Let’s start with some math: to make a video, as you probably already know, you need at least 25 images per second to create a decent illusion of motion; that means that, to make a video that lasts five minutes you’ll need 7500 images. Given that a 480p JPEG image is more or less 20kb our five minutes video in 480p will be 150 mb. With a size like that video streaming wouldn’t be possible. That’s why video compression has been invented. It can reduce video size of a factor of 200, it means that, almost magically, our 150mb video will weight 750 kb after compression.

 

How is it possible?

 

Video informations are hugely redundant. Think about a shot in which we see the close-up of someone talking: we see this man whose head is almost still, probably nothing is happening in the background and just his face is moving. During this shot most of the image remains unchanged. And if you think a little harder you’ll realize this concept can be applied to almost any kind of shot.

 

Basically what video compression algorithms do is changing frame by frame only those parts that effectively change, copying and pasting from a reference frame those parts that don’t. This means that, if we accidentally remove the reference frame our video player will take another frame as a reference and will change some totally unrelated bits of it, the result is that pretty common glitch we’re all familiar with.

 

In this video Quinn uses this particular kind of error in an amazing, creative way. Every fade between two shot is made cutting out the reference image of the incoming sequence creating a unique, fluid effect. I sincerely have no idea of how this have been done, and if you have any suggestion I strongly encourage you to write your hypothesis on the comments below.

 

Meanwhile, if you like this kind of extreme digital video manipulation, you can watch Savage Skull’s video I reviewed some months ago, which is another great example of how coding errors can become invaluable expressive tools.

Wombs – Bone Soothing Heat

Artist: Wombs
Direction:
Quinn
Released:
April 2012
Techniques:
Digital video glitches
What's Cool:
Creative use of digital glitches
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Posted by
January 25th, 2013


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