An iPhone, a 5 yen coin, and a drop of water. That’s all Japanese designer Dan Tomimatsu needed to create his haunting surrealistic short film, O (eau), shot entirely through a makeshift “water lens.”
Well, that and the right inspiration, found in the work of a poet who calls himself “fukudapero.”
The water lens is made possible by surface tension, which holds the droplet in place inside the hole of the 5 yen coin. The coin is then placed over the camera lens. As Tomimatsu writes in the video’s description: “Water lenses are fragile: they tremble in the wind, break by the touch of a finger.” And when used correctly, they make for some lovely imagery.
All in all, it’s an impressive accomplishment given the simple tools at the filmmakers’ disposal. That was their intent. fukudapero had this to say about the project via email: “There is a reason why we used an iPhone and not a high resolution video camera. We wanted to prove that beauty exists here in our daily life, and that to do so in 2015, all you need is an iPhone, water and a coin. In other words, digital, nature and manufacture.”
Mission accomplished!
[Via Spoon and Tamago]