When filming a subject you are not only capturing it, but also depending the moment it is viewed can give also create a specific feeling. If you now watch something like Taxi Driver you are not only watching the story about Travis Bickle, but you also get an idea what New York in the seventies was like. If you travel even further back in time, to the first filmmakers, the brothers Lumière, than their first films also create a specific feeling. After they bought the patents to the “Cinématographe” from inventor Léon Bouly, as he didn’t have the financial means to realise his invention, the made the first movie camera. On the 19th of march 1895 they made their first film, in which they simply documented factory workers leaving their work. A lot of those first movies only show daily life. The arrival of a train at the station probably is their most famous one. The images you see are rough and jerky, but it was a very important first step to get to the moment we are now when it comes to film.

But what would happen if you took that very first movie camera and would allow directors from now to make something with it? What would they do? And what kind of feeling would the viewer have? That’s the idea behind this documentary. The rules these directors have are simple: Their movie can’t be longer than 52 seconds, no synchronised sound is to be used and they can have no more than three takes. Continue reading →