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Digital Wonderland Playlist #4
The trouble with making my “Digital Wonderland” videos (first, second) is the amount of time it takes to find suitable videos from the internet, or to create my own. I had an idea for what I thought would be a quicker-to-assemble video: clips of people walking, either in nighttime Japanese cities or underground malls, and of POV drives. Superimpose some computer graphics over them for a “cyborg-eye” feel, then add some music. Nothing could be simpler, right? Alas, even a “simple” solution takes time if one wants it to look good, and this was no exception. After considerable trial-and-error, I came up with the fourth* video. Since I was using various locations, I divided the “journey” into six “districts”, with voices in Japanese and English introducing each one:
Here's an abridged version. Note: the district order is different here than on the full-length version.
Success! What makes the video particularly trippy (not apparent in the abridged version) was exporting it at a very low resolution (480 x 270), then watching it on a phone using a stereoscopic headset. This created some extreme Moiré pattern distortions, such as:
1. Illuminated windows seem to crawl across distant buildings like insects; as the buildings come closer, each window becomes a television monitor, each broadcasting something different.
2. Lettering (especially kanji!) shimmers and looks like rapidly changing characters—or perhaps spasmodic Space Invaders.
3. The low resolution makes distant objects blur together; as they get closer, they morph and shift into different objects and become a sort of Rorschach test. For example, what looked like a herd of zebras eventually morphed into its true form, a group of parked bicycles.
And here’s the playlist. I made it a point not to use music by any musician from the previous videos, with one (inadvertent) exception (Spirit Catcher).
*The third was footage of a drive through nighttime downtown Los Angeles and a walk through a Japanese mall, with music from three artists (Sheaf, Soarer, Yu) as well as various announcements from train stations, stores, etc.
Here's an abridged version. Note: the district order is different here than on the full-length version.
Success! What makes the video particularly trippy (not apparent in the abridged version) was exporting it at a very low resolution (480 x 270), then watching it on a phone using a stereoscopic headset. This created some extreme Moiré pattern distortions, such as:
1. Illuminated windows seem to crawl across distant buildings like insects; as the buildings come closer, each window becomes a television monitor, each broadcasting something different.
2. Lettering (especially kanji!) shimmers and looks like rapidly changing characters—or perhaps spasmodic Space Invaders.
3. The low resolution makes distant objects blur together; as they get closer, they morph and shift into different objects and become a sort of Rorschach test. For example, what looked like a herd of zebras eventually morphed into its true form, a group of parked bicycles.
And here’s the playlist. I made it a point not to use music by any musician from the previous videos, with one (inadvertent) exception (Spirit Catcher).
| Song (Year) | Artist | Link | |
| District 1: Ōsaka: Dōtonbori, Namba (link) | |||
| 1. | “Attlan Techno” (2015) | Barce | Link |
| 2. | “Gravity Waves” (2002) | Drexciya | Link |
| 3. | “Samalaginibad” (2008) | Dynastic | Link |
| District 2: New Transit Yurikamome, from Ōdaiba (link) | |||
| 4. | “Bleep” (2013) | Lunatique | Link |
| 5. | “Real Exchange” (2012) | Cliff Tower | Link |
| 6. | “Love Theme” (2008) | Fred Falke | Link |
| 7. | “Order” (2018) | Archaic Revival | Link |
| District 3: Nagoya Station (link) | |||
| 8. | “Together” (2017) | 1st Day Today | Link |
| 9. | “Ne-uter” (2018) | Anton Lanski | Link |
| 10. | “Spring Water” (2017) | cold00n | n/a |
| 11. | “Offshore” (2004) | Yatsuo Motoki | Link |
| 12. | “Toss and Turn” (2009) | Knifestyle | Link |
| District 4: Tōkyō: Ginza (link) | |||
| 13. | “Reliability” (2011) | Kel’ | Link |
| 14. | “Black Skyline” (2004) | Neurotron | Link |
| 15. | “Dunaj” (2009) | Sublime Porte | Link |
| 16. | “Um Dada” (2019) | Stephen Mallinder | Link |
| District 5: Shuto Expressway: Tōkyō to Kanagawa (link) | |||
| 17. | “Sedona” (2010) | Spirit Catcher | Link |
| 18. | “Mutual Method” (2014) | Fcode and Xen Meyer | Link |
| 19. | “Honey Rydes” (2021) | Robe Strobe | Link |
| 20. | “Nerd Dreams” (2009) | Bingo Boy | Link |
| 21. | “Twin Wash” (2017) | PVLMS | Link |
| District 6: Ōsaka: Umeda Underground (link) | |||
| 22. | “No Data” (2015) | Hermetico | Link |
| 23. | “Press This Button” (2012) | Tilman | Link |
*The third was footage of a drive through nighttime downtown Los Angeles and a walk through a Japanese mall, with music from three artists (Sheaf, Soarer, Yu) as well as various announcements from train stations, stores, etc.