Cinematography of Snow: Watch a Film Projected Onto a Blizzard

projected landscape snowfall

An idle thought while waiting out a snowstorm led to an accidental artistic discovery: projecting a movie on falling snow can result in an visually rich result bordering on magical, in turn captured on film.

projection dancing lights movie

Photographer Brian Maffit had no idea what to expect when he turned his projector to face outside his window during a snowstorm, but when he realized the potential, he began documenting the results with both still and video cameras.

projection base colors

projected snowfall capture film

By zooming in and out, shifting the perspective of the projector and the camera, and taking shots at various degrees of snowy downfall and capturing moments throughout the movie, the images end up spanning a surprising visual range of colors and contrasts.

projection angled snowfall

projection in a snowstorm

“The ‘RGB dots’ were the biggest surprise, I guess when the projector is showing a white screen, it is really rapidly cycling between fully-saturated red, green, and blue screens… thus the dots in a few of the shots.”

projection primary colors

film on snowscape

Aside from the embedded video and stills found here, you can also visit his Flickr page for high-resolution images taken throughout the experience. And the film in question? The Lorax. Perhaps best watched on snow anyway.