Why Is LoFi So Damn Popular?

Resurgence of early Japanese 90s animation could be the reason

"no one wants to edit on a 15-year-old mac"

my 2009 laptop running ableton live 4 is insulted

loved the video

People are broke. They want to be on the edge, and going back to what’s in the drawer at mom’s house is available.

The new trending thing is a long forgotten old classic. This is everywhere. You can see it fashion, in photography, in movies even in car production. Some cars are having the best new engines and gadjets, but the smooth exterior of the 60-70 culture. There is no going OUT of this thing. Its just life.

Hey big bro. Speaking of laptops, I’ve been thinking of getting a new one. But people keep making a big deal about how important RAM is for editing… What would you suggest?

Gotta say man you are one of my favorite channels right now. Everything you make is super well done and thought out. Always very inspiring. Glad to see you’re getting the success you deserve!

My folks say the Zs remind them of themselves in the 70s! Return to form, rejecting the man, handmaking clothes, buying used, and wanting smaller houses.

I love your theory on lofi being a reflection of unease and solitude. I see it as a way to find some peace and quiet in this crazy world. Something human, when everything around is corporate.

I think one reason is what you got at is "real." We don't want perfect. I just saw a Levi ad shot on a 2000 digicam and it just FEELS like a regular person made it.

In getting back into photography and learning all about GAS, I realized quickly that the "best" camera was an ad. I just needed the one that did things the way I wanted to do them.

So you're really on the button on this one with lofi aesthetic, I think. I want to think past lofi girl, but I feel like it's in the neighborhood. Like vinyl records, and typewriters and all that, too.

Was talking to a friend recently about the feeling of reality becoming more and more important in an age where everything feels digital and worst of all, boring. Its why i started handing out polaroids for free at pride and after club nights, tbh. Much more fun than instagram and i get less existential dread.

Anyway great video as ever ^^

Lo-fi has been with us for years in the music world - artists preferring to record on analog tape rather than 64 track Protools digital format, the increasing interest in vinyl records and cassettes.
Nostalgia has always been important in photography as well, that’s often why people take photos, to be reminded of places, people, events they attended.
As you point out, it also shows people that they can create art without hugely expensive equipment and it doesn’t have to be pristine and perfect to be interesting.
Long live Lo-fi imperfection!

i just noticed how funny is that this guy makes videos for artists

I think this lo-fi look is so popular because it's the opposite of what we have now which is - technological damn near perfection that makes media ultimately disposable and meaningless.
The lo-fi thing gives people at least the feeling of some meaning, intention, imperfection, personality, something to hang onto. At least it's something.

The last point is it. When brands take notice and start to flood the world with inauthenticity, we move on to something… other.

I think about this a lot and honestly I actively avoid the lofi and film grain tropes filmmakers use because I have a feeling when people look back it’s going to be very dated and like: “oh yeah this is from the 2020s because there’s loads of fake grain and hellation on everything.”

A good explanation and topic, thank you. I'm already struck by how much lofi there is in advertising, especially visuals for fashion brands. I think lofi will survive - it actually always has. Linocut art printing never died and never will. As technologies become 'redundant' we actually discover their truer value. Aside from the look, one of the values of digicams and film is constraint. It strips away decision paralysis because a more finite set of things can be done, pushing us to be more creative within that constraint. And we, rather than the tool, are a much bigger part of the output.

Loved the topic, and love the Trench shirt |-/

I think Mark Fisher's discussion of hauntology in his book "Ghosts of my Life" goes a long way towards explaining this phenomenon in the context of contemporary politics and society.

Great insights that make a whole lotta sense.

"no one wants to edit on a 15 year old laptop" me on my windows 7 laptop using after effects 5.5 :(

Nice one, Hunter! In photography, I think it also relates to how "good" phone cameras became to the regular viewer. It seems that nowadays you only need to figure out composition, and the phone would do the rest for you where most people are comfortable enough with the result. All the punchy, very HDR-y and crisp looks, with the software help to denoise, etc. makes it very easy to come up with a "good" picture for the regular viewer.

And what I want to say with regular viewer, I mean anyone who does not own a camera not because of budget, but because "a phone is good enough".

What happens with this, is that photos end up looking the same. Everyone can snap a saturated, crisp with no blown out highlights or crushed shadows with a point and shoot in a phone. So nowadays grabbing a camera and lens combination of your choice suddenly gives your photos a "different look" to most that's out there.

I'm not sure this is exactly the reason (or even "a" reason), but it is for me. I currently enjoy very much the process of getting out with the camera (staying hydrated) and taking pictures with either some crushed shadow or blown out highlights in case I want to show "the other part" of the picture. Not everything needs to be in frame or visible.

It all depends on what you want to tell with it.

I think this is a kind of longing for the good old times when life was easier for many of us. I also miss the 80s90s as an older guy. The world felt real back then. So many things feel fake nowadays, fake photos, fake news... Social media made everything worse. What was ment to unite people separated them. That's why people love nostalgic things.

Please iron your 21 pilots tshirt. Cool vid btw.

I shoot film because I can‘t afford a 2000 Dollar camera setup

I'm possibly pointing out the obvious here but there has to be a multitude of reasons why lofi has remained popular. It is this variety of reasons that gives the genre robustness and longevity. People from different walks of life have different reasons to flit in and out of the genre, and to rediscover it in time, with the fire being kept alight by others in between.

Excuse my ignorance this has probably been discussed to death. What do you think about Lofi? Is it something that will hang in an art gallery or just something that is going to be shown on the internet. Will it stand the test of time hanging in a museum for 100 years? I am a huge fan of printing my images, just seems to be a finished piece of art to me. Anyway, you or someone here can give me their thoughts.

Love lofi and digicams! only legends would understand XD

I don't have the money for Lightroom or brand new camera gear. I got into photography this year with a couple Sony Mavica floppy drive cameras, and this week ordered a Nikon D80 from 2006. Sure, they're bigger and clunkier and with worse specs than a brand new mirrorless, but it also sets me away from the really snobby elitist photographer community. I know I'm a newbie and my skills aren't up to snuff, and I don't bother editing because I don't have the energy or skills. I shoot to have fun.

Bro's cooking with that spatula mic 😅

David Bowie died in 2016, and personally I think that was a linchpin moment when everything started going to sh1t.

Cracking video with clear and inspiring descriptions. After watching your videos I always feel my time was invested wisely. Hope your recovery is going well!

Search No wave cinema movement

Trying to work out what that movie is you refer to that everyone should watch. I can't make out what you're saying. "June Pattoo" or something? A web search comes up empty.

For me lo-fi aesthetics is just a by product of freedom. I did some crazy things with graphic 20 years ago, lo fi as hell, but way more creative than stuff I'm doing commercially today

also form and constraints actually promote creativity. Like a problem to solve with a given set of tools. So rather than 'go make something', it's write a sonnet with a gritty texture' or 'paint a 10 x 4 landscape with these 4 pigments '. Limitations can be interesting.

Your clothes changes so many times back and forth it's like you are interviewing yourself or maybe I'm too high

Im all in for the niatalgia astethic. Its such a vibe