SPECTRUM
An opal is more then a gemstone.
They are unique minerals which are created by nature in a special way.
Opals are formed by accumulations of siliceous fluid in various rocks. They are formed either in sedimentary rocks or hydrothermally in volcanic rocks, such as in tuff, but they can also form from organic material over millions of years. After they are fully formed they still have up to 20% water.
My father collects rough crystal opals and refines them into beautiful polished gemstones.
The play of color is one of the most mesmerizing effects i have ever seen. Looking inside an opal is almost like a window into another Universe.
When I already started to do the first macro photo experiments with them, Max Cooper asked me to create a music video for him.
It didn’t take long until I realized that Opals and Max Coopers track Spectrum could be a very good match.
Look closely and you can discover bizarre landscapes, interstellar nebulae but also human shapes.
Music: Spectrum / Unspoken Words by Max Cooper
Rotation-Stage-Controller by Mario Zeller
Opals polished by Ernst Stangl
Faces from Traiskirchen-Das Musical
DRY OUT
Life needs water. But this fluid tends to evaporate over time into a gaseous state. Drying out is a chemical process that takes hours, days or even weeks.
Without enough water the organisms metabolism is stopping.
Using high resolution cameras with macro-lenses or the microscope, i timelapsed more than hundred sequences of various organic motives which were drying out.
The visual aesthetics and drama of these transformations captivated me. That’s why I searched for the best scenes and moments to create this Shortfilm.
Music composed by my brother Wolfgang aka meercrob.
Vocals by Alexandra Grandl
Timelapse-Software Development: Mario Zeller
Produced in 4K UHD
CRAPPY EASTER
The Covid 19 Virus affects many lifes. Also mine.
This little video expresses some of my feelings about Easter and Corona-Crisis.
Soundtrack by Wolfgang Stangl
THE COMET
In 2016 an exciting mission was ended.
The Rosetta spacecraft made its final manouver. A controlled hard-landing on the comet Tschurjumow-Gerassimenko (67p).
Before that Rosetta accompanied the Comet for more then 2 years. It researched valuable scientific data, brought a lander on to the comets surface and took a vast number of pictures.
2017 Esa released over 400000 images from Rosettas comet mission.
Based on these material Motion Designer Christian Stangl and Composer Wolfgang Stangl worked together to create this shortfilm.
The sequences are digitally enhanced real-footage from the probe.
Watch the beauty of an active alien body, far out in the dephts of our solar system.
Soundtrack by Wolfgang Stangl
LUNAR
This short film is dedicated to all people who believe in peaceful expansion of our borders.
In the year 1957 the cold war expands to space. The Soviet-Union sends Sputnik as the first manmade object into earth-orbit.
3 years later Yuri Gagarin enters space as the first man in space. The so called “Space Race” seems to be decided.
But in 1961 President Kennedy promised to send American Astronauts to the moon.
The Apollo Project was born. A space ship had to be built that is strong enough to escape earth’s gravitation, land on the moon and bring the crew safely back to earth. Soundtrack by Wolfgang Stangl
STRANGE FREEDOM – LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS
Following the path of Strange Freedom´s previous videos we wanted to move from rather materialistic and abstract creations towards a glimpse of humaneness but still up to one’s neck in morass. In particular we focused on the most common feature of identification: the human face. At first, it seems defenseless, even motionless, dead, fading into the background like stone. It looks like endless layers of dust and debris smothering every pore, every twitch of expression. All blessings and wounds paint traces onto faces. »Lay down your weapons« describes a long battle to survive.
This music video is based on thousands of single macroscopic and microscopic photographies.
STRANGE FREEDOM – HIDE
Money is not just currency. It is the most common piece of artwork.
It represents our history, culture and mythology.
Thus, it does not only appear as the material backbone of our civilization – it´s dialectic is that it constitutes and is being constituted by the way our civilization proceeds. If this is the case, our materialism is not only reflected by the very material that money is, the material itself reflects the very state our civilization is in. Money is durable, maybe timeless. Or is it not?
Motion designer Christian Stangl wants to contest the apparent durability by speeding up the natural decay of the material by using various acids. Strangely these chemical processes, that ultimately result in total disaggregation bring unforeseen life to the material symbolization of our society. This music video of Strange Freedom´s Track „Hide“ was made of thousands of single microscopic photographies, merged together, creating a dramatic timelapse scenario.
STRANGE FREEDOM – BIRTHLIGHT
„Birthlight“ is the first outcome of Strange Freedom, the artist collective who received the Vienna Filmmusic Award 2015.
This short film by motion designer Christian Stangl is based on thousands of microscopic stills from which these stunning timelapse scenarios emerge. Stangl´s self-made chemical processes perform an endless dance of growing and dissolving, flooding and evaporating, melting and recrystalizing, creating an all together perfectly synced synthesis of sound and picture.
The soundtrack captivates the audience with a sophisticated blend of electronic and acoustic orchestration. At the core of this musical ménage à trois is the mind and voice of project-founder Almalyn Griesauer, escorted by Michael Willer and Robert Stefan.