Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Datamosh: Shoot both clips with matching motion to control the drag direction
- Type
- Set in Datamosh's manner (Let type read for a few frames before the melt, then release it), and let Pixel Sorting's lettering (Keep copy outside the sorted field, or flow only part of a headline along the same axis while preserving body legibility) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Datamosh's material (Set compression first and choose keyframe intervals as a creative call); bring in exactly one thing from Pixel Sorting (Select pixels by value, saturation or hue and reorder only contiguous intervals within a row or column).
- Colour
- Build on #cbeae2, #80718f, #272422 and admit one accent from #EAEAEA, #00A8C6, #191919.
Where they fight
- Datamosh and Pixel Sorting both belong to Digital Image Techniques, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
- Datamosh and Pixel Sorting are techniques rather than looks. Decide which one runs last in the process, because that is the one that will show.
Caution
- Datamosh Melting the whole piece so nothing is ever recognizable, leaving no intact image for the collapse to work against.
- Pixel Sorting Sorting the entire frame removes the tension with its source and leaves an ordinary striped pattern. Decide what breaks and what remains.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Datamosh (technique, 2005–) and their accent from Pixel Sorting (technique, 2010–). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Datamosh exists for: music video where the cut itself becomes the spectacle and dissolves, or showing clouded memory or consciousness through how the image breaks. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Datamosh - Melting, flowing frames - Macroblock debris - Motion vectors dragging pixels - Compression exposed Composition: Shoot both clips with matching motion to control the drag direction. Type and lettering: Let type read for a few frames before the melt, then release it. ## Accent comes from Pixel Sorting, used sparingly - Long horizontal or vertical pixel streams leaving a figure or landscape - Only part of an outline flowing into bands - Unselected areas preserving the source image - Local color bands smoothly ordered by value or hue Let one material quality come from it: Select pixels by value, saturation or hue and reorder only contiguous intervals within a row or column. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #cbeae2, carry the structure in #80718f and #272422, and let a single accent come from #00A8C6. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: rebellion, play, technique. ## Where they fight - Datamosh and Pixel Sorting both belong to Digital Image Techniques, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. - Datamosh and Pixel Sorting are techniques rather than looks. Decide which one runs last in the process, because that is the one that will show. ## What goes wrong - Datamosh: Melting the whole piece so nothing is ever recognizable, leaving no intact image for the collapse to work against. - Pixel Sorting: Sorting the entire frame removes the tension with its source and leaves an ordinary striped pattern. Decide what breaks and what remains. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Datamosh 2005– / Technique / Digital Image Techniques
Deliberately breaking a video's keyframes so that the previous image is dragged along and dissolved by the next motion. The technique turns the inner workings of the compression algorithm into an aesthetic.
- Pixel Sorting 2010– / Technique / Digital Image Techniques
Pixel Sorting selects image pixels by a brightness or hue threshold and reorders them within rows or columns, drawing long color streaks out of a still-recognisable source image. Kim Asendorf's released code enabled widespread reimplementation.
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