimming the sky for global peace.

 
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‘Heat Stroke’ –Diane Nicholette Jeon
Flickr link

Looking through the shimmering sheets of red light one can only imagine how hot this day must have been. The distorted images and slowed down audio add to the notion of a heat shimmer and mirage.

 
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‘Summer Fun’ – Mike Ryan
Flickr link

For many people, children playing in water and the sounds of their ensuring laughter and/or shrieks are staples of summer memories. I enjoyed watching the kids run between the water sprays and listening to the ambient sounds of happiness, water and church bells.

 
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‘Crime’– DraMan_Roger Guetta
Flickr link

Using still images this piece created what felt like a cross between a graphic novel and time-lapse surveillance footage. The camera noise as well as certain visual clues helped to re-enforce the ‘eye-witness account caught on tape’ feel.

 
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‘Polar bear at Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago’ – kimartino1 Hipstafiend_Kim Martino
Flickr link

Was nice to watch this zoo inhabitant moving about in his/her environment. Great musical accompaniment too.

 

 

Many mobile artists are creating and submitting videos, which incorporate an app called ‘Matter’. Here are a few:

 

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‘Rings of Destiny’ – Aldo Pacheco
Flickr link

These rotating rings within rings changing from arches to circles could certainly be pictorial representations of the circle of life concept. I found the audio, which the videographer called ‘noise’, quite effective.

 
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‘Lava Lamp’– iCatMorris_Cat Morris
Flickr link

This brightly colored piece reminded me not so much of a lava lamp as it did of aspects of internal organs. Interestingly, I ‘saw’ either the lungs going through the motions of causing breath or a pulsating heart.

 
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‘self’ – philippe_schlossberg_Phillippe Schlossberg
Flickr link

Watching this grainy, black and white video with its scratches and flickering black card I felt I was looking at an early depiction of Nosferatu. The figure appears to be observing the viewer rather than the object rotating in front of it.

 
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‘Toward Beylus’– Matthew Wylie
Flickr link
 
What could easily be alien disks reflecting the cloudy sky, appear and reappear around and pass through the image of a profiled man. I found the repetitive, mechanical music added to the foreign nature of the piece.

 
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‘Poetry in motion’ –  SLP
Flickr link

This piece with its rotating, open cube presents and ‘reflects’ an image of Marilyn Monroe, which is displayed alongside poetry.  The viewer is tantalized with various words but unable to read the piece in its entirety.

 
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‘It’s a matter of organization‘ – Armineh_H
Flickr link

The silently, rotating cube displays a closed-eyed face on its triangulated edges. The object appears to be trying to break free of the screen.

 
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‘Distant Worlds‘ – Clearer Reflections_David Hayes
Flickr link

The viewer is presented with a subtle palette of geometric shapes where a rotating globe and its shadow reside in a corner of the screen.

 
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‘Curious Ginger just wants to have fun :)’ – NaProsvet1_Natali Prosvetova
Flickr link

The distorted mirrored image of this piece reminded me of a funhouse mirror reflection. Off to the side of the image is a beautiful, rotating blue disco ball-ish object.

 
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‘light’ – juta.jazz
Flickr link

This black and white piece presents a figure with raised foot, toes poised on a point of bright light, encircled by swirling black bands and ribbons. The piece begs the question of whether the figure is about to dance or is she merely standing on or crossing the line of light.

 
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‘Matter’ – Chad Rankin / @sirreal
Flickr link

Liked this piece with its static, tiny human in the corner as swarming disks reflecting the evening sky move around and through a standing tubular shape. The music accentuated the strangeness and other worldliness of the scene.

Donna is an image-maker, historian by training and a film/video editor by vocation. From a very early age she was smitten with images of all kinds. Donna absolutely loves film and filmmaking. Currently she lives in Paris, a city that has had a long and passionate love affair with ‘the movies’ and is one of the crossroads for world cinema.

One Comment

  • Diana Jeon

    Great showcase! Thank you for including my work, Joanne and Donna. You guys are the best for doing this week after week.