Exploring The Shift
The shift is not a thing. It is the action of discovering Self.

I'm still in a bit of a foul mood today because of the epidiascope, so I guess I'll practise a bit of distraction and appreciation a la Elias.

I'm a fan of animation videos and thanks to YouTube I'm finding more and more indie animations videos (although there are a couple of good ones from the big studios also). One of the best pieces of animation which I've ever seen is from Pixar. It is the bit before the actual movies where the studios show off their logos and where for Pixar the desk lamp hops into the picture, jumps up and down on the letter I and then looks at the audience.

The reason because I think this is soo good, is that in cartoons and anmations, to convey emotions, you usually need three things: Eyes, eyebrows and a mouth. With those three elements you can cover the whole range of emotions, which incidentally is what is used in smileys and why they work. In fact even one eye is sufficient, as Disney showed in Monsters Inc. Without face, you can use human or animal body language, for example the donkey in Shrek was using the the body signals of a dog (which is a remarkable feat in itself) to add to the facial expression.

On a technical device like a desk lamp, none of those are available, there are no shoulders, no tail, no legs. And still Pixar managed to make associations in general movements, which requires very skillful and delicate animation. I'm smiling every time when I see a Pixar movie and the lamp turns it's head to look at me.

Yesterday on my favorite blog haha.nu I found an indie short animation which is called The Lights. It is much longer (2:50 min.) than the Pixar intro, the protagonists are also lamps and it is of equal skill and delicacy, given the fact that the usual transmitters of emotion were also not available to the author, although he has a bit more leeway than Pixar, because his lamps can walk.

I find it absolutely amazing what range of feelings can be expressed through head and leg movement alone. I also like the coolish style and the loungeish music, but I especially appreciate the expression despite the challenge imposed by such limited bodies: The Lights

UPDATE: I think the lights move like cats.

UPDATE2: And I just saw the author's comment on YouTube, nice metaphor: A Quirky short animation involving 3 lively "Lights", as they discover and undertake their true purpose.