Tag Archives: Video

The Mauna Kea Heavens Timelapse – Lasers

October 9th, 2013 | Space

Mauna Kea Heavens Timelapse

Wow! This is one of the coolest time-lapse videos I’ve ever seen. Sean Goebel, an astronomy graduate student, ascended the 14,000 ft summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii to capture the observatories at work. The footage was filmed over three nights last April, and yes, the lasers are real.

So what do the lasers do?

They function on the principle of adaptive optics. In brief, they are extremely powerful 15-40 watt lasers (1000+ times more powerful than your laser pointer) that track atmospheric turbulence. Winds in the atmosphere can blur out the fine detail of the stars (the reason stars twinkle), and the telescope can use the information from the lasers to make slight adjustments to cancel out the blurring. This ultimately creates a better image of the sky.

What kind of gear was used?

Straight from Sean:

“I shot the montage on a Canon 5D Mk. II and an old-as-dinosaurs Rebel XT. I’m trying to run the XT into the ground (the shutter is rated for 50,000 photos and I’ve taken about 70,000), but it refuses to die, so I keep using it. When the shutter dies, I plan to fill the mirror box with dirt, plant a cactus in it, and then buy an actually decent second body. Anyway, the 5D II was usually paired with either a Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 or a Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8, and the Rebel XT was usually used with a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. Additionally, a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, Bower 35mm f/1.4, and a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 were each used for one scene. I also used a home-built rotary table to create camera motion in some of the scenes. My timelapse dolly lives in a closet in California, so it wasn’t used in this montage.”

mauna kea timelapse setup

I shot all my images in RAW format (yep, that’s a lot of space). Images were edited in Adobe Camera Raw (part of the Photoshop suite). To add adjustable crops/white balance/etc., I ran the images through a moderately buggy program called LRTimelapse. Images were resized to 1080p in Photoshop and saved as jpgs. A few sequences were run through Virtual Dub with MSU Deflicker (for deflickering) or After Effects (for stabilization). The final video was edited together in Adobe Premiere.”

Well I’m certainly impressed!

Find still shots and more information at Sean’s site.

-RSB

“Carn” by Jeff Le Bars

October 7th, 2013 | Brain

Carn

-Lost in the woods, a young boy makes a fateful oath with a dying wolf.

“Carn” is a short animated film from Jeff Le Bars, which he created for a 2012 graduation project. The design is superb and the storyline is even better. This artist has a very bright future.

Hope you enjoy.

-RSB

“Box” – A Projection-Mapping Project from Bot & Dolly

September 24th, 2013 | Robot

Box from Bot and Dolly

Bot & Dolly is a self-described “small company with big robots.” Specifically, they’re an engineering and design firm that is attempting to use their “big robots” to revolutionize filmmaking. This recent project, known simply as “Box,” implements the 3D projection-mapping process to create a truly magical demonstration.

Projection Mapping is a rather old concept (dating back to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in the late 1960’s), but it has recently come into prominence with the development of specialized hardware and software. Almost any surface can be used to display the 3-dimensional images, so this technology has wide-ranging applications.

It will be exciting to see what this design firm produces next. Find more robotics at Bot & Dolly’s site.

-RSB

Big Wave Surfing – Teahupo’o, Tahiti

August 29th, 2013 | Brain, Space

Teahupo'o Big Wave Surfing

Teahupo'o Big Wave Surfing 2

The sleepy village of Teahupo’o is known for a world class break that can be one of the most dangerous places to surf on the World Championship Tour. The day featured in the video above was 2 years ago, on August 27th, 2011. Kelly Slater stated that “witnessing this was a draining feeling… being terrified for other people’s lives all day long. It’s life or death. Letting go of that rope one time can change your life and not many people will ever experience that in their life.”

It’s awe-inspiring to witness the power (and beauty) of the ocean. I don’t think I’ll ever be the one facing down that wave, but I’m glad it was captured in all its force.

For more from the filmmaker, check out his site.

-RSB

Bridging Time with Sound & Light – Brian Eno

June 10th, 2013 | Brain

Brian Eno - Light and Sound

Brian Eno has spent the last 40+ years pushing the boundaries of experimental and ambient music.  In his career, he’s worked with some of the best musicians in the industry including David Bowie, Coldplay, Lou Reed, and David Byrne.  In the video above, he discusses a new project called 77 Million Paintings.  This latest work is a “constantly evolving sound and imagescape which continues his exploration into light as an artist’s medium and the aesthetic possibilities of “generative software””.  The idea is that the music and images slowly fade in and out in a random, asynchronous manner to give a viewer a consistently unique experience.

“You surrender to the project. You surrender to the thing growing in its own way, and there’s a gracefulness in being able to surrender.'”

-RSB

[via Gizmodo]

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