Pinger alarm system helps prevent "Cetacean By-catch"

Every year thousands of unintended marine mammals lose their lives by becoming entangled and or strangled in commercial fishing nets and lines. This is known as “Cetacean By-catch”.

Marine scientists estimate that more than 300,000 Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises (Cetaceans) accidentally drown in fishing nets every year. "Cetacean by-catch is a global problem and represents the single largest survival threat to many marine mammal populations around the world."

Scientists at the Future Oceans research laboratory in Queensland, Australia have developed a small but clever acoustic alert gadget that emits sound waves, tuned to alert Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises to the presence of fishing nets. These devices called Pingers have been scientifically proven to be the only known solution to significantly reduce cetacean by-catch.

The Device, Thrilling Sci-Fi Short Film

We are all now not only depended upon geeky electronic gadgets of all varieties and more and more fascinated and intrigued by what they may provide or assist us with, that we are all perched on the edge of our seats wondering where the next gadget will be taking us.

Simultaneously many of today's devices that many of us can't seem to do with out like smart-phones, tablet computers and eclipsing the horizon smart wearable computers were all first seen and created in numerous Sci-fi movies and television shows, like Star Trek and 2001 A Space Odyssey. 

Thus the technology harbingers of our modern geeky gadget life are very likely gnawing over  what the latest Sci-fi creators have to offer up.

Chasing the storm - empowering time-lapse film

Just as a thunderstorm can take a day to build, so to can it take less than an hour before it unleashes a plethoric tirade of havoc, some, more dramatic than most others!

The fluidity of natures meteorological architecture often fills us with a sense awe and wonder when conjuring weather gathers within our sight path. None more so entertainingly present in Nathan Kaso's empowering short time-lapse film "Chasing the storm", shot around the Plenty Valley and Yarra Valley in Melbourne's outer east, (Australia).

Wide open landscape panning, squeeze sped and slowed, altered time lapse sequences elegantly married to Lzn02's delightful 'Fleur De Lune' sound track, and unfortunately all too short!

In case your interested Nathan Kaso captured his raw video footages with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17-40mm f/4L, 24-105mm f/4L camera then processing in Lightroom and lAfter Effects softwares.

World water shortages: Watershed

World water shortages are now more apparent than ever. The present dire situation in Somalia and the huge drought in Texas, USA to name a few bears this environmental degradation out.

"The United Nations estimates up to 750,000 people may die as a result of the drought and subsequent famine in Somalia. That figure eclipses the death toll of the Asian tsunami and Haiti earthquake combined."

Here below is a short film entitled Watershed from Temujin Doran, which is a brief explanation of how the planet's freshwater reserves have become depleted and is based on figures taken from the 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, no less.



Visit the world water council to learn more, and or submit your ideas.

Concept advertisement video, The Birth

is a delightfully charming concept advertisement video from shootmefashion, with pleasantly  smooth and melancholic soundtrack 'Air On A G String' by J.S. Bach.

The video was produced by Ezel Domianic create and directed by Ozer with a full retinue of  cast and crew that speaks of of a fully decked out cinematic photography advertising film company.

Second Hand, an entertaining cartoon animation

Contrasting two extreme obsessive types of human behaviors. There are the strident movers and shakers that plan their lives with almost military precision while others move and do with a cautiously discerning almost negligible pace, whereas most of us behave somewhere between both.

Isaac King in his 7 minute cartoon animated film Second Hand examines both of these extremes,  juxtaposing fast paced minimalist efficiency with peaceful curiosity in the mundane and an eye for the use value of the discarded.

The film is a beautifully innovative comedic cartoon animation, entertainingly thought provoking with excellent rhythm and pacing made real by the constant clicking of the second hand of the clock.



Issac King accomplished his innovative work by using a mix of stop motion and 2D drawing in Flash, combined in After affects. The delightful music track is by Jeremy Singer with sound design by Greg Sextro.

The Plastic Paradise Promo Documentary

"Scientists and health experts reveal that chemicals in many of the plastic products we take for granted are toxic and potentially to blame for epidemics of cancer and other diseases."

Almost everyday of our consumerist lives we purchase something in plastic, albeit as an object of use, wrapping or a container. Some of us are likely concerned with how we discard the used plastic items, but perhaps too many of us don't give it much thought as to how we dispose of the used materials and clearly see nothing wrong with discarding it into waterways. As all water and what it carries drifts, down and out into the ocean currents it consequently travels to a place now known as the Great North Western Pacific Garbage Patch. Some commentators refer to this location as an island, and although there maybe some truth in that a great deal of the refuse also gets lodged on many sandy beach islands within the area.

Midway Atoll is one such island and here in the video below, TV host and Filmmaker Angela Sun shows how riddled with plastic waste the Atoll has become. Angela is  on a personal quest of discovery to uncover the mystery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and in so doing illustrates the growing toxic confetti that causes the depletion of many marine animals.

"She encounters environmental activists staging elaborate stunts to raise awareness and legislators struggling to address the problem. She investigates the hidden truth about recycling and attempts to contact the leaders of a powerful petrochemical industry in control of our limitless production and consumption of plastic, an industry that does not take kindly to questions about oceans filling up with its garbage."



The video above is a promo and Angela Sun believes that if she can complete her documentary film, she can greater  influence, empower and motivate others into further forms of positive action. Thus, she needs more funds to complete her project and is seeking donations via her website.

A little history of Parkour

The entertaining historical documentary footage film clip, below, is from a Paramount newsreel shot in 1942, of two men practicing their art of jumping and stunt climbing, as it was simply referred to as then.

The first minute of the video is Italian-American amateur stuntman John Ciampa, and the remaining newsreel is performed by Arnim Dahl. the film was  likely meant as promotional aid for both men who eventually got work as stunt doubles in the 1950's and 60's movie industry.

Arnim Dahl mostly worked as the stuntman for leading actors, like, Albert Lieven, Curd Jürgens and Kirk Douglas but was also involved in a number of publicity activities, such as when he performed a stunt from the roof railing of the Empire State Building in New York.



Among the startling acts he performed throughout his life (1922 - 1998) were his more than 40 times in hospital, with more than 100 fractures, amounting to more than 4 years of his life in a hospital. Nevertheless a survivor of an extreme sport, that became known as parkour which in name was birthed and made famous by David Belle.

The music track on this video is from the 1977 film soundtrack of Gizmo and its either "Pieces of Dreams" by Joe DiSabato or "The Stunt Runner" written & sung by Nicholas Hollander ?

Ametsub's Repeatedly

Designed, directed and produced in Turin and Milan by Lucio Arese, Repeatedly is the official video of Ametsub's new single released by Mille Plateaux, on the The Nothings of the North album.

Lucio Arese created this entertaining media art film by deploying experimental stop motion animation techniques, in order to create artificial mapping topologies of various 3D and virtual geometric shapes. These forms were used to represent the various glitches in harmonic and rhythmic residua structures of the music, itself giving rise to a neatly formed audio video synchronization.

Interesting to note that almost every frame of the video becomes a digital sculpture blended into the urban landscape, go here to view them.



Ametsub has one of the coolest musician websites I've experienced for some time !

Out of the Inkwell: The Tantalizing Fly

is a marvelously entertaining little historical cartoon animation (1919) directed and produced by Max Fleischer for Bray Studios.

Out of the Inkwell was a major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929, who invented the Rotoscope. Film was projected through an opening in an easel, covered by by a glass pane on which he drew the  sequences. Advancing the film one frame at a time the projected image was traced onto paper.

The popularity of the Out of the Inkwell series was driven by the integration and interaction of live action sequences of Max Fleischer in the process of creating his ink pen drawings with his animation sequences.

Surreal Cinematic PR Epic - Batelco Infinity

phew, this is some cool entertaining reinterpretation of Inception dreaming if there ever was one !

Infinity, from directors Alex & Steffen, (SpyFilms), strikes a cord of a futuristic real time interactive Disney World. where toy-land and futuristic are morphologically wedded.

Batelco, or Bahrain Telecommunications Company has grown to be the biggest provider of internet, mobile and telephone services in Bahrain, and are possibly hoping to heat sink new markets or merely having some fun making a PR viral  video in downtown Toronto, Canada ?



That morphing speed train roller coaster really delighted me, how about you ?

Nevertheless, here now if you feel up to it, watch how all those squizzoid  sci-fi visual fx  and outrageous yet seductive fanciful stunts were post produced is the making of Batelco Infinity.

The River: atmospherically riveting short film

Is an emotively entertaining short piece of superb stop-motion animation that firmly cements a new genre of film making into the mainstream of media art; created with the geeky favored toy box of Lego bricks, together with some cleverly orchestrated handmade visual and software effects.

Although captured on a Nikon D40x and authored in Final Cut Pro, the technical skill used to display large amounts of artwork is in the use value of treating Legos like clay.

The River won the best cinematography category of the bricks in motion 2009 star competition in which Nikolas Jaegar provides us with an alluring example of what can be achieved using technically astute Diy effects.

The underlying theme bears some semblance of a story, requisite with the history of the American Civil War, however bear in mind though The River has got an existential kick to it.

"A lot of people have asked me about the plot. I'll say that some parts are more clear than others, and that's really my intention. I don't want it to be a film where you reach the ending and go "oh, THAT's what was going on", not at all."



Both the film and music is by Nikolas Jaeger, with voices from Leonardo Liccini, Erik Wiedenmann and David Wardell, and Civil War sound effects provided by Phil Sepulveda.

Bad Things That Could Happen by This Is It

is an entertaining little video with amazing set design using giant props made out of cardboard about bad things that could happen.

"The film is self explanatory made up of seven short scenes. Playing with scale and bringing objects to life, the film creates a subverted world where the mundane becomes absurd."



This Is It, is a collective of illustrators, animators, artists and designers, who are: Andy Baker, Laura Bird, Rose Blake, Daniel Britt, Chan An Gee, Michael Knight, Nicos Livesey, Tom McCaughan, Azusa Nakagawa, Joseph Pelling and Becky Sloan

Credits of the work
Cinematography - Hugo Donkin
Photography - Thomas Bolwell
Sound Design - Andrew Kinnear
Music - Andrew Kinnear & Joseph Pelling
Make Up - Elizabeth Barlow

Apart from the cool constructive effort of this sweet little film, I'm intrigued as to know when a film is not a video ? Nevertheless, I for one have a propensity here in this blog to view this kind of work as nothing short of a mighty fine piece of Media Art !

Lostmachinima's Short Film: Retaliation

'War does not determine who is right - only who is left.'

Although, I must confess I am not an action gamer this weirdly entertaining animation rattled my sox. It cleverly juxtaposes Telepopmusik's song, Yesterday Was A Lie with a computer graphics cinematic depth of field effect of excerpts from the Halo 3 game.

Film maker, Lostmachinima used a Blackmagic Intensity Pro HD Capture Card, edited using Sony Vegas 9 Pro using Visuals and Color Correction, Adobe After Effects CS4 and 'Magic Bullet Looks'.

Go here to see more cool work by this clever media artist.

Gou Miyagi: overground broadcasting skate video

is very close to the action of the skater interspersed with quick momentary animation sequences; The video is of Gou Miyagi's part from Overground Broadcasting a film by The Far East Skate Network. The video is mostly made by Takahiro Morita. The music is by Juzu a.k.a. Moochy with Snake Head Koza.

Surprisingly the video edit includes the skaters mistakes and accidents, as he trys over and over again to get each trick to work except for the very last circular tubing encounter. In all a fun and entertaining view for all.

You may like to read an in depth interview with Gou Miyagi, here.