Mirror City Timelapse Video Creates a Kaleidoscopic Effect

‘When I first started Mirror City, I wanted to create a video that was completely out of the norm,’ Michael Shainblum writes on his Vimeo page. ‘I wanted to showcase something unique and artistic, which takes timelapse photography into a new direction’.

Mirror City, shown below, is the realisation of Shainblum’s vision. It’s a dreamlike, kaleidoscopic journey through five of North America’s most famous cities: Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego.

Shainblum spent four months – and who knows how many hours? – capturing and collating iconic impressions. But rather than piece together a ‘standard’ timelapse video, he flipped, rotated and spun the images, creating a kaleidoscopic effect designed to dazzle.

‘Many people visit these large cities every day, and all of these places have been shot and filmed, but I wanted to emulate these urban landscapes in a way that nobody has even seen before,’ he explains. ‘I wanted to put man-made geometric shapes, mixed with elements of color and movement to create less of a structured video, and more of a plethora of visual stimulation. The video starts off with simple mirrors and recognisable architecture. As the video progresses, so does the visual stimulation, showing the real abstraction of the piece.’

[via Mashable]