Star Wars: Crowdsourced

This is awesome.

From the video description:

The Story:

In 2009, thousands of Internet users were asked to remake “Star Wars: A New Hope” into a fan film, 15 seconds at a time. Contributors were allowed to recreate scenes from Star Wars however they wanted. Within just a few months SWU grew into a wild success. The creativity that poured into the project was unimaginable.

SWU has been featured in documentaries, news features and conferences around the world for its unique appeal. In 2010 we won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media.

We can’t thank everyone enough for making this such a special project.

http://StarWarsUncut.com

Photo update

Developed a couple rolls from the Nikon F and the Lubitel (after the jump). I recommend hitting the fullscreen button on the slideshows to eliminate crunchy jpeg compression:

Jerk it

I’ve been enjoying this song from Thunderheist for a week now. I’ve been enjoying the winning video (done by That Go [warning: sound]) even more. I have been remiss in my duties as a blogger, and I apologize. Enjoy:

thunderheist – jerk it (contest cut) from thatgo on Vimeo.

It seems like the video is filmed with the Phantom, or some other sort of super-high-speed imaging device. Check out this other video that uses it. (Thanks, Allen!)
Edit: I guess it’s actually shot on a Red.

Film fan

OK, so as it was pointed out this weekend, I’m a total photo nerd. And even though my beloved old Nikon F chewed up and spat out a roll of exposed film Saturday night, I still firmly believe in the power of film over digital. Not that I’m anti-digital, but given the choice, I’d usually shoot with an old film camera. I’m tempted to turn this into a more general argument for analog over digital, but I’ll hold back. So speaking of old cameras and film, here’s a really awesome page that  lists cameras by type and shows example images from each.

(Taken with my Lubitel lomo.)

Arrested Development movie?

Bateman: “It’s in the works; the grownups are trying to work out the numbers. David’s very expensive now, but we’re trying to work some sort of a back-end position that he’s comfortable with.” It’s mostly Hancock talk until about halfway, and then David Cross shows up.

Black Cab Sessions

I feel like I may have posted this before, but it’s worth the possible repost. Check out the Black Cab Sessions, a series of indy performances all done inside old London cabs. For an English outfit, Texan musicians seem to be represented fairly well: Daniel Johnston, Spoon, St. Vincent, Okkervil River, and I guess we can count Bill Callahan too, since he recently moved to Austin.

Holga+Polaroid

It’s pricey, but it’s cool:

 Simply a perfect couple: The breathtaking charm of the legendary Holga, encouraging you to dive into experimental photographic effects and the amazing advantages and features of the Polaroid instant Photography including the Image Transfer Technique when using the 88 or 669 Film. With this set you have all the options, deciding whether you take medium format pictures, 35mm Shots or simply load your Holga with overwhelming Polaroid material.

They also have just the back, if you have your own Holga 120.

The Greatest Silence

I missed this last night, both because I don’t have HBO, and because I was playing my last soccer game. If you have HBO, record and torrent it, because I can’t find it anywhere yet. This year’s Special Jury Prize at Sundance went to The Greatest Silence:

Since 1998 a brutal war has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 4 million people have died. And there are the uncountable casualties: the many tens of thousands of women and girls who have been systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army.

The world knows nothing of these women. Their stories have never been told. They suffer and die in silence. In The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo these brave women finally speak.

The HBO page for the film is here, if you want to find the schedule. If any of my friends with cable and a DVR want to record it for me, I’d be grateful. There’s an interview with the director here. The HBO trailer:

My Lubitel

First of all, I want to send out a HUGE thank you to the friend who gave me this wonderful little twin-lens-reflex lomography camera (though I’m sure she doesn’t read this blog). Here’s a few shots from my very first roll (still learning how to use this camera):

Matchbox Pinhole Camera

I love this, and I have to make one!

Here’s my latest contraption which uses 35mm film to provide square images of 24 x 24mm. Using this size means that you can get up to 50 exposures on a standard roll of 36 exposure film. Now that’s what I call economy!The image edges suffer from distortion that gives a “Diana” quality to the pictures. In fact, the images look very “toy camera” like indeed, except that the pinhole allows some really good close ups due to the DOF of the pinhole.

It’s also costs pretty much nothing to build – certainly a lot cheaper than a $100 Diana off ebay!

The results look pretty great:

And there’s plenty more pinhole eye-candy at his Flickr pool.