TODAY WE LIKE: Light Graffiti

02/03/2010 / Marc Zedler

Occasionally, there are times when you find works of art that leave you awestruck. Light graffiti, otherwise known as light painting, is a growing trend amongst budding photography and video artists, commonly found in urbanized centers of Paris and Cologne. This vibrant subculture harks back to artist Man Ray from his series “Space Writing” but has been developed with a contemporary twist.

Usually made at night or in a darkened room, a hand-held light source is used to draw in front of a camera or video recorder with extended exposure time. Invisible to the naked eye, artists have to rely on instinct in order to manifest neon beauties that rang from comical to sublime.

Lichtfaktor is one of those groups that embody such creative splendor. Their playful approach has already made them arguably one of the best-known artistic teams. Utilizing their interactive imagination, they morph trashcans into robots and train stations into neon highways.

Michael Bosanko is a Welshman with over ten years of photography experience. His forays in advanced light graffiti show a deep understanding of scope and placement. Incorporating purple cities behind natural backdrops.

iPhone users become producers

02/03/2010 / Marc Zedler

iPhone users have yet another reason not to make eye contact. A new app from Swedish company AudioRealism, called technoBox, will allow a virtual techno studio in the palm of your hand.

The program emulates vintage equipment of the Roland TB-303 Bassline, TR-808 Rhythm Composer, and the 909 Rhythm Composer. These pristine sets of sounds have been rolled into one app, allowing your fingers an endless techno workout and should make the long commutes home a bit easier and fun.

What’s even more surprising is the decent audio engine and how nicely optimized the app runs on your smart phone. Affordable and nifty, let’s hope not everyone claims to be a ‘producer’ after the technoBox.

Curious on how the device works? Check out the video below.

ONES TO WATCH - Elektro Guzzi

01/03/2010 / Gareth Owen

Vienna, techno and a vaguely Italian sounding name. Three geeky looking guys and bass lines so fat, they practically jump out the speakers, grab you by the throat and demand you move your hips. Something is amiss surely?

According to their MySpace, Elektro Guzzi have been “challenging preconceptions of how techno can be performed live” since 2004, but after devouring every video and mp3 of theirs I could find, I think techno alone is not sufficiently descriptive. The addition of three or four more adjectives along the lines of funk, ghetto or rude bway would be more of an accurate assessment.

The components are simple: A bass guitar, a drum kit and guitar. Three people, three instruments. No computers or prepared loops appear to be in use. Three musicians, playing in a way that people have fundamentally done for the last, what, 50 years? Sure, there’s bound to be some effects boxes hidden amongst their (undoubtedly smart and sensible) shoes, but the rhythm, the groove, it’s all live.

Which, in itself is not unusual – ‘live’ dance music has been around since before the days of ESG. But to hear such stripped down, raw and funky dance music, which as far as I have heard is all instrumental… Well, I have not seen too much of that lately. So, although not that similar sounding, there is a definite musical link to be found between Elektro Guzzi and ESG. And can that ever, ever, ever be a bad thing…!?

With an album on the way for Macro Recordings, which has been co-produced by Patrick Pulsinger, Elektro Guzzi look like the kind of guys that are straight edged, without even knowing what it means (though they probably aren’t being from Vienna, and they almost certainly do know what it means). They make music for sweaty basements and shady characters, with their relentless pounding funky techno that never seems to get boring. However, they currently seem to be playing to people who are vocally appreciative, but, well…, look incredibly similar to them. Which makes them all the more intriguing.

Only knowing two tracks , “Hexenschuss” and “Elastic Bulb”, I can only wait in anticipation of an album - I just hope that their move to the studio won’t clean out the gritty funk from underneath their fingernails.

Elektro Guzzi’s limited 10inch Hexenschuss / Elastic Bulb is due to be released on March 8, 2010 via Macro Recordings.

Cinematic Oracles

25/02/2010 / Johannes Bonke

Johannes Bonke meets with four legendary filmmakers to get their thoughts on the current state of cinema and their unique work approach within an overbearing studio system.

By directing The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Peter Jackson not only turned around his image as a former slapstick horror comedy filmmaker, but also used his money to raise his influence as a producer of various a-list projects of other visionary directors who defined or will define the future of filmmaking. His latest movies District 9, The Hobbit and The Lovely bones or his digital effect company WETA are just a few of the projects is proof enough that this is the man to ask about the future of digital filmmaking.

A lot of people are talking about technology at the moment and it is terrific that filmmaking is becoming a lot less elitist now. I have real hope for the future although I feel a little bit depressed about the film industry at the moment. I think everyone’s playing a defensive game, I think a lot of green lighting and a lot of creative stuff is being made from a defensive position and so everyone’s playing safe. I think that the quality of movies is maybe suffering a bit and what I’m hoping is that there will be a wave of young kids, who have been brought up with pop culture with access to the technology it brings with it.

If you want to make a movie you can get cameras pretty cheaply now. The quality is amazing and you have access to post production equipment on your laptop, so there’s really no reason why people can’t get involved in movie making if they want to. This new generation will be the future of entertainment.

That’s why I am supporting talented young people like Neill Bloomkamp and his directorial debut, District 9. The movie was independently financed; it wasn’t developed by the studio. We developed it ourselves and then Sony picked up a lot of territories around the world. I really wanted to mentor and godfather him because I believe a lot in his talent and he’s a guy born to make films basically. you do recognize those people sometimes. He’s got to make films because that’s what he was put on earth to do, but it’s difficult nonetheless to get your first film made and I wanted to be the guy who assisted him with that.

With The Hobbit and Guillermo del Toro I obviously don’t need to play that role. He proved in the last years that he is a visionary. He is a terrific filmmaker and on The Hobbit I’m involved as a creative producer and more associated with the screenplay really. Being on the screenwriting team is a process I really love. I like it more than directing. So I am having a lot of fun because I am working on the script but don’t have to imagine myself up on a mountain in New Zealand in the middle of winter actually shooting the stuff.

I am also very passionate about my digital effect company WETA that I founded a few years ago. We have about 800 people working for it at the moment. Just about everybody on Avatar, James Cameron’s piece, which will define the future of filmmaking. They’ve recently written and developed an entirely new software code for animating faces. They’ve built a new muscular system in the way that skin and fat and tissue slides over the muscles and then they’ve also developed a new way that the motion capture with all the dots translates to that facial system. We didn’t use it on LoTR or Kong but this incredible code now which is just owned by WETA will be used for Tin Tin next, a movie I am doing with Steven Spielberg.

I’ve seen the Avatar close up and stuff and it’s really terrific. It’s unbelievable the amount of emotion they can now get into these faces just the little twitchy movements around the eyes for example, or the way the face moves and the mouth too in particular is fantastic. You see, I’m working with a lot of high profile people at the moment: but in the end I’m just a geek having a geek-out experience. One thing I’ve come to realise is that once you get over your initial‚ ’oh-my-god’ kind of thing when you meet these guys, you realise that everybody’s very similar. We’re all just film fans and we’ve grown up loving movies and some people are lucky enough to make them.

TODAY WE LIKE: Cress mini garden

24/02/2010 / Judith Busch

Do you enjoy a nice green view in the morning? Then grow your own whimsical mini garden! The soi-disant ‘Postcarden’ come in three different cardboard boxes: you can choose from the above seen city skyline, the botanical or the quaint allotment.

The mini garden lets you grow eatable cress, and all you have to do is add water to the seeds and wait a few days. Instructions come with every garden, but you can also check out the video below to see how it works.