Digital gets real

Recall for a moment a time when you spotted the perfect rose standing tall among the tulips. It had everything; voluptuous curves, the impression of fragility and tenderness yet every bit the matriarch of the garden. The following is probably what did not go through your head as you looked:

"Truly, this natural beauty is almost too much to behold. If I don't avert my eyes I will surely go blind and yet, I'd rather claw them out than stop staring."

No. I doubt any of us, except those luddites among us, have thought this way. I feel certain that you, like most of us, probably compared the rose to a painting or illustration of a rose.
Inner dialogue...

"Hey, that looks just like a picture. Cool...I should take a picture."

Let's agree that a real rose is much more aesthetically pleasing than a picture, if only because it has three dimensions not too mention texture, scent and reactivity. So the philosophical question is, would we rather look at a recreation of beauty than actual beauty? Hmm. It's deep, I know. But here is the real point of this entry.

Sony BRAVIA is a commercial of mass proportions. In the commercial, 250,000 bouncy balls are let loose on a very steep street in San Francisco. Mayhem ensues.

Twenty years ago, a commercial like this would have "wowed" a good majority of viewers. While the nature of the video is still interesting, digital saturation in media can take quite a bit of the "zazz" from the video. Today is fun with words day, by the way.

While this video could easily be created with digital effects, it is actually not. Those are real balls being let loose on a real street in San Francisco!

"WOW! It looks like digital!"

Has my world really come to this? I guess I need a good weekend secluded in the woods.

Here's the video:



- Marc