In the locked-down shot which forms the basis of this visual short, we are looking from the perspective of a rocky shore at an inlet of wild sea breakers, crashing towards us in majestic slow motion and slowly breaking up. The tops of the breakers are glowing with light, as if lit from within. A twisted, bare tree protrudes from a rocky crag, and, on the opposite shore, we see forbidding wooded hills and a lone wooden house. It could come straight from a Romantic painting by Caspar David Friedrich.
Seagulls cross in slow motion. Everything is suffused with the soft halo of mist. Of course, this imagery is sublimely beautiful, which is why it has become a cliché. But this short video by Phil Hastings transcends the cliché. The waves, radiating light, look like a transcendent force, in contrast to the gloomy dark sky. The result is like looking at a wonderful painting, but with a mesmerizing aspect of motion added to it.
