The photo/video game changes once again with the release of the new visuals app Hyperspektiv. Citizen LA was granted access to a beta release for a test drive… it proved to be one hell of a mind trip.
I quickly noticed that Justin Boreta of The Glitch Mob was associated with this project. Hmm… interesting. So, I immediately popped open a brewski, pulled out my junior forensics kit, downloaded the app from the Apple store, and was off and running.
On the surface, Hyperspektiv seemed like a well-designed app; user friendly, easy to navigate, and polished. The development team at Phantom Force went to great lengths to create a slick fluid UX environment. But once I pointed the camera at my subject (in this case my shoe), I knew my seat-back and tray-table better be in their upright and locked position.
As I scrolled from one setting to another the anticipation crept in, not unlike coming on to a good roll and realizing that you’ll be leaving reality for a bit.
My fingers swiped through an amazing landscape of filters. With names such as Aura-Detector, Mezcal, Bat Country, Tripsauce, and Afterparty, I had no choice but to crank-up my stereo and let myself go.
I drifted through vortices and wormholes and brightly colored kaleidoscopic patterns. There were out-of-phase 3D images and rolling video that resembled damaged BetaMax tape or scrambled porn on 70’s cable TV.
I was in, I was lost, and I hadn’t even panned-up from my shoes!
Dare I do it? Do I point this thing at my face? What kind of selfie will it show me? I flipped the phone’s camera, adjusted this-and-that and added the other… and there I was/was-not, my true self: a psychedelic satyr staring back at me. I had to grab it quick before it dissipated into the electronic ether!
Hyperspektiv, shows the user its version of the world in real time, always moving, shifting, oscillating and undulating like an exotic Vegas dancer bathed in benjies. Unlike Las Vegas, you are allowed to take a snapshot in this seductive continuum, or record it as video, but you must do it in real time, NO GOING BACK.
Wow.
The Hyperspektiv app definitely deserved a baptism-by-fire test drive. So, I packed a bag, took a bong rip and headed into downtown LA to continue this odyssey.
Upon entering the train station I was met with a delicious stream of stroked shadows in negative noir tones. In the rail car, I tweaked colors and textures, hinting at pop-art compositions, taking me from the realm of mechanical structures into the microscopic world of organic geometry. The visuals were intoxicating; I really didn’t want to put the camera down, nor even look away.
I snapped back into reality for a disappointing second to move beyond the Union Station concourse, but dove right back-in for a pan across the architecture of the city. Here, I visited the far side of the sun, where luminous creatures floated past me doused in auras of pink and blue, and buildings melted into swaths of quicksilver or converged into complex, lace-like patterns.
Further into the evening I wandered into a buddy’s art show, high on my app. There, my fascination spread across the room like a virus. One by one people were spellbound as they peered into the phone and saw what was REALLY out there; kinda like the sunglasses worn in the movie “They Live”, which allowed the user to see beyond the veneer of alien hosts. As the DJ spun, amazing images were being produced in real-time undoubtedly lending itself perfectly to any club or party environment. Needless to say, this app was a big hit.
Continuing deep into the night, at the afterparty, a few fans of Hyperspektiv sat on the couch with me to relive the journey. With the photos and videos safely stored on the phone, and in the cloud, we had the opportunity to tweet and insta some really unique stuff.
Hyperspektiv brings the power of complex visual effects right into your pocket, allowing the user to take an artistic journey as limitless as the their imagination. Best of all, when you get back from your trip, you’ll be able to share the experience.