Ken Burns on Story Telling
What makes a great story? For legendary filmmaker Ken Burns, the answer is both complicated and personal. In this short documentary about the craft of storytelling, he explains his lifelong mission to wake the dead.
Ken Burns: On Story from Redglass Pictures on Vimeo.
Richard Branson Is Asking You …
What do you think about this video? “Incentivising senior employees very differently. Saw this incredibly interesting video recently. Was impressed not only by its surprising conclusions, but by its original way of presenting information. It’s certainly intriguing. I suspect that my senior people at Virgin will hope I don’t watch this video too often! What do you think about it? (via his blog)
It is a pretty cool video on management. And I agree that this original way of presenting information by RSA is very convincing. There are many more animated videos on their website or youtube channel. Great content and intriguing to watch. Thanks Richard for posting and thanks RSA for being a powerful and inspiring platform.
Wow! Microsoft Builds A Functioning ‘Holodesk’
It’s a start but – wow – that’s amazing and something the world has been waiting for since 1987. It’s not quite a Holodeck, but it’s tantalizingly close.
The reasearch arm of Microsoft, unlike the rest of the company, spends its days spinning crazed dreams into hacked reality.
Today Microsoft Research released a rather fascinating demonstration of one of its projects, what it calls a ‘holodesk,’ which has the potential to change the way we physically interact with digital items. Sounds trippy? That’s because it is. The user, looking down on a pane of glass, sees items (balls, blocks, whatever) on that screen. With their hands underneath the glass, they can move their appendages and digits and prod those images as if they were directly touching them.
It’s a bridge, essentially, between the physical and the digital. Microsoft dubs the idea at the “research project” stage only, so don’t get your hopes up about getting one for yourself. And of course, it uses a Kinect.
Now, if this is only a research project, why does it matter? Microsoft, as a company, is working on all fronts to build on what it calls ‘natural user interfac[ing].” What this means is that the firm is looking past the keyboard and mouse (blasphemy) and is instead working with touch, voice, and so forth. This is especially important in the tablet world that the company is so desperately behind in.
it’s hard not to wish that more of what Microsoft Research was market-ready. (via thenextweb)
A Real-Time Crowdsourced Production by New Yorkers
“The ‘New York Writes Itself’ script is a record of the real people in New York and what they have said and done as witnessed by a group of observational New Yorkers. If you hear a great quote or something catches your eye, submit it here as part of the script. Quotes, scenes and characters in the script are selected to be made into productions – like posters, exhibitions, music videos and short films.” Read more at www.newyorkwritesitself.com
Moments [Film] by Radiolab – Beautiful Observations
Radiolab presents: Moments by Will Hoffman. This films is a celebration of life that was inspired by David Eagleman’s book, Sum.
Fantastic Animatronics Reel by John Nolan
Kudos John Nolan for an impressive reel here! This is incredible craftsmanship.
Imagination underpins every uniquely human achievement. Imagination led us from caves to cities, from bone clubs to golf clubs, from carrion to cuisine, and from superstition to science.The relationship between imagination and “reality” is both complicated and profound. (The Element).
The art of “Karakuri”. Japan has always been on the forefront of cutting edge robotics. Its roots can be traced back 200-300 years during the Edo period when skilled craftsmen created automata (self-operating machines). Using nothing more than pulleys and weights they were able to make the Karakuri (Japanese automata) perform amazing tasks.
Japans modern day robots can be traced back to the Karakuri. Today Hideki Higashino is one of the few remaining craftsmen who is determined to keep the history and tradition of Japanese Karakuri alive. (video here)
An Investigation Into Flow and Pace by Paul Octavious
A 60sec experiment with the color Indigo.
Music: John Brion – Spotless Mind
Paul on vimeo
Gold! 14 Actors Acting – Great Web Special by NYT
I know 36 hours are like a month on the internet, and this here is a bit older but a real keeper. Beautiful and intriguing films. From New York Times Magazine Hollywood Issue “14 Actors Acting”. Shot by Solve Sundsbo. The New York Times photography feature has won a Gold Cube for photography at the Art Directors Club global awards held in New York.
The fifteen actors are Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Lesley Manville (Another Year), Jesse Eisenberg (Solitary Man, Holly Rollers, The Social Network), James Franco (127 Hours), Chloë Moretz (Kick-Ass, Let Me In), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Robert Duvall (Get Low), Annette Bening (Mother and Child, The Kids Are All Right), Anthony Mackie (Night Catches Us), Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest), Tilda Swinton (I Am Love), Matt Damon (Green Zone, Hereafter, True Grit), Vincent Cassel (Mesrine: Killer Instinct, Black Swan), Michael Douglas (Solitary Man, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
A.O. Scott provides the introduction…
“It goes without saying that acting is a matter of discipline and craft, and that what the best performers do is always subject to analysis, criticism and argument. They say their lines, hit their marks, suffer through retakes and rehearsals, and they trust that an artisanal collaboration with writers, technicians, directors and other actors will somehow yield a work of art. But acting is also an art by itself: alchemical, mysterious, at times almost magical. A person transforms into someone else — a dancer, a Texas Ranger, a wife exiled from her native country, a young vampire, a former militant, a mogul in old age — and in the process reveals something basic and essential that is his or hers alone. In the past, we have invited the year’s great performers to be themselves for the camera and, on video, to talk about what they do. This year, we asked them to do it: to show us — in a few gestures and with a few props but without dialogue or story — what acting is. And here they are, striking some of the classic attitudes of cinema, turning their bodies and faces into instruments of pure, deep and enigmatic emotion. You will, of course, recognize them immediately and admire their grace, daring and skill. But you also may be startled to see how thoroughly themselves they are in the midst of pretending otherwise.”
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