I can show you the world… quite literally, and from your armchair.
I can show you the world… quite literally, and from your armchair. One filmmaker from Italy has taken couchsurfing – the backpacking method of crashing on the couches of various overseas hosts – to a whole new level.
Photographer and filmmaker Matteo Archondis has been running a simple yet spectacular Instagram feed, with amazing shots of this big blue marble we call home.
But his latest work could just be his greatest yet. Shot entirely through the satellite imaging map application Google Earth, this is the “Hyperlapse Around The World”.
Starting in the Italian town of Rome, the two-and-a-half minute-long video quickly flies through the busy tourist area before soaring across the Adriatic Sea, where the magical outline of Venice is clearly visible.
It’s like a really large plot of landed property homes.
Like a tour guide on a tight schedule, Archondis quickly brings us around the most popular sites in the Western hemisphere. We hit the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and the Big Ben in London, complete with double decker buses in their signature red, roaring down the foreground.
Speaking of sound, Archondis cleverly sidesteps the awkward, silent experience of exploring Google Earth with appropriate sound design.
As we zoom through the busy streets of New York, London, and Tokyo, we hear the hubbub of traffic, the yammering of commuters, and the restless cacophony of city life.
At Rio de Janeiro and the Grand Canyon, we hear the lush layers of wildlife and how nature sings when left alone.
In the icy valleys of Greenland to the frozen peak of Everest, a gentle whirring signifies the promise of adventure.
The rapid montage of stop-motion shots take on a climax as we are shown different regions of the world. Perhaps as national policies begin to turn towards isolationism and anti-globalisation, this video serves to remind us how we’re not as different as we think.
Because up in the clouds, from a satellite somewhere above us, we’re all a part of the same Earth.
Find out more from Matteo Archondis on his Facebook page.
(ALL IMAGES CREDITED TO YOUTUBE/SCREENGRAB)
