TCM Lights
This music or background sound in this clip has a sound that is a combination of a vibrating electric quitar combined with a rythmic beat that has a metallic sound effect . The music and beat are very slow and produce a lonely, desolate feel for the piece.
In my opinion the sound is similiar to an old western film where a dangerous character slowly enters a darkened scene leaving the viewer with the feel that something unpredictable is about to occur.
With the feel set for the viewer with the use of this mysterious sound, the creators of the clip enhance the mystery by leaving the initial screen a vaste empty black canvas. Just then a close up shot of a hand lighting a match enters the darkness. The strike of the match is timed along with one of the metal like twang sound effects in the background music. Shortly after the match is lit, the hand pulls to the background, as the hand itself completely blurs out of the view the match flame is muted into a soft circle of light. This softened circle of white light morphs into the headlights of an oncoming car. The car is approaching in time to the music and just as it approached close enough to have to leave the frame, instead it morphs into the light at the end of a flashlight. Then rather than leaving the frame the position of the flashlight stays in the lower left corner, yet the direction of the light emitted from the flashlight lifts to the upper right corner of the clip.
As the flashlight is pointed to the upper right corner, the hue of the light changes to a small white bright source of light that is emmitting a blueish green/grey light. The length of the light has shortened and is eluminating a small section of ledge that outcrops from the side of what appears to be a curved mountainess roundway. The light has again morphed into car headlights approaching around this bend, but this time as the lights approach they morph into the head of a lit cigarette. The red head of the cigarette drifts off into the background and morphs into a red tail light of a car driving into the darkness.
The tail lights drive off into the distance and eventually become nothing more than a white spot, or metallic hi-lite. The white spot splits into head lights that are again approaching. This then becomes a shot of two red gas station pumps, each having a light overhead, with the far off headlights of the oncoming car seen in between the gas pumps. The image of the gas pumps is very similiar to the previous image of the red car tail lights. This time the car comes clearly into view as it approaches the gas pumps, and then the TCM logo appears near the car.
This entire piece offers the viewer just enough visual information to make out what light source or object they are seeing. The morphing is very smooth, and although the items being morphed make no sense, it occurs in a manner that holds the viewers attention and keeps them interested and guessing what is next. The play on minimal imagery and morphing is very well put together.