This Insanely Detailed Stop-Motion Video Is Made Completely from Sound Waves

Usually stop-motion animation hypnotizes you with its stuttering version of life, giving reality a buffering rate. Stop-motion isn’t usually mesmerizing, though, because it lets you see sound.

But that’s exactly what the music video for “Where We’re Going” does and it’s extremely impressive, via redditor whycomeimsocool on the Filmmakers subreddit. Over the course of three-and-a-half minutes, an open Pro Tools file transforms the waveforms of the song by artist DAE into landscapes that artists interact with in creative audio/visual ways:What is most amazing about this reimagining of the ubiquitous sound software as a medium for visual art is all the minutia that had to be just-so for the whole thing to work. Although there is not a ton of info about the artist, whycomeimsocool explained that his friend, who I assume is DAE, spent four years compiling everything and had to work with over 10,000 screenshots, which sort of makes me want to puke. The next time you hear someone say “the devil is in the details,” you should tell them to shut up (most important step) and then show them this video so they have some idea what they’re actually talking about.The track itself is a wellness shot of ebullient pop that takes its cues from the flirty electronics in radio pop–think the weird catchy sound effects of Zedd/Grey/Maren Morris’ “Meet Me In The Middle.” Especially for how acidic the constant downpour of the news cycle is, “Where We’re Going” is a nice little transparent umbrella that will let you see the sun if it manages to peek out, even for the briefest, stop-motion frame of your day.

Images: u/whycomeimsocool