Inspiration: A Tiny Story with great soul by Sebas & Clim

Inspiration can come from anywhere, even the simplest of things. The video above, created by Sebas & Clim, is called Tiny Story, and it’s a great example of how the process of inspiration can work. The video is maybe only 40 seconds long, but they manage to illustrate so many basic concepts in such incredible ways. It’s hard to get a sense of the video based on the images, but once you see these things moving you’ll totally understand and appreciate what they’ve done. The video would be totally incomplete though without the music of Aimar Molero, who creates a sweet sounding backdrop for the visuals. Be kind and share this with someone who might need it.

Found through Drawn

Bobby

A lovely look at beekeeping from Kinfolk magazine

The folks behind Kinfolk magazine have an unmatchable eye for showcasing amazing things, and the beekeeping video is but one of them. The video was done by Tiger in a Jar (who you may remember from this previous post) who’ve done a beautiful job of capturing the process of collecting honey. I didn’t realize there was a swirly machine that spun the honey out of the combs, I guess I’ve never thought about it before. I’m not even a big fan of honey, but this video makes the whole process seem extremely romantic.

You can see some photos from Tiger in the Jar’s shoot by clicking here.

Bobby

Brand association from an adorable 5 year old

Brand association. It’s kind of a gross term if you think about it. It speaks to the idea that we have an affinity for a brand, something that isn’t a “real” thing. It’s an entity that exists to make money, fueled by people and passion. So this video is both funny, and slightly unnerving to me.

Adam Ladd recently taped his five year old daughter, showing her brands and asking if she can identify them, resulting in some pretty adorable commentary. Cheetah, cheetah, cheetah.

Bobby

Surreal video works from Sam Spreckley

Scotland based sound designer and video editor/director Sam Spreckley has totally captured my attention. About 5 days ago he released a new video called Surface ii, which is the combination of 8mm film melting and being destroyed paired with some really interesting and kind crazy sound design. The end result is this extremely detailed, nuanced piece of art that’s quite interesting. The sound choices he made are often quite odd but always fit. I hear things like ballons being stretched, bottles being broken and wires being tightened, things like that. He also does a nice job of panning the sounds back and forth between speakers, which gives it a layer of intricacy.

I’d also recommend the video he did below called Oil and Water… which is just oil and water. Except it’s got Sam’s magic touch, so it’s these basic materials that are being turned into art. The way he lit the video gives it a beautiful quality, and the symmetry created by mirroring the screen makes it seem so perfect. Really looking forward to seeing what he comes up with in the future.

Bobby

Thoughts on the soon to be released Vimeo redesign

Last Thursday I was given access to the beta of Vimeo’s new redesign, a bold effort to to make the site feel very 2K12, rather than 2009. Here are some thoughts on the goods and the could-have-been-betters of the design.

- The UI is a ton cleaner, giving all the focus to the video. This is evident in a couple spots like the home page, which now gives you three different ways to view the site, the version above being my favorite. The large, bold preview images definitely take the focus.

- The top navigation now opens up to reveal a drawer full of options, which is a great way to showcase a ton of different places to go. It’s also nice that they spell out what each section will contain for people who are unfamiliar.

- The individual video pages have also been cleaned up immensely. All you really see is a giant video on your screen, the way it was meant to be.

- Text hierarchy has strongly enforced around the site, telling you exactly what you should be looking at, such as the titles of the videos which come in at a whopping 36 px font.

- The More Video tab at top is a nice touch, showing related content as well as videos you’ve recently views and other videos from the user who’s video page you’re on. Some people I showed said they wouldn’t have noticed it though, so perhaps it’s a bit too discrete?

- Glad they didn’t touch the video player, it’s perfect.

- They now give you a more clear option to switch between the Flash and HTML5 player. Unfortunately, the HTML5 player sucks and barely worked when I used it at home. That said, my developer friends at work said that HTML5 sucks at playing video, so this probably shouldn’t reflect on Vimeo.

- The sidebar feels a bit sloppy and slightly overwhelming. It’s definitely treated subordinately, which I’m sure is the point, but it ended up feeling a it neglected. Not sure if there’s a fix or if they should change anything, but it was something I’d noticed.

- The site is starting to feel more social, like you’d want to try and hunt down your friends and see what they’re doing. I didn’t get this vibe before and never bothered to look. The only users I followed were those making rad shit, using the site more like a bookmarking system.

Overall I’d say the redesign is a huge step forward, especially for it’s art and design-centric community. Looking forward to the Vimeo team to continue rolling out improvements like these, hopefully they don’t take another few years.

Bobby