Participating in Canon & Ron Howard’s Project Imaginat10n Competition was hands-down one of the most fun things I have ever done in my life. Even though I studied film at UCSB, I haven’t had the opportunity to direct many movies, so when I discovered this contest, I jumped at the chance to enter. I am SO glad I did! I could not have asked for anything more fulfilling or collaborative than this.
I could seriously go on and on for days telling you about how amazing the crew, cast and locations were. I have great appreciation for my good friend, William Keightley, who wrote the script for me, and for my awesome brother, Jeff Holmes, who immediately started organizing a stellar crew the hour I emailed him to ask if he would produce my movie. In fact, my entire family stepped up and were 100% supportive and did everything and anything they could to help get this movie made.
Just to quickly explain the parameters of the contest, directors were required to choose one photograph from 10 different categories with the exception of one – the “discovery” category. This category had only one image in it (a snail on a leaf) and all directors were required to use it. There were 10 photographs in each of the other nine categories for us to choose from. We were given seven weeks to write, direct and edit a movie using those photographs as inspiration.
Here are the 10 photographs I chose. You can see the category listed below each one. (I go into deeper explanation about each one here)
There were over 300 submissions! Project Imaginati10n will be announcing 20 finalists on August 19, so be sure to “like” our Facebook page to find out if we made the cut!! EDITED TO ADD: We were one of the top 20, but did not make the top 5. I was, however, able to attend the big premiere in New York and meet Ron and Bryce Dallas Howard!
The entire movie was shot on the Canon 5D Mark III and a few B-roll shots on the Canon 5D Mark II. What a difference from my college Bolex days!!! As many of you know, I’m a bit of a lens junkie, and we really made good use of my collection on this project. After shooting stills as a solo photographer for so many years, it was a joyful experience shooting a movie with such a capable, talented team of people. I hope I get to do it again soon! (And of course, I hope we win.)
Since I was directing, I didn’t actually take a single production still during the filming of our movie. However, I have compiled a bunch of fun shots for you taken by various crew members.
(THANK YOU so much to those of you who already have and helped us become the #1 most commented film on Project Imaginat10n!)
I am so excited that the film is done and submitted. Can’t wait to hear about the results.