[Video Link] Seth used his iPhone to shoot one second of video every day for a year. (Kevin Kelly did this when he went to Asia last year, but he used the ambient sound, which is better than replacing it with music as Seth did.) READ THE REST
I was ready to shoot myself one second after listening to that background music.
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As a huge fan of the artist (LCD Soundsystem) I disagree, but I realize that 90% of the time they seem to pick the worst possible music for the background of these things.
Neat video, though i find myself wanting to see a little bit more of some of the scenes, and it left me feeling a little frustrated, like an action movie that cuts too much.
Hi! The aforementioned Seth here. I’m thrilled to see my silly video posted to Boing Boing, a blog I of course love – I never would’ve expected so many people to watch this thing when I first started annoying my friends by recording them last year. As a side-note, I’m curious why Mark so disliked the use of a song to tie the video together. While editing, I found the video sans music a bit spastic/jerky to sit through, and I thought scoring it with a song that conveyed movement would give it a connective energy. In any case, a huge thanks for posting – and for yet another chance to discuss creativity and artistry on BB.
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These things are always appreciated and are a fun effect of attainable access to media. I just get to thinking about how much this person was able to do everyday; pleasures afforded. I grew up living in a van and if I had a second from a year back then, I would see more meaning in every moment. This otherwise sort of feels like a credit card commercial.
@sethnotshep I actually like the background music on this video. I agree that it does convey music, and I’m totally with you that the ambient noise would have sounded spastic to sit through. I actually came over here just to comment back to @frauenfelder that I disagreed about ambient noise being better than background music for this. I can imagine that under some circumstances it might work to leave the ambient noise, but that would just be a stroke of luck or utter genius, I think.
It starts off annoying, with just the piano plonking away, but it gets better. Though how much better may depend on your musical tastes. I liked it in the end.
I’ve got a sudden urge to drink beer and play baseball.
Hi Seth!
the use of such a song is really just manipulative. If you make more videos you might notice that any visuals you throw together, no matter how weird / sad / ugly / uplifting, will be completely usurped by the emotion of the music that is laid on top of it. In this case, a hit song (and yes, a fantastic song) is completely overpowering whatever you might have intended with the visuals. And in fact, it becomes a fan video for “All of my Friends” by LCD Soundsystem more than a documentary of your life.
Try overlaying “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven instead and see what happens…
Yes, I would have preferred the ambient audio, with maybe a little bit of music on top, but only if it makes sense. Not just because it’s a great emotional nostalgic hit song.
Don’t take this as a harsh criticism, I like your work, it was clearly a labor of love and it shows. Also, you seem to have a very nice life 
cheers.
I too muted the sound. I thought the new Black Sabbath album was more appropriate. Video was really good.
I really liked this. I teach a filmmaking class to middle schoolers and we might do this for year on the side while making our other projects.
Something strangely familiar and banal about this. A year with the fear, anxiety, and alienation of modern life air-brushed out. I could imagine the logo of a large corporation flashing up at the end with something like “Be Yourself…Live Life Your Way With (insert brand here)”.
I also muted the sound, and happened to be listening to Barber’s Adagio for Strings. Seth, I’m sorry for your troubles and I’m sure things will look up in the coming year.
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Bah!
I hate it when people do more stuff than me.
Something strangely familiar and banal about this. A year with the
fear, anxiety, and alienation of modern life air-brushed out.
Couldn’t agree more. Very well put. This, in part, was what I hoped to convey with the subtitle “Some Quotidian Bullshit.”
Agreed that the LCD Soundsystem song and video is awesome and I think it matches up quite well.
@sethnotshep, just have to say I adore the song you chose for the video, and I enjoyed the video all the more for it.
Comedy Nerd alert! Who saw Tim Heidecker and Scott Aukermann in there? I did!
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