(Video) The Things We Keep

Using a technique that borrows from tagging within digital culture, Christian Svanes Kolding made this short video commentary on ownership and the stories we attach to things. The stop motion piece was filmed entirely from still images on a Canon Powershot digital camera.

The film’s look takes inspiration from the opening credit sequence of To Kill A Mocking Bird and mixes it with scientific classification, taxonomy, augmented reality and live-tagging of objects. Christian Svanes Kolding says:

The urge to create this was also motivated by the experience of relocating from Copenhagen to Los Angeles to San Francisco to New York in a very short period of time, resulting in this visual survey of a limited number of objects that one keeps; be they gifts from friends, found objects, thrift store purchases, books, pamphlets, etc. souvenirs from a particular time and place.

The things that we keep become the constants, objects invested with extra meaning during times of transitions and frequent departures.

Kolding also has a video available online that shows the still shots that he used to make up the video. He says:

This is a stop motion piece made entirely from still images taken with a tiny canon powershot digital camera, then tossed around in Photoshop, further enhanced with a splash of motion graphics thanks to rudimentary tinkerings in after effects. Color grading and morphing done in after effects as well. The tracking shot is smoothed out in post-production.