140: Possibly the first film inspired by Twitter
TORONTO (CUP) — What happens when a large number of people from around the world participate in a social experiment? How does knowing that we share similar experiences of using online technology shape our identities?
In making the new film 140, 140 independent amateur and professional filmmakers from around the world synchronized their actions around the social networking website twitter.com in order to explore themes of home and questions about how people are connected.
Directed by Frank Kelly in London, UK, the yet-to-be created film promises to examine how Twitter can be used as a positive tool rather than as a distraction.
Twitter is a micro-blogging website that asks its members one simple question when they log on -“What are you doing?” - in 140 characters or less. Users can follow other users' responses (dubbed ‘tweets') to that question in a chronological feed.
When completed by 2010, 140 will likely be the first film inspired by twitter to surface.
Kelly said that with his film, he plans to reveal from a distance, with a birds' eye view, how we can look at social patterns — and specifically how humans construct their connections to home.
Kelly explained that he got the idea for his film through using twitter itself. He said he first signed up in January 2009 after hearing of it through actor Stephen Frye, whom he wanted to follow. He said he first thought twitter would be yet another distraction, but soon he found himself wanting to follow more people.
“I wanted to know if it can help me and if I can use it as a tool,” said Kelly. What still strikes him most is that “it's all about instant connection and immediacy with other people. It's fast, too. People all around the world can see what everyone else is doing, at once.”
He thought it would be interesting to use the social networking website to synchronize 140 filmmakers to film at the same time.
“All 140 filmmakers will shoot on the same day and time for approximately a hundred and forty seconds.”
In May, Kelly said his plan was to “send a message out for free on twitter and everyone will see it at the same time on their phones or the net. That will be the ‘Go' signal to start shooting simultaneously around the world.”
That's just what Kelly orchestrated. On June 21, via twitter, Kelly sent the ‘Action' message to the recruited volunteering filmmakers and they all shot for approximately 140 seconds.
Now the filmmakers are finished shooting, and they're sending their footage to Kelly from countries all around the world, including Brazil, Costa Rica, China, Mexico, Germany, London, Scotland, New Zealand, Portugal and Australia.
As for 140, Kelly thinks the film will encompass a very broad range of footage from the filmmakers.
“I might cut it chronologically, from time zones,” he said, “starting in China, around the world, and back. Or I might splice into continents or around the themes that come out. I think I'm going to see a lot of landscapes and cityscapes.”
To follow the filmmaking process and learn more about Frank Kelly's 140, check out: http://www.frankkelly.blogspot.com or follow him on twitter @frankwkelly.
In making the new film 140, 140 independent amateur and professional filmmakers from around the world synchronized their actions around the social networking website twitter.com in order to explore themes of home and questions about how people are connected.
Directed by Frank Kelly in London, UK, the yet-to-be created film promises to examine how Twitter can be used as a positive tool rather than as a distraction.
Twitter is a micro-blogging website that asks its members one simple question when they log on -“What are you doing?” - in 140 characters or less. Users can follow other users' responses (dubbed ‘tweets') to that question in a chronological feed.
When completed by 2010, 140 will likely be the first film inspired by twitter to surface.
Kelly said that with his film, he plans to reveal from a distance, with a birds' eye view, how we can look at social patterns — and specifically how humans construct their connections to home.
Kelly explained that he got the idea for his film through using twitter itself. He said he first signed up in January 2009 after hearing of it through actor Stephen Frye, whom he wanted to follow. He said he first thought twitter would be yet another distraction, but soon he found himself wanting to follow more people.
“I wanted to know if it can help me and if I can use it as a tool,” said Kelly. What still strikes him most is that “it's all about instant connection and immediacy with other people. It's fast, too. People all around the world can see what everyone else is doing, at once.”
He thought it would be interesting to use the social networking website to synchronize 140 filmmakers to film at the same time.
“All 140 filmmakers will shoot on the same day and time for approximately a hundred and forty seconds.”
In May, Kelly said his plan was to “send a message out for free on twitter and everyone will see it at the same time on their phones or the net. That will be the ‘Go' signal to start shooting simultaneously around the world.”
That's just what Kelly orchestrated. On June 21, via twitter, Kelly sent the ‘Action' message to the recruited volunteering filmmakers and they all shot for approximately 140 seconds.
Now the filmmakers are finished shooting, and they're sending their footage to Kelly from countries all around the world, including Brazil, Costa Rica, China, Mexico, Germany, London, Scotland, New Zealand, Portugal and Australia.
As for 140, Kelly thinks the film will encompass a very broad range of footage from the filmmakers.
“I might cut it chronologically, from time zones,” he said, “starting in China, around the world, and back. Or I might splice into continents or around the themes that come out. I think I'm going to see a lot of landscapes and cityscapes.”
To follow the filmmaking process and learn more about Frank Kelly's 140, check out: http://www.frankkelly.blogspot.com or follow him on twitter @frankwkelly.
