The movements are so subtle it can be hard to tell the images are moving at all - “Most of the time it takes no more than two to four frames, and it’s done,” he says - but that simplicity is the reason Noirlac’s work is so charming.
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He’ll add a twinkling light at the top of a skyscraper’s spire, a rippling effect to a sunset over water, or a flickering to a computer or TV screen. “I like to add some little glitches on my GIF to emulate life moments,” he explains. He begins by highlighting one beautiful detail from each shot and from there layers in slight movements that previously didn’t exist. The anonymous designer takes screenshots of landscapes, characters, monsters or abstract images and repurposes them as standalone images. Noirlac, a videogame developer for Ubisoft, is the curator responsible for an expansive collection of gorgeous stills and GIFs from long-forgotten videogames. So beautiful, in fact, that a Paris-based designer decided to dedicate an entire tumblr to them. The lack of refinement was a result of the era’s technology, but the images were the opposite of unsophisticated-actually, they were quite beautiful in that dreamy, otherworldly way that too much realism often kills.
But years ago, before computers were capable of creating photorealistic images, games were filled with pixelated characters making their way through hazy imaginary lands. Today’s videogames can look so lifelike they’re borderline creepy.