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Just a Thought: iMovie Film Wows The Crowd At Sundance Film Festival

by - May 21st, 2004

Once we relied solely on words to tell our tales; we chronicled our lives in journals for review and reflection. Sometimes, when we feel a story must be told, we again use words to tell it, forming a book that represents an aspect of our lives. These stories can be horrific, funny, sad, but usually compelling.

The computer has introduced our generation to a new media; digital movies. Just as with words, we can assemble the pieces of our lives into a coherent story, and just as with words to books, the movies made from such digitized glimpses can be just as compelling.

iMovie is great for telling the digital equivalent of a short story, but what if your story needed more than a few minutes of camera action and some nice background music? What if your story was fundamentally important to you, would you trust it to iMovie?

Not only did Jonathan Caouette trust iMovie to tell the story of his life, but the resulting movie is a hit at the 2004 Sundance film festival, according to Wired News. The movie, Tarnation, was completed on a budget of US$218.32. From the article:

When Caouette turned 11, he borrowed his first camera and tripod, intending to translate his strange, painful life into movies. His first short film featured Caouette, in makeup and a dress, playing a battered woman.

Now 31, Caouette continues to depend on the most basic filmmaking tools available. Using his boyfriend's iMac and the editing program iMovie, Caouette distilled his VHS home movies, his Super-8 experimental films, and a suitcase full of photos and audio tapes into Tarnation, a hybrid documentary that premieres this week at the Sundance Film Festival.

Tarnation may be the first feature-length film edited entirely on iMovie, and it cost $218.32 in videotape and materials. Despite its low budget, the film has already earned a high profile. Both John Cameron Mitchell, the actor and director of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and independent film maverick Gus Van Sant have signed on as executive producers.

Check out the full story at Wired News.

This just goes to show you what you can do given the right tools. In this case, the right tools happen to be a Mac and iMovie.

What's really interesting here is that the movie, Tarnation, proves just how powerful the technology is that we have at our fingertips. While becoming famous as an independent film director is certainly a dream come true for budding Tarantinos, just being able to put together a short movie that features something important to you, your family, or your friends in a meaningful way is a dream come true for many more people. Fame is where you find it, and it seems that a Mac and iMovie can help you seek it.

is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He's been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.

You can send your comments directly to me, or you can also post your comments below.

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Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Follower Posts: 6 Joined: 15 Oct 2001
Subject: Follower

I await the trolls' take on this story:

"iMovie is old news. Most award-winning films at Sundance are made on Microsoft MovieMaker. Independent filmmakers are switching over in droves. Give it up, Apple."

Close Name:Follower Posts: 6 Joined: 15 Oct 2001
Subject: Still getting used to the new forum layout...

...with stuff like supplying a subject line.

View Name:Guest
Subject: You at the wrong website or something?
View Name:Guest
Subject: Talk about trolls..??
Close Name:Bryan -   TMO Staff Posts: 7332 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Subject:

Thanks to the power of our new comments engine, I was able to split the political rant off to its own thread in the Politics forum.

If any of the posts left seem to not make sense, that's why.

In the meanwhile, if you like a good political rant, make sure you stop by the politics and philosophy forum.



Last edited by Bryan on Mon May 24, 2004 3:37 am; edited 1 time in total
Reply | Quote
Close Name:macjim Posts: 35 Joined: 23 May 2004
Subject: cannes as well as sundance...

Guardian and macworld uk reports..
A film edited in iMovie has been a surprise hit at the Cannes Film Festival, earning a standing ovation when it was screened.


Tarnation is an autobiographical home movie, directed and written by Jonathan Caouette. It consists of a mixture of photos, film footage and answer-phone messages, and cost only Ј124 to make.


Caouette told The Guardian: "Making a movie is not as difficult as it's made out to be. Hopefully this will be a catalyst for people who didn't have a voice before to go out and make a movie

View Name:Guest
Subject: Johnnie Poster - Bigot Par Excellance
Close Name:Dirt Road Posts: 1237 Joined: 24 Oct 2002
Subject: A somewhat lesser hit, but...

My daughter snatched my digital camera (with much gritting of teeth and admonishments to Keep An Eye On It! from me) & took it to school to snag pictures of her classmates -- including some silly stuff -- during the last two weeks of school. She then dumped 'em into her iBook, fired up iMovie, and started Ken Burns-ing.

With a little advice on adding titles in iMovie from me, and a few technique pointers from her mom the video editor, she made a little slideshow that the school showed at the awards/closing ceremony on the last day of school Friday. Everyone loved it.

iMovie is like a cardboard box; imaginative kids will make it into anything they want.

Close Name:Bryan -   TMO Staff Posts: 7332 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Subject:

That's totally cool, Dirt Road! That's what the iApps are all about, IMNHO.

Close Name:Johnny Poster Posts: 22 Joined: 24 May 2004
Subject: It wasn't made for $218.32!

This video wasn't made for $218.32. Quit being lazy with the facts! The costs of all the original equipment used in acquiring the video should be inluded in the total (VHS home movies, Super-8 experimental films, a suitcase full of photos and audio tapes), as well as Sir Prance-Alot's iMac.

Johnny Poster

Close Name:Bryan -   TMO Staff Posts: 7332 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Subject:

Shall we count their clothes, too, Johnny? Heck, they probably used cars they already had, too. We should count the cost of that, too. Plus, they were living somewhere, right? Better chalk up their rent..

When an amateur is making something using tools they already have, the cost of those original tools is simply not counted. This is particularly true in the film business.

For instance, El Mariachi and Blair Witch are two famous low-budget flicks. I do not believe that anything the directors already owned was included in their prices.

Close Name:Johnny Poster Posts: 22 Joined: 24 May 2004
Subject: Bryan, you're wrong. And here's why...

Quote
Bryan wrote:
Shall we count their clothes, too, Johnny? Heck, they probably used cars they already had, too. We should count the cost of that, too. Plus, they were living somewhere, right? Better chalk up their rent.


So then you'd rather be deliberately fallacious than admit error? Do you not think it absurd to compare their clothing, their car, and their home, to the specific video equipment that was needed to acquire the video they used for their masterpiece? In fact, the video footage IS the major part of what they did. Everything else is just editing. Without the video, there is no editing - much less a "film".

Quote
Bryan wrote:
When an amateur is making something using tools they already have, the cost of those original tools is simply not counted. This is particularly true in the film business.


Oh really? According to what? According to whom? I'm IN the film business, so you probably shouldn't lecture about how things work there.

Quote
Bryan wrote:
For instance, El Mariachi and Blair Witch are two famous low-budget flicks. I do not believe that anything the directors already owned was included in their prices.


Well, you just mentioned two more overrated films. And whatever accounting methods they used to determine their so-called budget probably had more to do with marketing than anything else.

It's dishonest, and it betrays every notion of reasonable accounting. Believe it or not!

Sincerely,

Johnny Poster

Close Name:Bryan -   TMO Staff Posts: 7332 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Subject:

Johnny,

You've done nothing to negate any of my points other than to suggest that the over/under on a film's rating has some sort of relevance to the points I was making, and to claim sovereignty over the truth merely because you are in the film industry.

Do feel free to bring in some facts to back up your opinion. I am interested in your opinion, though I am less than impressed with the delivery of that opinion.

As I understand it, you are suggesting that the purchase price of equipment already owned when making an amateur film should be counted towards the cost of that film.

That's just silly.

Even if it were the case, however, and anyone cared at all about the cost of the iMac and the camera that someone brought into a project, you're talking about a film that cost a few grand.

That's pretty cool.

In the meanwhile, I stand behind my post, and the points I made in it.

Also, you have a private message from me. You can access it in the forums. Your comment account is also your forum account.

Bryan
Editor
TMO

Close Name:Johnny Poster Posts: 22 Joined: 24 May 2004
Subject:

Quote
Bryan wrote:
Johnny,

You've done nothing to negate any of my points other than to suggest that the over/under on a film's rating has some sort of relevance to the points I was making, and to claim sovereignty over the truth merely because you are in the film industry.

Do feel free to bring in some facts to back up your opinion. I am interested in your opinion, though I am less than impressed with the delivery of that opinion.

As I understand it, you are suggesting that the purchase price of equipment already owned when making an amateur film should be counted towards the cost of that film.

That's just silly.

Even if it were the case, however, and anyone cared at all about the cost of the iMac and the camera that someone brought into a project, you're talking about a film that cost a few grand.

That's pretty cool.

In the meanwhile, I stand behind my post, and the points I made in it.

Also, you have a private message from me. You can access it in the forums. Your comment account is also your forum account.

Bryan
Editor
TMO


Yes, Bryan, I never said that it wasn't cool what people are doing with Macs that you really wouldn't want to try on a Windows box-o-crapola. I know that. I agree. You'll not find anyone that advocates the Mac experience more than myself nor will you find anyone that detests Bill Gates and those freakin' rotoscope commercials where they tell us how they're all so very inspired to create software that helps us reach our goals. That's some of the most sickening s**t I think I've ever seen.

And since you're a Mac guy, I'm not gonna argue about your "creative" accounting procedures anymore. Not a big deal. Just thought I'd point it out before I knew it was a matter of some religiosity around here.

Also, I read the private message you sent me, and for the last time, No, I will not send you naked pictures of myself. I'm going to Massachusetts this weekend so I can marry my goat.

Sincerely,

Johnny Poster

Close Name:Dirt Road Posts: 1237 Joined: 24 Oct 2002
Subject:

Thanks, Bryan. That's the point that all this whole political sideshow is missing completely... if you have a story to tell, iLife helps you get it down.

Have you ever seen the site http://theoneminutes.org/ ? There's a neat concept, to tell a story in 1 minute of video. If you know where you're going, you can get away without scripting it -- just shoot, capture, edit.

Close Name:algr Posts: 287 Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Subject: Film accounting

"Do you not think it absurd to compare their clothing, their car, and their home, to the specific video equipment that was needed to acquire the video they used for their masterpiece?"

Okay, Johnny Poster, lets try it your way, and see what happens. First you count the cost of pre-owned gear into the film. Thus you calculate a budget of several thousand dollars.

What happens when the same director goes on to produce other films with the same gear? Do you count the whole purchase cost of the gear towards every film the director makes? Do you retroactively cut the first film's budget each time another film is made that shares the gear's cost?

The reason that you don't count the cost of your car in the budget of the film is that you would have paid that same cost even if you had never tried to make the film. The same applies to borrowed gear, and items that you already owned. Only if they had blown up the mac, or somehow rendered it unsellable would the full cost of it count towards the films budget.

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