M83 – We Own the Sky from David Altobelli

Altobelli’s turning out to be one of my favorite video artists, and this short is works perfectly to illustrate the various emotions that french shoegaze can elisit. Note the series of glowing dots resembling a 3d version of the Unknown Pleasures Joy Division album cover. Breaking lightbulbs shot in reverse, A man swinging a lightbulb on a cord in front of a bluescreen, creating time delay shapes, which can technically mean anything to the viewer.

(BTW – Lately I’ve been thinking about scripting a few scenarios for a HD video art instillation, with similar conclusions — making the viewer make his or her own emotional and subjective conclusion of what they’ve seen on the screen. Check back for more on that later this year.)

So, let’s assume that it only took a day to capture the actor’s performance on greenscreen (2 hours max) and the dark room shots of lightbulbs. Most of the heavy lifting to make this video work is done by the effects team animating the glowing dots and the actor’s patterns (circles, squares, triangles) Working full time with an editor, this should have only take about 14 days to assemble and make broadcast ready. What do you think?