Came across this interesting little short film this morning called WoodSwimmer. It is a stop motion film made by Brett Foxwell who describes his process as “a straightforward technique but one which is brutally tedious to complete.” It involves taking continuous photographic cross-sectional scans of hardwood logs, burls and branches and sequencing them so that reveal the universe that exists within the wood, one that Foxwell sees in a sci-fi scenario as holding alien lifeforms in a world that is always near us, hidden in plain sight.
It’s a mesmerizing piece of film. To watch the movement of the material through the cross sections is like watching time itself flowing, a fascinating rhythm unfolding before your eyes. In its simplest form, it is pleasing in a sheer aesthetic way with the beauty of its movement, colors and textures. Beyond that it, it raises questions on the nature of time and existence.
Take a look– it’s less than 2 minutes. And also take a look at Brett Foxwell’s website, bfophoto.com . It shows some of his other projects including a trailer for his stop-motion film, Fabricated, which was ten years in the making and has garnered many awards.
WoodSwimmer from bfophoto on Vimeo.
Redtree Times 
I tried and tried to figure out how he did this. I can’t. I have no clue. It doesn’t matter. It’s fascinating, and beautiful, and compelling.
I was trying to figure it out as well. But like you, I thought it better to just enjoy it.
Who would of thought. Thanks for sharing. My grandson who is into photography will love it
I watched this thru a couple of days ago and was mesmerized. It looks like he takes some type of grinder to the wood and takes a photograph between layers. Having played with stop action in my younger days, I can only say wow… that two minute video must have taken weeks to produce.
There is a scene in there that shows a pile of sawdust so it is either a grinder or coarse sander of some kind. And from what I can glean, I think it took more than a couple of weeks.