For more awesomeness check out Costa’s website.

Via GeekTyrant

No surprise then that HitRECord, his online collaborative production company is bursting with amazing creative output. Like Flickering Lights, a short film directed by JGL, that shows a stunning collection of lights in its many forms. Set to a poem by HitRECord member Wirrow called Give Me All The Flickering Lights, the film glimmers like it’s subject. Check it out below.

You can read the entire poem here.

Via Mashable

Via Taxi

In 2012 when Foo Fighters picked up a Grammy for Best Rock Performance, frontman Dave Grohl said, “The human element of making music is what’s most important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do. It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about sounding absolutely correct. It’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here,” he said pointing to his heart, “and it’s about what goes on in here.” He pointed to his head. One year later Sound City, Dave Grohl’s directorial debut about the recording studio that shaped rock and roll, seems like an extension of that thought, that the human will to make music that’s raw, and true and awesome trumps any digital whizcraft that’s being peddled today.

Located in L.A., Sound City stands unknown amongst a row of warehouses, and close to a Heineken factory. Presentable at best, Sound City was put together by unassuming owners and had nothing much to speak for itself at face value. Brown shag carpet on walls and a mix of alcohol and piss on the floor was what you’d expect on walking in. But what made Sound City a remarkable place were two things: A space incredible for recording drums and vocals, both crucial to any rock song; and the legendary Neve 8028 analog mixing console, one of the only 4 such consoles ever made. The documentary uses this as the starting point and moves forward through rock chronicles, charting out the history of Sound City. This was the studio that was responsible for the formation of Fleetwood Mac and the birth of Rick Springfield’s musical career. It was also where Nirvana’s legendary album Nevermind was born.

If there was a studio that defined the sound of a generation, it was Sound City. And rock’s pantheon is present throughout the documentary to attest to this. Interviews with Neil Young, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Rick Springfield, Trent Reznor, Lars Ulrich and Lee Ving among others are sprinkled throughout the film, as each one narrates how Sound City and its analog system played a role in shaping their own signature sound. It was the analog recording process that made them practice hard for days, work together as a band, collaborate, feed off each other’s energy and perfect their songs before committing their art to tape. This no-shortcut, no-compromise, no-retreat and no-surrender mode of making music earned each one a hallowed spot among rock and roll’s very best. As one of the studio’s ex-managers put it, it was where real men came to make music. And then the digital wave came in.

The onslaught of digital recording devices, synthesizers and samplers was what killed Sound City. Almost going in six feet under, before grunge succeeded a temporary revival, Sound City found it hard to survive in the 90’s and the first decade on the new century. Nonetheless, bands like RATM, Nine Inch Nails, RHCP and Metallica still chose its raw analog sound under the tutelage of traditionalist record producers. Eventually, Sound City had to sell off its gear to meet debts before finally closing down in May 2011.

Instead of letting the Neve board get tossed away in a heap of trash, Grohl bought it and moved it to his own studio down the street. Using this as an excuse, Grohl then invited some of the biggest and toughest artists in rock and roll history to celebrate the board’s legendary sound by recording an original album on it. You could say that at this point the whole documentary seems part of Dave Grohl’s self-serving propaganda, but you feel inclined to permit him his indulgences. The culmination of the film is where all the threads come together in a rich tapestry of story and sound. All of its humour, joy, and melancholy, all build towards that loud, raucous celebration of music with the icons that gave it a face, and a purpose. It puts the creative spirit up on a pedestal and reveres the human genius to wield it into fashioning a kind of once-in-a-lifetime expression that no Pro Tools savvy pretender can do today.

Sound City is a thrilling experience, not in a rollercoaster sort of way, but in a very gratifying gradual buildup of energy and excitement that explodes at the very end. Insightful, informative and entertaining, the film shows off Dave Grohl’s directorial skills. Using music to build a community, the legendary studio and its namesake documentary honours the Rock and Roll pantheon and salutes those about to rock.

Much love and gratitude to Jude from Nova Audion for screening Sound City.

There is something romantic about stop-motion films. Something very primal that takes film-making back to its photography roots. I think its simplicity is what find I particularly charming. After yesterday’s stop-motion feature, The Dark Knightfall, our fascination for this format was begging to be taken to another level. And that’s when we came across this. The world’s first music video made using Instagram.

Much after retro-filtering images was made cool by hipsters, director Arturo Perez Jr. decided to use Instagram’s magic to make a music video for the song “Invasión” by Mexico City-based band The Plastics Revolution. Every single frame of this video was shot on an iPhone as still photos, and then run through Instagram. Each of the 1905 images went through Instagram filters, without any third party alterations, to become a part of this music video. I love how the filters add to the story telling, particularly the beach sequence, giving it a warm fuzzy feel.

Check out the world’s first music video made using Instagram.

Check out more of Arturo Pere Jr’s work over at his website.

Like The Plastics Revolution? Find out more about them at their Facebook page.

Via PetaPixel

That’s how far normal people like me would usually go.

And then, there are people like Derek Kwok and Henri Wong, who take this obsession a million degrees further, and come up with epic stuff like the below:

Produced as a tribute to one of the most menacing and darkest villains of all time – The Joker, these guys who are from Parabucks Co. a design and animation studio, have used Hot Toys action figures from Nolan’s Dark Knight Series. I love the twist these guys have given to the story, making you wonder about who the real villain in the story is.

This is by far one the most beautiful stop motion videos I have ever seen and definitely the first time, where a stop motion video has such accurate slow motion scenes! Even if you are not a Batman fan, you gotta watch this one.

And if you love Batman as much, or more than I do, this video definitely comes close to the feeling of awe you have after having sampled anything Nolan designed for the loyal Batman fan.

Below is a series of Tunan’s splatter paintings. Each piece is controlled chaos, exuding both, confusion and a sense of calmness, direction and motion. Take a look.

Check out Hua Tunan’s work at his Edge Creative Collective page.

Via Twisted Sifter

Oh, and when I told you about these being long-exposure photographs earlier, I lied. Each photograph is a composite image created by combining ten thousand individual photographs of each dancer. The result is a blurry of bodies in movement forming intricate patterns that look both astonishingly alien and yet all too familiar. Take a look.

Check out more of Shinichi Maruyama’s work over at his website.

Via PetaPixel

Take a look at some of his work below.

Check out more of Makaon’s amazing work at his website.