The Pixelshot filmmaking process was developed (or rather utilized) by Albert Ochosa and Scott Lunt, partners in the creative agency, Rising Sun Media, in 2003. The philosophy behind Pixelshot is to break all conventions in traditional digital filmmaking. We believe that great storytelling is available to the common user regardless of technological limitations. Given a fairly low barrier to entry (a digital camera, a computer, and some free time), anyone with an interest and a little determination can tell a story with no more than pixels on a screen. Of course, many filmmakers put in much more than the minimum, but our point is that the minimums can make a great story.
We’ve seen great films that are less than three minutes long and were made with a tiny webcam. One film, made on the streets of Madrid with no more than a pocket-sized digital camera and iMovie on the mac, was an official selection of the BYU iOscars and premiered in front of several hundred on a big screen. It looked great! Pixelshot is all about freeing up those stories that are inside us all. Everyone has a story to tell, and every story can be interesting… or not so interesting… but who cares! It’s cheap!
Background:
Albert Ochosa
(bio coming soon)
Scott Lunt
I’ve always been a gadget freak. I was that 12 year old kid that the parents called when the VCR was broken. I’d pull it apart, see how it worked, then put it back together, with a few screws left over. Now, I’m that (a little older) kid that my mom calls when her computer stops working or when the wireless is down. Same style, different toys. So, thanks to the look-inside-and-see-how-it-works gene, I’m still digging. Now I try to look inside the people that I meet. What amazes me is that everyone has a story. A great story. Some people think that their story is boring, but really any story can be interesting. Especially if you look at it from a new and unique angle. I once read a book called the Mezzanine (Nicholson Baker) that told of a guy riding up an escalator. Yes. That was it. That’s the whole plot (sorry if I ruined the end for anyone!). But, guess what, it was a great book. Why? Because the writer showed me some things I’d never seen before, like the peculiar way a straw sticks out of a milk carton, or the essential nature of a shoelace.
Let’s face it, we all want to know more about life. Why we’re here. What we’re doing here. And, there’s a lot more to learn for all of us. I think that telling those stories, and looking for the poetic in the mundane (as put by Ira Glass of This American Life), can teach us all.
But here’s the other thing. I’m broke as a joke. Living as a grad student on borrowed money puts the crimps on my filmmaking aspirations. So, I do what I can. And, I hope that everyone else who wants to tell their story can tell it too. So, with only a few bucks in my pocket, I’m still trying to make some interesting films using what I have: a small digital camera, and a (borrowed) Mac. As long as they keep working, I’ll keep making movies.