Saturday, December 10, 2005

sculpting with movelets

I'm using a little Canon ixus - for the gizmophiles out there, it's an ixus400 - it's diddy and that's why I like it. It can be a constant companion without getting in the way (a nice thought if only I could get into the habit). It'll be two years old this christmas, the same length of time I've been interested in taking photographs. (well, I dabbled before but I was more of a gadget queen than a photographer and it was ages ago and most of it has been lost in the passing years, including my old camera!) If I'm still keen come my next birthday, I may acquire a new SLR... woot!

So, what does one do with the whistles and bells that come with these digital cameras? All cameras seem to have this ''movie mode''. I think you either decide to concentrate your interest on taking photos or making movies. If you set your sights on the latter, you buy a movie camera – it’s the right tool for the job. But like many excited, new digital camera owners, I tried out the mode on its first outing – I filmed my wife trying to concentrate on her magazine and getting very irritatable at my antics, a scene probably duplicated in households all over the western world - but after that initial experiment I put the feature in the mental folder labelled ''gimmicks''.

Then I came across Debbie Moorhouse's movelets. In Debbie's words;
''Movement is the key''.

''Although the term "movelets" hints at the idea of a short movie, it is primarily intended to draw attention to the principal feature of the movelets, which is this. They are little films of things that move. Move-lets''.
Debbie's movelets can be viewed on her website, Alternative Species. Look out for her From The Bus which, for me, is particularly inspiring.

Move-lets?! Yes, they're not supposed to be movies.

Movelet (n) ;
1. An image taken in the regular manner of a point-and-shoot photo, but with the video mode.
2. An whimsical experiment in utilising one of the more inadequate whistles and bells that come with digital point-and-shoot cameras.
3. A little picture of things that move, and
4. Just a bit of fun.
shadow theatre


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