Who says it has to be MOTION picture?

I've read a lot of talk about how film is too costly for youtube videos. On one level, I agree, but as a purist, I won't use anything else. I have no money, and not even a working super 8 camera at the moment, let alone the budget to allow for processing/scanning of motion picture film; what I do have is 35mm still cameras (a lot of them). So, I let the format set the tone and workflow for how to make the video. It's been done before - two examples I can think of are Chris Marker's La Jetee, and the music video for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (well, that one is actually stop-motion I guess).

Now, being a composer and not a director or cinematographer, it's not anything brilliant at all, I'm sure you people could make something infinitely better - my actors were just co-workers whom I cajoled into dressing up and posing for me, and time got the better of me in the editing and scoring; I planned from the beginning to play it up for laughs, so I hope I succeeded in my goals. My point though, is that I think for the online video short, I think the 35mm still format works very well...I'm even thinking about making a webseries this way.

Anyway, here it is, if you guys are interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WshGt0wfkOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WshGt0wfkOY

I used 3 rolls of film: 1 Kodak Gold 200, 1 Kodak Max 400, and 1 Kodak Portra 800. I used two cameras: a Minolta X-700 and a Pentax A-3000. The entire cost of the project was $25.00, for processing/scanning of 3 rolls of film (and I suppose the cameras...one was given to me and one I bought at Goodwill 3 years ago for $15.00). Actually, I'm not quite happy with the quality of the scans but that place offered the highest-resolution scans and it's all I have until I get my own film scanner up and running. I edited the thing in a 2007 version of iMovie on my church's computer (damn thing wouldn't output in HD, and I couldn't import into iDVD either for some reason...blah). *edit* OK I guess I should add the cost of the film...one roll was expired and was given to me, one I bought at the store in a 3-pack for $9.00, and one at a camera store for $15.00 last year that I just wanted to use up. I could have easily just bought a 4-pack of Fuji at Wal-Mart for $7.00 if I had wanted to use new film and keep my costs low.

Now, if I had known exactly what I was going to shoot, I probably could have shot this thing on only 1 roll...there are I think 35 different images in the entire video. It would be an interesting challenge, having to make a 2min Youtube short with a single roll of 35mm film...might make a cool idea for a festival too, though I'm not sure I could sit through a lot of that... So anyone else ever do this? Or is anyone else interested in trying this? I'd be interested to see what real filmmakers can come up with!

PS: I record on tape.
 
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Hey, so I'm just wondering -- if you're a purist, why are you doing something in such a non-purist way? Can't have your cake and eat it, too.

Sure, I suppose you could build an audience with nothing but narrated montages of still photos. But they better be the damned best narrated montages of still photos, EVER. I'm sorry, but I think for almost all purposes, an actual moving image is going to grab WAY more people's attention and keep it (and that's no easy feat, either).
 
I think your on to something..

Have you seen this..
http://shop.lomography.com/us/lomokino

Holy moly, that's awesome! That's like Vine, but for
smiley_grandpa.gif


Back to OP... sure, you can make compelling, visually interesting films using stills, sure. Gorman Bechard (used to post here, years back) used that technique a lot, creating both short films and interactive story-telling websites. His narration (and prose-writing skills) provided plenty of depth for the stories, with a well-paced selection of stills animating the action. There are thousands of other filmmakers who've done this; he just happened to pop into my head while writing this.

Your test example would need a lot of work before being watchable. The title-cards are clumsy & not terribly informational; the majority of the stills don't really propel anything; it's not til that action-y bit at the end starts, that it really sems to go anywhere... and then, just for a few seconds. It was effective there, at least.

So yeah, there's no reason why you can't make a great film like that. Remember, it's not so much the format you shoot on, as the story to start with.

Good luck :)

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The Ken Burns documentaries come to mind when thinking of video produced of mostly still photos. Also the videos people are making with vine.

Hammerstone's video reminds me of a cross between a powerpoint presentation and the musical slide shows they have at funerals. Not saying that is bad, just what it reminded me of.
 
Interesting films guys, thanks for sharing them!

I've been kind of indifferent to Lomography and their cameras, but some are kind of cool, and the Lomokino is definitely one of those. I don't know how I'd feel about using one, being a cheap piece of plastic with a pretty awful-looking lens...but then I'm not a lomographer. It would be interesting for a short effect...you get about 9 seconds at 4fps. I could wish for one with a metal body and a real lens (possibly interchangeable), but for the money it would cost I could probably pick up an 814 or a Beaulieu 4008.

The Ken Burns documentaries come to mind when thinking of video produced of mostly still photos. Also the videos people are making with vine.

Hammerstone's video reminds me of a cross between a powerpoint presentation and the musical slide shows they have at funerals. Not saying that is bad, just what it reminded me of.

:D That made me laugh.

There's actually an effect in iMovie called "Ken Burns." I tried not to overdo it, but my natural instinct is to frame tall skinny subjects vertically so I knew going into it that I was going to do it somewhat...

Never heard of Vine before...hmmmm...
 
Check out Stan Brakhage to see how still images can be used to compose visual music.
Experimental films that seek the boundaries of the medium.

(I'm in a rush, so you'll get an example and feedback later :) )
 
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