Roman De Giuli’s Emitter is a machine for producing and modulating paint drips whose smeared patterns are recorded with a high-definition video camera. This is another niche enthusiasm which YouTube has been encouraging of late: short videos of intense colours or patterns filmed in 4K or higher. De Giuli goes to more trouble than most when creating his vivid smears, on a technical level anyway. Beyond a certain point you have to start doing more with your colour splashes than stitching the best bits together with a house soundtrack. Looking at the YT comments reveals a horde of happy viewers so I’m evidently I’m not the ideal audience, especially when my CMYK-attuned eyes scream “Out of gamut!” whenever they encounter very intense RGB colour combinations. You can see more Emitter videos at De Giuli’s YT channel. (Via MetaFilter.)
I love intense color (movies and TV are so visually bland now) but what I can’t get past here is the digital sheen. It wears on my eyes. And I miss depth of field. I happened to see 2001 recently after many years and I was struck at how amazing it still looks. One reason is that it used physical models instead of CGI but Kubrick’s use of water tanks with ink and isoamyl acetate, while doubtless toxic as hell for the technicians involved, works for me in a way this kind of thing does not.
I agree about the sheen, it’s a quality I try to reduce in my Photoshop artwork by adding grain to the final image. The commenters on that video seem to like the sheen, however, many of them are using it to flatter their enormous TV screens.
Apologies for being off-topic, but I thought you might be interested to know that Saga De Xam is coming back into print, and in an English translation: https://shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/501628-nicolas-devil-and-jean-rollin-saga-de-xam
Hi John. Any news about Saga de Xam is always welcome, on-topic or off. I’ve added a link to the forthcoming weekend post. Thanks!