A Year In Motion

Motion Arts Pro spotlights the best video shorts of 2015

These days photography, isn’t just photography. It’s also motion. We’ve brought together the most memorable documentaries, time-lapse and travel videos. We’ve left out animation, narrative films, as well as music videos.

Are these the best videos made this year? We won’t go that far, because we have seen so many noteworthy examples of motion art this year — in terms of both storytelling and photography — that it would be impossible to feature them all.

For more great motion work — all kinds of work — make sure to check our the winners of this year’s International Motion Art Awards.

DENALI, from Felt Soul Media

“There’s no easy way to say goodbye to a friend,” noted Portland, Oregon-based photographer Ben Moon in his short film Denali, “especially when they’ve supported you through your darkest times.” There was a reason that Moon’s film touched so many people so deeply. As we noted in an AI-AP Profile, more than 10 million people viewed it in the two months after its release in June. The film told the story of Moon’s relationship with his dog Denali, who traveled the country with him in an old Subaru, slept next to him during Moon’s treatment for cancer, and finally succumbed to the disease himself. You will cry, and thanks to a brilliant screenplay by filmmaker Ben Knight, you will laugh as well.

ROCKET WARS, from Variable

The five-minute documentary Rocket Wars, from New York City-based production company Variable, tells the story of two Greek Orthodox churches on the Greek island of Chios, where for over a century parishioners have engaged in a battle on Holy Saturday, firing more than 100,000 homemade rockets at each other’s churches once the sun goes down. The origins of the war are unclear, though one theory holds that churches on the island faked a civil war during the Turkish occupation so they could celebrate Easter without disturbance. The film, note the producers, “is a reflection of a sense of devotion that feels lost in the modern world.”

I LOST MY DREAM, from Stefan Hunt

“I’d like to tell you all dreams come true. Looking back, my journey wasn’t so simple.” Those are the worlds of Moacir Zeledon, who as a young boy hoped for a better life when he and his mother fled poverty in Nicaragua to live in America. His journey took a turn in Mexico. Moacir’s story was compellingly told in the short documentary I Lost My Dream, which we featured at MAP in November. Australian filmmaker Stefan Hunt’s film supports Misión México, a charity aiding abused, orphaned or abandoned children.

DOWN TO NOTHING, from The North Face

Sometimes the best stories are the ones about defeat. In August, we highlighted the 25-minute documentary Down To Nothing, which provided an intimate, insider’s view of a National Geographic expedition to climb a mysterious Himalayan peak in the northwest corner of Myanmar. The team included videographer and mountaineer Renan Ozturk, the subject of an AI-AP Profile, who captured the grueling journey through dangerous jungle and an ascent that demanded almost everything the elite climbers had to give.

GUERRILLA FIGHTERS OF KURDISTAN, from Joey L

“Joey L is one of the Internet’s most beloved photographers, and you don’t become a great photographer by hiding from the world,” notes Vimeo, in reference to Joey L’s short film Guerrilla Fighters of Kurdistan. “In March of 2015, I set off to the Kurdistan region of Iraq and Syria to begin a new personal project. In the beginning, I thought perhaps it would be a still photography trip only,” notes Joey L. “But just as I left the door, I decided to grab my GoPro kit in case anything interesting happened and I could just film it myself.”

THE ART OF THE STORM, from Nicolaus Wegner

Time-lapse motion continued to grow as a genre in 2015, becoming ever more popular and, in the hands of some, ever more sophisticated. This year we spotlighted a number of videos from Wyoming-based photographer Nicolaus Wegner, who specializes in capturing the might and majesty of severe weather. Here we look back at one of his offerings, The Art of the Storm, which features a super cell forming over the Black Hills of South Dakota near Rapid City on June 1. He shot it with a Canon 5D Mark II at one-second intervals.

LOVING LANKA, from Sebastian Linda

Germany-based filmmaker Sebastian Linda is best known for his skateboarding videos (see Revenge of the Beasts), but last summer he put his audio/visual skills to use in Loving Lanka, a travelog video documenting a honeymoon trip to Sri Lanka. “Linda creates a kinetic work that applies the multi-technique style of quick, fleeting shots and in-camera motion,” notes Vimeo. “Set to the words (and voice) of philosopher Alan Watts, the film touches on the why of travel, as well as the where,” MAP noted in July. The video was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, a Panasonic GH4, GoPro HERO4 Black, and a variety of lenses, including a fisheye lens for some stunning hyperlapse footage.

MATTY BROWN: A COLORFUL LIFE, from Matty Brown

“The inspiring story behind Matty Brown — A Colorful Life is matched by Brown’s own impressive storytelling skills,” MAP noted in July. In the six-and-a-half minute short, part of Samsung’s Connected branded-content series about the power of technology, Brown tells of his desire as a child to travel the world and create art — he made flip books out of stacks of snapshots — and how his dream was cut short when his family broke apart because of drugs and alcohol and he was left homeless as a teen. Later he became obsessed with movies and eventually became a filmmaker. “At this point I saw my life through a lens,” Brown says in the film. His life changed again when he posted a video online.

DUBAI FLOW MOTION, from Rob Whitworth

UK-based time-lapse photographer Rob Whitworth impressed lots of people earlier this year with Dubai Flow Motion, a hyperlapse travelog that zoomed through various perspectives. DIY Photography, for instance, says it redefines the word “amazing,” while PetaPixel thinks the “insane” video takes the idea of hyperlapse to the next level. For one shot, he used three cameras strapped to a baggage cart to capture the arrival of an Airbus A330 at the Dubai airport.

GROWTH, from Mishka Kornai

Los Angeles filmmaker Mishka Kornai calls his video Growth “an exploration of the universality of growing up through the eyes of those who have experienced it firsthand.” It is also an example of the power of perspective. The video reflects on the “complexity, subtlety, and beauty of growing up” by focusing on 75 individuals, all shot from directly overhead. The project started when TV brand Vizio commissioned Kornai to create a film to showcase the impact of 4K storytelling. “What started as a commercial opportunity for ‘branded content’ quickly blossomed into one of the most artistically and personally fulfilling projects I’ve ever been a part of,” he notes.

TO SCALE — THE SOLAR SYSTEM, from Wylie Overstreet

We saved one of our favorite videos from 2015 for last. Wylie Overstreet, a Los Angeles-base filmmaker who specializes in science subjects, got together with a bunch of friends, loaded up cars with a bunch of camera equipment and a bunch of other materials, and then headed off to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, where they had a bunch of fun creating a model of the Solar System to scale. They used time-lapse techniques to document the construction of their scale model. The payoff comes at the end, at sunrise, when the scale model proves itself to be accurate. “We are on a marble in the middle of nothing,” says Overstreet in the video.

Originally published by AI-AP. David Schonauer is Editor of Pro Photo Daily, Profiles and Motion Arts Pro. Follow him on Twitter. Jeffrey Roberts is Publisher of American Photography (AI-AP) the finest juried collection of photography in hardcover as well as Pro Photo Daily. Follow Jeffrey on Twitter. Follow Pro Photo Daily on Facebook.

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