City
Tourism Toronto hits it big with new timelapse video
Now this just makes sense. Remember when Ryan Emond released that stunning timelapse sequence of Toronto that we referred to as a love letter to the city? Turns out the folks at Tourism Toronto were paying attention. Following the attention that video got, the photographer was approached to shoot something more official to promote Toronto to the rest of the world. And given what's passed for promotional materials in the past, it's not hard to see why this latest effort is a vast improvement.
"They wanted to do something entirely different, they wanted to come away from the standard tourism video, so I figured I would step as far away from those videos as possible," Emond explains in the description that accompanies his latest effort, Planet Toronto. "I felt like it was the perfect opportunity to push my shooting style by employing a purely observational perspective. I intended to capture the city in distinctive form-- I wanted to make this piece different."
Given an increased budget and easier access to prime shooting locations, the results are nothing short of gorgeous. I loved Toronto Tempo, but the production quality of this sequence is in a league of its own. "Much like other cities, Toronto is a place you have to experience to feel the energy and emotion that pulses through the streets and neighbourhoods. I hope that I can give you a brief glimpse of the beauty, and motivate you to come explore for yourself."
Mission accomplished.
Planet Toronto from Ryan Emond on Vimeo.
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There's a shot near the end that goes up and zooms back down nearly street level. Was it being hoisted up during the shot and dropped??
I'm boggled....
What building is that with the faces on top?
Fancy new cameras can take images in such a way that they can zoom in ridiculous amounts without completely destroying image quality.
Great effect, though. And well used here.
See about 3/4 down: http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread.php/8967-Toronto-skyline/page40
Build an interesting city and the people will come. Sadly, this isn't an interesting city from a tourist's perspective, plus this video showed how truly ugly and mishmashed it is. I can't see this convincing a single tourist to visit Toronto unless they have to come here or have family.
To say that the piece needs "a story" would only be accurate if he was trying to tell one. Watch Baraka or Samasara (currently at the lightbox) and you'll see one of the best example of the associational non narrative form.
Personally I think the film works on many different levels. Adding the street level slowmotion really does job of contrasting to the timelapse buildings. My hat goes off to the filmmaker - he's really made something special.
Secondly, it is not just an art piece it is a video commissioned by Tourism Toronto to promote the city, "in a new way". Again, Ryan did a technically great job, but as he himself said he wanted to push himself to go further than his previous pieces. From a technical perspective, he did, some new interesting shots... but from a conceptual standpoint, he's got a lot further to go. It is to promote a city, what is a city but the people, the culture, the life that makes it one... where is this in the video? Are we a city of skyscrapers and buildings? Here is a great example of film that delivers on this https://vimeo.com/15068747 using the same filmmaking techniques.
I think the points George and others bring up are great constructive criticism that can help to push the filmmaker even further in his future work. Kudos to Tourism Toronto to recognizing the great work and "viral" opportunities from it.
as for the merits of this as a Tourist Piece - it's shot in a style that is current and popular. Normally tourism pieces feel as dated as a Canada's Wonderland / Marineland commercial, but a video like this will appeal to a whole different demograpic (vimeo watching, DSLR owning, social media connected young people)
I think that along makes this campaign a success.
For example, what about showing inside the Eatons Centre at Christmas, a symphony at Roy Thomson, the inside of any Ossington bar of a night, Question Period at the Legislature, biking down the Don Valley, a Toronto FC game, a Leafs game, a Raptors game, the fairway of the CNE, a regatta off the Toronto Islands, Taste of the Danforth, Caribana parade, Santa Clause parade, Pride, the Scotiabank Marathon, patrons outside a coffee house in Leslieville, biking through High Park, the Distillery, St. Lawrence Market on a Saturday, Kensington Market on pedestrian Sunday, TIFF red carpet, Union Stn train platforms, a concert at Harbourfront in the summer, an outdoor movie in Dundas Square, Yonge Street at night, across town on the 501 Queen streetcar, skating at Nathan Philips Square, Word on the Street at Queen's Park, etc.
It just looks like a bunch of ants hurrying to and from all those tall buildings (which is Toronto in a nutshell, but it shouldn't be what one grasps from a tourism video). It should look FUN.
the building is called Commerce Court North
and is at 25 King Street West.
If it's at all possible, have a look at the old
banking hall on the ground floor with is coffered
ceiling several storeys high.
agree with the above comments that this toronto film doesn't capture what toronto is really like.
*Planet Toronto LOGO, I mean
Does this make me want to visit Toronto? Hmmm, maybe if I like skyscrappers?
It was quoted: "the energy and emotion that pulses through the streets and neighbourhoods". I didn't really notice if there were any neidghbourhood shots? I'm pretty sure it was just Downtown shots. Why not show some street level, or only slightly elevated shots of China town, Kensington, the Beach, TO Island, Harbour, an overhead inside St Lawrence, Bloor Street maybe? This video doesn't show to the reader that any of these exist! I think only a couple clips of Dundas Sq were there (showing non-unique parts of Toronto - break dancing etc)
All I got was people rushing point A to B - was that was the point of the video? (again, it looked awesome) It seems like it was birds-eye view after birds-eye view each showing slightly different angles with camera twists and turns, like a special effects video on urban landscape. There was some slow-mo parts, so I don't see why some more interesting parts of Toronto that identifies us greater couldn't have been portrayed (like the fruit stand - but forget the reversing raindrops).
Again, cool effects, but as a paid tourism piece - not so good in my book...
Also, Is it just me or did some of the shots look like they were borrowed from Tom ryabois timelapse?
https://vimeo.com/51137834
I don't think this would appeal to many tourists as it doesn't really make Toronto look much different or unique than any other major North American city.
http://sculptedtoronto.blogspot.ca/2010/07/sculpture-101-giant-heads-commerce.html
Although, something about that shot looked like it was artificial 3D rendering, so I'm not sure. It was such a fast movement in the shot that it's hard to see any detail.
Like most people here, I'm not criticizing the video from a artistic point of view. It's simply not a good fit for tourism purposes...
Here's a good one:
http://vimeo.com/35959846
But it missed the mark if the point is to attract tourists. The message of this video to me was "Come to Toronto ... we have lots of big buildings downtown and the pace is extremely hectic."