Cinema Virale

Justin's fabulous post earlier today, "Tilt-Shift-Wow," in which he featured the truly awesome video of tilt-shift photography images captured during this year's Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, reminded me of two films I had recently discovered online myself, so I thought I would post them here. Despite their respective rapidly-growing status as viral videos, not only do they each employ unique methods throughout their production, but the stories the films themselves tell are really quite beautiful to watch.

NOTTE SENTO

"Notte Sento," another stop motion animated film, linked today via PSFK and NOTCOT, is similar to the production methods employed for the Mardi Gras film that Justin posted earlier.

"A girl misses her train to Milan and is set to wait overnight in Rome until dawn. However, a chance encounter with a guy changes her plans and the night lights of the capital turn into the background to a tender love story. An extraordinary chemistry made of knowing glances and small gestures fills the few instants that separate them both from the sunrise."

The film was produced using 4,500 still photographs that were all captured with a Canon EOS 30D camera. I've embedded the video, with English subtitles, below. (Should you actually speak Italian, that version is located here.)


Notte Sento (English subtitles) from napdan on Vimeo.

WORLD BUILDER

Of "World Builder," Salon wrote, "a beautiful European town square seems to materialize from thin air and the builder's glowing user interface; visually it compares favorably to scenes from The Matrix and Minority Report. But like the $400 Escape from City 17, it's another example of what's possible with low budgets and a high degree of inventiveness. In an email interview, filmmaker Bruce Branit estimated that he spent just a little more than $2,000 of his own money for the stage, the equipment, and the camera. His brother, a cinematographer, called in favors for the live action elements, which were shot in a single day. (The cast and crew worked for free.) Branit finished the rest in the Lightwave 3-D graphics platform, working on it in between paying gigs over a couple years."

The film is gorgeously produced, and the story is nearly heartbreakingly poignant.


World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

Both films are excellent examples of "pushing the envelope" of creative filmmaking, and feature innovative methods of storytelling that I thought would fit right in here at Justin Plus One on this day that has been full of stories...of all kinds.