The other night, during one my directionless YouTube binges, I came across a video of a someone chopping tomatoes in reverse. It was high-quality, the work of someone with a background in video production, and slowed down to a grinding, molasses crawl.
There’s something weirdly mesmerizing about watching the skin of a tomato knit itself whole again, and sure enough, the channel hosts a ton of videos following the same theme. Maybe you want to watch color jump back off a piece of parchment? Or a peel stitching back on a tangerine? Wryfield Labs has your back.
You could link these videos to YouTube’s ASMR scene, but Wryfield’s tone is a little more oddball. I don’t know why a kiwi reassembling in slow-motion is so satisfying, but it really, really is. So we caught up with Wryfield creator Linas Lakavicius and asked him how he (and I) fell in love with backwards videos of food preparation.
How did you first get interested in ASMR?
Randomly browsing YouTube came across on some ASMR videos and was immediately hooked. Because my job is related to video production (I had more than enough gear), the only thing left to do was to create some videos of my own.
A lot of your videos focus on slowed-down reversed footage of chopped vegetables. What do you find relaxing about those videos?
Actually, for me, the most relaxing thing about my videos is the process of creating them. Filming, editing—the whole process makes me happy. I love and enjoy what I do.
I find a lot of those slowed-down and reversed videos kind of trippy or hallucinogenic—would you agree?
Yes I agree, some of these videos are kinda hypnotic. I never do that intentionally, though, usually I don’t even know exactly what the final result will be during the entire process of creation, whether it turns to be trippy, hallucinogenic, relaxing or all in one. And this is one of the reasons why I like making these weird videos.
How long does it take you to make an average video?
Basic video making is pretty simple. Filming, editing, rendering and uploading usually takes about a day. But most important is the idea, and that may take anywhere from a moment up to infinity, if you know what I mean.
What are some of your own favorite videos?
It is difficult to exclude particular videos, I like all of them. For some I loved the process of making, while the others made me happy with the final result. It is worth mentioning my last video named ASMR Soap Bubbles, where I have experimented with macro filming. Lots of effort and the outcome is superb. At least in my opinion.
Do you take inspiration from any other YouTube channels?
Partly, maybe unconsciously, but what inspires me most is the lack of good quality ASMR channels on YouTube. There are too many channels with “beautiful girl lips smacking against microphone” and too few with original, innovative content.
Where did the name Wryfield Lab come from?
In the beginning, the channel was named Reverse Therapy, but when I started making videos, I realized I want to create more than reverse stuff only. Reverse Therapy became Wryfield Labs. In my imagination, Wryfield is a mystic place with a small laboratory, where odd experiments take place and weird videos are born.
Photo via Wryfield Lab/Youtube
