luciddreamsofgabriel
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Disney Research's trippy tale of immortality is ready to watch
We didn't expect Disney Research to have one of the more inventive uses of YouTube's crazy frame-rate capabilities, but here we are. The outfit's released its trippy Lucid Dreams of Gabriel short via Google's video wing and, despite it being around four months late, the filmmaking techniques are impressive in their finished form. As a quick refresher, the clip combines novel computational shutters, multiple frame rates within the same shot and high-dynamic range tone mapping to achieve its surreal look. But, in the context of a short film they distract from the story (however hippie-dippy it may be) and make Gabriel seem more like a tech demo than an actual, structured narrative; the tricks do more to call attention to themselves than they do support the action onscreen.
Disney Research uses trippy camerawork to tell a tale of immortality
Disney Research has done an awful lot of neat stuff in the past, but it hasn't really approached Walt's bread and butter before: video. Instead of going with animation, though, the team is using some pretty slick camera tricks to tell a live-action story about unconditional love and a mother attaining immortality through her son. Yeah, we thought the premise was kinda weird too. Dubbed Lucid Dreams of Gabriel, it features techniques like novel computational shutters, high dynamic range tone-mapping and a scene with a few different frame-rates happening all within the same shot. By applying these effects in post, the filmmakers, with help from ETH Zurich, were able to achieve results that otherwise couldn't be produced with conventional camera equipment. Fitting, considering the title references conscious dreams, eh? The full version of the short is due sometime in August, but you can watch the teaser for yourself just after the break.
