The Open Road

'London In 1927' from John Maher on Vimeo.

In 1924 pioneering filmmaker Claude Friese-Greene set out on an 840-mile road trip across Britain. He recorded his journey on film, using an experimental colour process: the result was a travelog called The Open Road. Restored by the British Film Institute, the BFI National Archive holds one of the largest film and television collections in the world. Dating from the earliest days of film to the 21st century, it contains nearly a million titles. The Open Road is important both as a landmark in the development of colour on film but also as a fascinating social record of interwar Britain.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections
http://vimeo.com/66115782

Ragnar Kjartansson

This past weekend I saw an interesting gallery show in Soho. Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson took a piece of poetry written by his wife and set it to music. The solo exhibition titled “The Visitors” is made up of a group of 9 musicians to each featured on nine separate screens, all simultaneously playing the same piece together. It was recorded in a decaying 200-year-old mansion in the Hudson Valley. As you wander through the darkened gallery space, you listen to each individual musician, with their part highlighted on a screen.
The piece begins with Kjartansson in a bath strumming on a guitar. The 8 other screens are from  different rooms in the mansion. Each room is soon filled with another musician and soon they are all singing and playing a beautiful song. Filmed in one take, the film makes you feel like you're actually in the house watching this as it happens.

http://www.luhringaugustine.com/exhibitions/ragnar-kjartansson_1
http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/features/ragnar-kjartansson/

Timeless - London Time lapse film

Timeless – 2010-2011, Final Version: shot by MB Films London

From MB Films site: "This film is intended to capture the spirit and endless energy of London. We decided to shoot it in a mixture of Timelapse and slow motion. We started filming in October 2010 in Richmond upon Thames just on the western edge of the city, and then the ensuing journey took us all the way through the city and back again, ending up just a year later with a final sun rise shot in the Richmond area. This final version features the brilliant new music score is by Rael Jones."

MB Films are a London based production company specialising in corporate video, commercials/promos and short films.
View more of their work here:
http://www.mbfilms.co.uk

http://vimeo.com/mbfilmsuk

the world's smallest animated film

A teeny-tiny film shot with a Nokia N8 Camera by Aardman Animations, Bristol, England.
And the making of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTbzSiwbRfg
Aardman: http://www.aardman.com