Video : The Atlantic

The Quintessential American Barber Shop

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:42:07 PST

Pickin' & Trimmin' features a classic barber shop in Drexel, North Carolina, and the men who have been meeting there to play bluegrass music, tell stories, and get an occasional haircut, for decades. Matt Morris, the director of the documentary, talks about the making of the film and what has happened at the shop more recently in a brief interview below. Don't miss Morris's new documentary, Mr. Happy Man, about 88-year-old Johnny Barnes and his commitment to spending hours every morning wishing Bermuda's commuters well.

Zen and the Art of Highlining

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:18:58 PST

An excerpt from Highliners, a documentary in progress by Grant Thompson, features Jerry Miszewski as he describes why he fell in love with the sport. Highlining is a variation on slacklining -- literally walking a line higher above the ground, ideally in a spectacular natural setting. The title of the video is Cherish Your Stoke, and the term is used liberally throughout, so I asked Thompson to define it. "Stoke is a more common way to say passion or enthusiasm amongst these communities," he explained, "when someone is stoked, they are very passionate and dedicated to something."

A Breathtaking Time-Lapse Journey Through the American Southwest

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:27:15 PST

The Wild Heart captures the color-saturated beauty of some of North America's most stunning natural phenomena, from the Grand Canyon to the lunar eclipse of last December. The video is by Henry Jun Wah Lee, a physician of Chinese medicine who took up photography as a way to reconnect with the natural world. He describes the extensive work and travel that went into documenting these remote locations in an interview below.

Encyclopedia Britannica's 1949 Animated Guide to Alcohol

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:03:37 PST

This vintage educational film covers alcohol's chemical composition and its effects on the human body and mind. Courtesy of the Prelinger Archive, this excerpt from the film includes retro animated diagrams and actors demonstrating human behavior under the influence.

The Secret Power of Saying 'I Love You'

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:58:34 PST

Mr. Happy Man is the true story of 88-year-old Johnny Barnes, who spends hours each morning wishing Bermuda's commuters well. "From twenty to four to ten [a.m.], I stand on the corner and just greet people and let them know that life is sweet, life is beautiful -- no matter what happens in life, it's always sweet to be alive," Barnes explains in the film. Directed by Matt Morris, this short documentary imparts a little slice of that feeling. As Jason Sondhi put it in his review for Short of the Week, "What’s fascinating about the film to me is that the narrative arc occurred within myself rather than within the film ... through the sheer relentless optimism and good-feeling this film exudes, my cynicism fades, until I feel like I genuinely care about Johnny and his wellbeing like everyone else in Bermuda." Morris talks about the making of the film, and what Johnny's up to now, in a brief interview below.

A Whirlwind Escape to Vietnam's Culinary Landscape

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:16:26 PST

The Perennial Plate, a series about sustainable eating, spent two weeks traveling around Vietnam before compiling this mouthwatering montage of their food adventures there. The series is produced by Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine, and more episodes from the series can be found on the Atlantic Video channel here.

The Fracking Landscape: A Tale of Two Pennsylvanias

James West — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:49:35 PST

Pennsylvania's fracking frontlines have just been redrawn.

At first glance, the sweeping new law signed this month may seem a good deal for local communities. Over the next 15 years, the state is projected to rake in between $190,000 to $355,000 per gas well; 60 percent of that will go back to counties and municipalities, with the rest going to a state-managed fund for infrastructure projects. Proponents in the Republican-controlled legislature insist that the law levels the playing field for industry, while rewarding counties.

But fracking can be a messy and dangerous business, and locals complain that the law takes control away from citizens who have battled hard for local decision-making.

Watch the video and you'll see a tale of two Pennsylvanias: The first one, recognizable from Josh Fox's documentary Gasland, is Susquehanna county, bordering New York State. It is dotted with wells—the result of minimal local zoning laws. The second Pennsylvania is Dallas Township, where disputes, protests, and citizen engagement have kept most fracking development at bay. For now.

An Aerial Video of Amazing 'Snow Circles' Art Traced in Fresh Powder

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:09:30 PST

Artist Sonja Hinrichsen enlisted five volunteers create beautiful geometric forms in the snow with their footprints. Cedar Beauregard, a cinematographer specializing in aerial photography, captured this footage of the piece with a remote-control helicopter, as well as these still images on Flickr.

A Stereoscopic Music Video for Mint Julep's 'To the Sea'

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:16:54 PST

Rapidly alternating between two similar camera angles, Vivien Weyrauch and Fabian Röttger's video for Mint Julep creates a 3D effect. The Berlin-based directors, who work under the name a nice idea every day, refined the stereoscopic look they developed for the band's "Aviary" music video.

An Eerily Beautiful Film Visualizes Energy Use as Massive Blobs of Light

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:05:01 PST

Light, an experimental film, combines 35mm cinematography and special effects to make a point about energy consumption. The film is intended to be a public work of art, and has been projected in urban spaces like Times Square. David Parker of Sunday / Paper, who directed the film, describes the labor of love in a brief interview below.

Why Space? A Surreal 1957 Cartoon About Space Exploration

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:08:26 PST

Courtesy of the Internet Archive, this animated film from the Department of Defense makes the case for space. "The challenging idea of exploring beyond our planetary boundaries is as old as history," the narrator explains, and goes on to give a brief overview of the astronomers, explorers, and inventors who led the way. "Space is the new psychological frontier," he continues. "It provides us an emotional challenge, it stimulates our desires for knowledge and adventure, it increases our fears," he says, and the list goes on.

Visualizing the Paths of 10,000 Taxi Rides Across Manhattan

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:22:55 PST

Using data from 10,000 taxi rides and the Google Maps API, students at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation created this mesmerizing animation of the transit arteries of New York City. The project is by Tom McKeogh, Eliza Montgomery and Juan F Saldarriaga.

A Music Video Remix of Classic Sci-Fi Films About A.I.

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:29:39 PST

John Pavlus's video for Jascha Hoffman's "Limited" combines clips from TRON, 2001, Moon, WarGames and Robocop to create a new, impressionistic narrative.

NASA's Documentary About the First American to Orbit Earth

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:09:42 PST

John Glenn and the other astronauts who manned the Friendship 7 mission 50 years ago give a play by play description of the effort in this documentary from NASA, including stunning archival footage. For more images from the project, don't miss Alexis Madrigal's reconstruction of Glenn's experience in orbit, in "What John Glenn Saw When He Became the First American to Orbit Earth," or NASA's multimedia tribute to the mission.

Fauna: Monkeys Love iPhones

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:05:16 PST

In the spirit of the Friday Fauna series on the Atlantic Video channel, this video features both cute monkeys and shiny Apple products. Mark Rober, a NASA engineer and proud dad, discovers the secret to getting amazing footage of primates at the zoo with his trusty iPhone 4S.

1930s Hong Kong Revealed in a Vintage Travel Film

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:01:01 PST

Hong Kong: Gateway to China is rich with amazing footage of the "mountainous and verdant island," and worth watching in spite of the condescending narration. Courtesy of the Travel Film Archive, the film captures stunning landscapes of the bay, especially the panorama from the top of the island (skip to about 7:45 to take in the view).

'Inception'-Inspired Floating Roller Coasters in Buenos Aires

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:22:33 PST

Inception Park is pure fun, with theme park rides zipping between historic buildings in Buenos Aires, thanks to clever special effects. The video was directed by Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep Films.

This Glow-in-the-Dark Snowboarding Video Will Blow Your Mind

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:19:06 PST

Jacob Sutton's simply gorgeous video captures pro snowboarder William Hughes on a night run in the French Alps -- in an LED-encrusted snowsuit. The suit was specially designed by John Spatcher for the shoot. “I was really drawn to the idea of a lone character made of light surfing through darkness,” Sutton tells Nowness, the culture blog that produced the video, in a post on their site. “I've always been excited by unusual ways of lighting things, so it seemed like an exciting idea to make the subject of the film the only light source.”

Everything Is a Remix: Part 4

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:38:15 PST

Everything Is a Remix is a sweeping, multipart documentary series about the importance of remixing -- copying, transforming, and combining ideas -- in culture and technology. The fourth and final segment, System Failure, examines the history and incentives that shaped current intellectual property laws, making the argument that they no longer serve their original purpose -- copyright and patent laws block, rather than promote, innovation. The series is directed by Kirby Ferguson, who talks about the project in an interview with the Atlantic Video channel here. Don't miss previous episodes of the series, on music, movies, and technology, here, and Ferguson's infographic take on the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy legislation here.

A Video About People Who Fall Out of the Sky for a Living

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:02:31 PST

Experience Freedom is an incredible montage of BASE jumping, skydiving, and wingsuit athletes doing their thing, hundreds of feet above stunning landscapes. The video was created by the production company Betty Wants In for extreme sports site Infinity List -- the same team that created Experience Human Flight and Experience Zero Gravity (below). Why mess with a winning formula?