Come A Little Closer, Then You'll See

July 20, 2017 1:47 PM

I'm looking for images that, as you zoom in/out, tell a story or change in an interesting way. Some examples are fractal sets and "Powers of Ten", but I'd like to find something with a bit more plot to it -- or that's at least more down-to-earth. New ideas are also welcome!
posted by miniraptor to Grab Bag (8 answers total)

xkcd does a few of these, I think. Or at least that one.
posted by gideonfrog at 2:08 PM on July 20, 2017

Some of Dali's works might fit this, as in “In Voluptas Mors” (“Voluptuous Death”).

Maybe Holbein's "The Ambassadors".
posted by at at 3:00 PM on July 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Istvan Banyai's Zoom is a picture book that does this.
posted by darchildre at 3:11 PM on July 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

Not a particular image per se, but there is an excellent British TV mini-series called Shooting The Past (written/directed by Stephen Poliakoff) about a gigantic photolibrary set in a stately home that has to close to make way for a business park.

...having expected the library of ten million photographs to have been disposed of and the building evacuated, [business park dude] Anderson tells the staff that the majority of the collection must be destroyed if they cannot sell it. However, the staff members believe that the collection must be kept in its entirety, not broken up or sold to different buyers.

To prove the value of their library, the group presents Anderson with intriguing stories put together by researching photos from all over the collection. The research was largely by [eccentric head librarian] Oswald and presented by [library manager] Marilyn, who emphasizes that these photos came from all over the collection and that Oswald spent months studying details to piece the stories together.

It's an excellent drama and fits your criteria while being about something else entirely.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 3:13 PM on July 20, 2017

Have you seen Zoomquilt?
posted by teraflop at 9:06 PM on July 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

You might be interested in the new video game Everything - the trailer is a short film in its own right, even winning awards and being the first game qualifying for an Oscar.
posted by Gortuk at 5:58 AM on July 21, 2017

Perhaps the scale of the universe fits the bill?
posted by Grither at 8:16 AM on July 21, 2017

Check out these responsive pixel art panels

Some of them, particularly (1 - Tantalos) and (4 - Zeus) react to the size of the image, in that (1 - the apple is always too far away) and (4 - Zeus changes form depending on the size).
posted by LtRegBarclay at 8:23 AM on July 21, 2017