Flickering people in metro systems

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If you're interested in subways, their aesthetics and atmosphere, in non-verbal etiquette, in comparative culture or just want to see some good art, check out David Crawford's Stop Motion Studies, semi-animated photographs of strangers on subway trains in different cities throughout the world. I promise you at least half an hour of fascination.

Best thing I've seen on the net this week.

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

If I said I'd had this exact idea only recently, would anyone believe me?

Nonetheless, this is fascinating, Mr Momus. Thanks.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, this reminds me of something that impressed me hugely in a classic comic story from the mid-50s called 'Master Race', by Al Feldstein and genius artist Bernie Krigstein: he evokes the flickering sight of someone in a tube train in his panels. It's magnificent stuff, as is the whole story (one of comics' high points, no doubt).

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

My (fairly random) associations (and I may get in trouble for being judgemental):

Tokyo: people's clothes are so clean! No grafitti. A certain inwardness, refinement and delicacy. A sense that we are in Victorian times; starched collars, impeccable manners. Dense crowds, yet private space. A certain mistrust of foreigners. Sexy girls. Haughty businessmen. People sleeping. I want to be there, changing at Shinjuku for the Chuo line!

London: shabby, slightly scary, nasty tag-proof seat fabrics. Racial variety. Compared to Tokyo, this looks like an anomic society, rather chaotic. Visually unlovely. I don't want to be there. Brutish-looking businessmen. People waving their noses in the air, insecurity turning before our very eyes into heightened class awareness. I've served my sentence on the Circle Line, can I climb up to the next rung of hell, please?

NY: I feel better here. A world city. Even more racial variety than London. Nice orange plastic seats, metal carriages. Baggy clothes, baggy bodies. I wonder if some of these people are packing heat? Nope, don't want to get off at Penn Station. Elderly Jewish couple, sweet. A sense that the middle classes are all up on the surface in their cars, but the poor down here seem dignified, empathetic.

Paris: A certain despair. But also romance. A couple holds hands. An accordion player arrives. You sense certain values in french history -- citizenship, republicanism (just that station name, Republique!), courtly love. A certain idea of femininity as a positive value (compare with UK/US). Notably less shabby and slovenly than London. Possibly more conformist, though.

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

is that available on the internet anywhere, martin?

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I've no idea, David. If you search for Krigstein and 'Master Race' you might be able to find it. It's been reprinted a lot of times.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:06 (twenty-one years ago)

this is lovely. i would like one for the train station at calais though, one of the most sadly beautiful stations i know of. perhaps i shall do it myself

― charltonlido (gareth), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

(ladies and gentlemen, the great god google.)

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:10 (twenty-one years ago)

this is hardly useful comment, but these pictures are exactly what my 4-hr-sleep-only brain needs now.

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 09:19 (twenty-one years ago)

This could be non-useful (and ill-informed as well) but I didn't like the way they 'jumped'. I would have liked them to be more peaceful. Loops yes, but more meditative. Is that jerky, jumpy quality just due to the slow capture rate of the camera or is it completely intentional? I mean is he cutting/editing the frame order to create odd jumps or is that how it was captured? If it was captured like that then perhaps some frames should have been repeated so the changes didn't occur quite so rapidly. Plus there must be ways you could crossfade between frames to create a more smooth animated effect. But maybe he didn't want to doctor it too much, I don't know.

― David (David), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 12:23 (twenty-one years ago)

'Matisse said that he didn't paint things, but the differences between things. The stills in the SMS project are unimportant—it's the differences between them which matter. Honing in on just a handful of frames amplifies this data, where conventional video tends to bury this information... When I first started working them, I decided to use only 100 images per video in order to minimize file size—despite being concerned that this might not be enough variation to save the montage from being flat. One day I decided to try the piece with 75 images and to my surprise, not only did the file size shrink, but the montage became stronger as well. Next I tried 50 images and again the same results—smaller file size and stronger montage.'

From an interview with Crawford.

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I see the thing about emphasising the difference. I guess I'm just saying I found the jerky effect unsatisfying..not pleasing. But I'm probably missing the point in the sense of what he's trying to do (ie he's not trying to produce 'nice' images).

― David (David), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

i wish all the sections could be viewed through without having to click on the numbers, but otherwise, amazing.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i would like to see video from a camera mounted on the front of subway train, and then speeded up, for entirety of lines in various cities. (this would be good for roads also). obviously this stuff exists, but i dont know where to find it. anyone?

― gareth (gareth), Sunday, 4 January 2004 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

LT Museum had a sped up video of the Jubilee Line extension on display and probably still does. i'm not sure frontal views from tube trains are the best way to see things though (mostly underground and often trenched so view of surroundings compromised compared to national rail). i'd like a DLR one though, doesn't even need to be sped up.

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 4 January 2004 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it was weird that Momus' impressions of the various cities conform exactly to the stereotypes about each of those cities.

― NA (Nick A.), Sunday, 4 January 2004 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

hee hee

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 4 January 2004 23:46 (twenty-one years ago)

London didn't look all that bad (lots of bad graffiti tho)

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2004 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

ho ho

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 5 January 2004 01:38 (twenty-one years ago)

What, no "ha ha"?

― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 5 January 2004 02:08 (twenty-one years ago)

And a couple of tra la laaaaaas!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 5 January 2004 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Ned, you are weird.

― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 5 January 2004 02:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Yay!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 5 January 2004 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

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