Radiolab: Visual Experiment 01 “Parabolas”

This one’s definitely not for everyone, but for those of you out there (like me) who are massive fans of the WNYC show Radiolab, you’ll be pleased to know that they’re apparently playing around with visuals, too.

Their maiden voyage, Parabolas, was directed by Will Hoffman with Derek Paul Boyle as the DP. Tim Hecker’s “Trade Winds, White Heat” provides a beautiful sonic backdrop.

Strap on your headphones and settle down for a meditative experience.

For the uninitiated: “Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Each episode is an investigation—a patchwork of people, sounds, stories all centered around one big idea. Radiolab comes out in seasons of 5 shows, and today is heard around the country on over 150 stations.” You can also listen to Radio Lab as a podcast.

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About the author

Justin Cone

/ justincone.com
Together with Carlos El Asmar, Justin co-founded Motionographer, F5 and The Motion Awards. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with is wife, son and fluffball of a dog. Before taking on Motionographer full-time, Justin worked in various capacities at Psyop, NBC-Universal, Apple, Adobe and SCAD.

5 Comments

Douglas

Dunno about this… I used to listen to RadioLab during their first season. I really wanted to like it, but often found the episodes began to drag and the hosts became more annoying over time. Shooting video for it does make sense, but part of me wonders if they are just reaching for a piece of ThisAmericanLife’s pie. Regardless, I find this video gets even more boring than the radio show, and most of the examples used are not parabolas, they’re hyperbolic curves. :)

justin

“…not parabolas, they’re hyperbolic curves.”

Yeah, yeah. The point is that math can be used to elegantly describe—and create—the world around us.

As for being bored: I’ve only found the podcast seasons to get better over time. There’s no accounting for taste, I guess. :-)

briangossett

Very interesting. Reminds me of Pi and how he unlocked the patterns in nature. Thanks for sharing Justin!

zeniamai

Parabolas are out to get you… *grin* the video is certainly interesting and if I have seen this when I was still studying my trig, I have an inkling feeling that I would have appreciated the subject just a little bit more.

The video very much reminds me of the Divine proportions, the golden ratio 1.6180… Now, I have this urge to reread the Da Vinci Code again… :)

col

Nice i almost forgot about these!

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