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Toy Story Meets Google Street View

Posted by timothy on from the that's-a-lot-of-lamp-twiddling dept.

theodp writes "The Atlantic talks to creative director Tom Jenkins about his short film Address Is Approximate, which tells the whimsical story of a toy's journey to the California coast. Jenkins' personal project, described a 'Toy Story for the Internet age,' uses stop-motion animation and Google Street View to bring an after-working-hours office space to life. Film critic Larry Page gives it a thumbs-up."

17 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. For the internet age? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Toy Story was released in 1995. Wasn't the internet age already underway at that point?

    1. Re:For the internet age? by martin-boundary · · Score: 3, Funny

      Toy Story was released in 1995. Wasn't the internet age already underway at that point?

      Yup, but it was still in the Archie and Veronica comics reading stage...

    2. Re:For the internet age? by lanceran · · Score: 4, Funny

      Im having vietnam-style flashbacks of grey rectangles and hourglasses with sounds of dial-up in background. And cyan... so much cyan. I lost a good hard drive back then.

    3. Re:For the internet age? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You, sir, win teh gopherspace.

    4. Re:For the internet age? by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Toy Story was released in 1995. Wasn't the internet age already underway at that point?

      What's ironic about the comment is it suggests Toy Story is old-hat or using some outdated technology when this new short film is done in stop motion and Toy Story is computer animated.

    5. Re:For the internet age? by derGoldstein · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Back then you could HEAR your computer working! The dial-up modems, the loud spinning HDs, CD-ROMs, Floppy Disks, and dot-matrix printers. You knew what your computer was going just by listening.
      Now it's all sterile. Software is downloaded onto solid-state hard-drives, in silent computers with low-rpm fans, if any. No wonder there are so many botnets -- you have no idea what your computer is doing anymore.

      I sometimes wish I could turn the sound back ON. Sure, there was cyan and #C0C0C0 all over the place, but it FELT real.

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    6. Re:For the internet age? by Frnknstn · · Score: 2

      That's not all! Windows 95 was released without a spreadsheet application or presentation package installed! Clearly, the "business age" hadn't started yet, either.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Plus!

      Obviously, having TCP/IP support enabled by default for all your network devices is a fundamental part of Internet access. How else could people in 1995 utilize the cable-provider broadband connections in their home?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modem
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-to-Point_Protocol

      (For those of you who are a bit slower, my point is that the reason the web browser or many other applications designed for the Internet were not installed in Windows by default, is that Microsoft was still hoping they were products they could sell to you.

      TCP was not enabled on LAN interfaces by default because IPX was the most common LAN protocol at the time. Of course, any modems you installed DID have PPP enabled to tunnel the TCP/IP traffic over to your ISP)

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    7. Re:For the internet age? by Zakabog · · Score: 2

      My first computer was an IBM PS/2 running Windows 3.1, 66MHz 486. Back then the sound of a HDD being accessed usually followed any action I did, opening notepad, starting a game, etc. When the noise stopped the computer was ready and I became conditioned to think of that noise to mean loading. Now days I hear a HDD access noise and all I can think of is "Wow this computer is so slow!" It doesn't matter if it takes the same amount of time to open a program on a silent PC or on a PC with a really loud HDD, the noise tells my mind that the computer is slow.

      The worst thing about how silent PCs have gotten is that people now think any noise from a PC is bad. I've had customers come in because their computer is "way too loud" meanwhile they've got a fan that peaks at 35-40db. Sometimes I wish I could show them some of my old computers with 60+ dBA Deltas pushing 200+CFM to give them a far better comparison of what "way too loud" actually is.

  2. Just in case anybody doesn't recognize the name... by dotancohen · · Score: 4, Informative

    ..."film critic" Larry Page has a rather unique interest in Googe Street View.

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  3. The pacific coast is really that beautiful by Krishnoid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you've never driven down the California coast, try to do it. Photos and video can't reproduce it accurately -- you have to experience it to understand. I only saw it for the first time a few years ago, and the stick figure's expression at the beginning perfectly captures what I imagine the emotion of someone who used to live near the west coast, has been living in New York for a few years, has difficulty sharing the experience with the people around him/her who have never been there -- and is homesick.

    1. Re:The pacific coast is really that beautiful by melted · · Score: 2

      Maybe it is, but when I was driving along there it was all hazy so I couldn't see shit. :-) It was in July a couple of years back.

  4. I don't think it actually uses Street View images. by safetyinnumbers · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Its viewpoints are too widely spaced to give such smooth movement. I notice that the linked interview is evasive about whether it actually uses it.

  5. Re:First Metrics by artor3 · · Score: 3, Funny

    And 90 minutes later, YouTube page had 123963 views, thereby confirming that absolutely no one in /. every clicks the links in the summary (or that YouTube only updates that number every few hours, but I choose the believe the first option).

  6. artsy by DaveGod · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You know it's arty when the camera never stops moving. Enjoyed the concept and other elements of execution but the camera direction is irritating.

    1. Re:artsy by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just watched it again to see if you're right. You're not. The camera stops moving quite often in fact, especially considering this is a short film.

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  7. Re:First Metrics by Slashdot+Assistant · · Score: 2, Funny

    We don't need informed comments. What Slashdot needs is confident and angry action! That's how American politics works, so if it's good enough for Jesus and Gingrich it sure as Hell is good enough for Slashdot.

  8. CollegeHumor video with Google Street images by KWTm · · Score: 2

    CollegeHumor did some videos that did use Google Street images and animation. Kinda neat.

    Here's the first one, and that should lead you to more:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35LqQPKylEA

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