UNIQLOCK: 5 Second Shots

When everyone else seem to be creating forever-long “one-take” music videos, UNIQLO is perfecting the 5 second shot.

Recently in preparation for a trip to New York, I paid another visit to the website of the Japanese fashion firm UNIQLO –  when I did I ran across some really cool calendar/clock screen savers (appropriately named “UNIQLOCK”)  featuring creative tilt-shift photography and live-action creative movement.  The screen savers are available for both PC & MAC- though Snow Leopard isn’t yet supported.  Clearly its a clever way to get an Ad in your face everytime you fall asleep at your desk_but let’s put aside all the “I Hate Corporate Sellouts!” talk that we Artists tend to spew and just take this as art (don’t roll your eyes at me!).

UNIQLO has done a great job filming a series of  :05 shots that never bore and rarely repeat.  Six of the eight screens savers are live action shots of their models.  One of them (named “Calendar”) is time-lapse footage shot in Japan with tilt-shift lens to make the landscape look like a miniature (think Monty Python this time: “It’s only a model!”).  And the last is an animated grid of their Logo.  All eight of these have either a great soundtrack or fun sound effects.  Each :05 shot is separated by a short brightly colored graphics sequence.  I was really impressed with the directing in these.  Everything is so simple yet really very interesting.  There is no editing, just a simple camera move.  And the on-screen action is a mix of ballet and creative movement.  The models maintain neutral facial expression throughout.  Since this is, after all, a clothing ad – the wardrobe varies. The shots presented seem to reflect the time of day in Tokyo – so check back often and see how the images change.

I’ve pulled a few screenshots from some of the live action sequences (below), but you really should visit the site and check them out for yourself.  The best “episode” (if that’s what you want to call them) is Season 5, and I think my least favorite is the one shot in Paris.

In a format that could get boring very fast, UNIQLO has creating something that maintains visual interest for a long period of time without needing to bring anything overly sexual into the mix.