The imagi8tion project taps Ron Howard and his daughter for creative experiment
Imagine taking eight very different photographs and turning them into a scripted film. That's the idea behind Canon's imagi8tion project produced by Ron Howard and directed by his daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard. Their 23-minute movie, "When You Find Me," screened during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to a select audience. The plot line revolves around two sisters who grow apart over the years after the death of their mother, but reunite as adults. One of the winning photos that made it into the movie was of a cemetery entrance. It was based on the eight cinematic themes of project imagin8ion, setting, time, character, mood, relationship, goal, obstacle and the unknown.
The elder Howard, who has won two Oscars, says he signed on to the project after being assured by Canon it was an honest creative undertaking. "I just thought it was kind of a creative hotwire act and a really interesting experiment. It reminded me of that game I would always play with my kids where you start with a couple of lines on a piece of paper. Then hand it around at the dinner table and people keep adding to the lines and you end with some kind of a picture. I wondered what this experiment would lead to."
For Canon, it was a branding opportunity like no other, says marketing manager Rob Altman. "The idea that the public would be inspiring an iconic filmmaker to make a film" that was also shot with a professional Canon camera. For the project, Canon invited photographers to submit their "most imaginative" pictures based on the eight movie themes. In the end, more than 9,600 submissions went up on the Long Live Imagination website. The public got a chance to vote on their favorites, which had been whittled down by Canon.
Altman says, "We really didn't know what to expect, but we definitely were overwhelmed and pleased with the numbers that came in, it surpassed any kind of contest we've ever done before." While the project was up on the website people swapped photo tips and commented on the various aspects of the work. Altman says that was part of the plan, to get the conversation flowing.
In the end, 80 photos were left, ten from each theme and Ron Howard had to pick eight. "They were all great and I wasn't going to approach it from the point of view of selecting the best photo it would be impossible." Instead, he looked for photos that were "visually stimulating and might begin to suggest a set of possibilities for the director and writer to work with." In the end, the photos that won came from amateurs and professionals alike, something Altman is very proud of. "If we want to make cameras relevant for people, we need to show how they enhance your creativity."
As part of the branding campaign for the project, Canon gave out photo frames to Sundance attendees who visited their booth at the festival co-op on Main Street. Swag and Sundance seem to be synonymous and any company that wants to generate buzz at the festival figures out a way to give something out. Altman says part of the reason they gave out frames was to inspire people to use their cameras to take memorable photos.
For Ron Howard, the project is part of the future of filmmaking. He says Canon's cameras, as well as other new technology on the market are breaking down the barriers for those who want to tell stories so the "price of entry is not remotely what it was and you can make films that are tremendously presentable."
But he adds, "I still think that people who dedicate their lives to telling stories are probably going to have a higher ration of films that endure and are memorable so I still believe in professional filmmaking."
---Julie Walker
