SEPT.2010 *By Asher Floyd & Carolina Zerpa
Vimeo has decided to hold the Vimeo Festival + Awards, and to celebrate they hosted a splendid “Pre-awards” party/screening at Het Ketelhuis, in a funky corner of Amsterdam.
The Vimeo Awards have nine categories, so the program offers far more than the standard drama and documentary. On the Pre-awards-party night, we were treated to music videos, experimental animation, a mashed-up news-cast recut and a sparkling architectural promo. It opened the audience’s eyes and made us want to see more weird yet awesome videos. These awards have brought into the spotlight a new wave of media stylings that were previously available only online.
Another trend struck us – super slow-mo, shallow focus, and sexy soft blur. These videos look GOOD. Behind the pretty pictures, we suspect sit the recent generation of incredibly powerful still cameras, not traditional video cameras at all.
So what happens when you invite the movie-making cream of Amsterdam and New York to a party with an open bar? The gadgets (and incredibly powerful still cameras) came out. Without a shiny piece of Canon, Nikon, Sony or Nokia on your arm, you weren’t fitting in – so as we scurried around to bring you the photos found below, we were not alone. One partygoer produced a pocket sized Nokia and declared “I came here tonight to try this out”. Then between the clicking of our lenses, another bystander’s iPhone went beep at us. “I’ll put that on Facebook now,” he said. This was a party of the future.
The DJ Eclectic Method spun a wicked selection for the festivities, and the VJing was an aesthetic match – after-all, maybe the night’s deep lesson was “If there’s room for a video, make a video.” That, and we discover the folks at Vimeo will take any excuse for a party – and that’s just fine by us.
Asher Floyd (ph & text)
Carolina Zerpa (ph & edition)
