THE NO CAMERA FILM
SLOW SHUTTER
A Weekend Blog About Indy Cinema Technology on the BSFF website.
Many new film makers don’t need motion picture cameras at all. This is a cool evolution of the craft that has happened as we move deeper into the digital era. Some directors are so creative and inventive all it takes is their imagination —and a lot of time locked away in their bedroom in front of a computer. Well, okay, the camera is a requirement for some of the work, but it’s not the priority.
Has anyone been following the film making career of Don Hertzfeldt? His films are gems of emotional existential storytelling. Hardly any of his techniques rely on fancy camera gear. Rather, using lush soundscapes and crudely drawn stick figures the guy is able to make narratives that are completely engaging. It’s decidedly low-fi film production, but by no means does it lack in sophistication. Quite the opposite:
All three award-winning parts of Bill's story: EVERYTHING WILL BE OK (2006), I AM SO PROUD OF YOU (2008), and IT'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY (2011) are now available on DVD. DON HERTZFELDT VOLUME 2: 2006-2011 collects the entire epic trilogy of short films, with the option for the first time anywhere to play them all seamlessly edited together, as a new feature film.
On the other end of the spectrum are technical achivements such as Erik Wernquist’s “Wanderers”
For more information and stills gallery, please turn to: www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers ----- UPDATE: With kind permission from Ann Druyan, the narration by Carl Sagan is now back in the film. Also, the film is now available for DOWNLOAD for your private full quality viewing pleasure. (Log in/sign up as vimeo user, click download and select "original".) I hope you will enjoy! ----- Wanderers is a vision of humanity's expansion into the Solar System, based on scientific ideas and concepts of what our future in space might look like, if it ever happens. The locations depicted in the film are digital recreations of actual places in the Solar System, built from real photos and map data where available. Without any apparent story, other than what you may fill in by yourself, the idea of the film is primarily to show a glimpse of the fantastic and beautiful nature that surrounds us on our neighboring worlds - and above all, how it might appear to us if we were there. CREDITS: VISUALS BY - Erik Wernquist - erik@erikwernquist.com MUSIC BY - Cristian Sandquist - cristiansandquist@mac.com WRITTEN AND NARRATED BY - Carl Sagan - from his book 'Pale Blue Dot' http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/159735/pale-blue-dot-by-carl-sagan/, courtesy of Ann Druyan, copyright by Democritus Properties, LLC, with all rights reserved COLOR GRADE BY - Caj Müller/Beckholmen Film - caj@beckholmenfilm.se LIVE ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY BY - Mikael Hall/Vidiotism - mikael@vidiotism.com LIVE ACTION PERFORMANCE BY - Anna Nerman, Camilla Hammarström, Hanna Mellin VOCALIST - Nina Fylkegård - nina@ladystardust.se THANK YOU - Johan Persson, Calle Herdenberg, Micke Lindgren, Satrio J. Studt, Tomas Axelsson, Christian Lundqvist, Micke Lindell, Sigfrid Söderberg, Fredrik Strage, Johan Antoni, Henrik Johansson, Michael Uvnäs, Hanna Mellin THIS FILM WAS MADE WITH USE OF PHOTOS AND TEXTURES FROM: NASA/JPL, NASA/CICLOPS, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, ESA, John Van Vliet, Björn Jonsson (and many others, of which I unfortunately do not know the names)
It’s a CGI masterpiece. By Hollywood standards it’s not CGI that’s an overwhelming violent spectacle, but it’s spectacular for so many other reasons. His images, familiar narration (a famous scientist), and storytelling prowess, combine to create awe and inspiration. Images used to create his short were mostly from NASA. With a large dose of patience at the seat of his 3D software he’s created an extremely memorable film.
These are just two examples that I’ve been impressed with over the past few years, but many many more are out there.
When it comes to films wherein the motion picture camera is not the primary tool what are some of your favorites?
It's such an exciting era of film making!
And don't forget, the 2016 BSFF will offer new works of this motion picture art for your consideration. During the last festival our block of animation films was packed. This year will be no different. Make sure you’re here to see all the creativity (sans camera) on the big screen.
-Matt N.