The 1 Second Film is a non-profit collaborative animation project that brings together thousands of people around the world
as supporters in the hopes to raise money for the Global Fund for Women.
-Wikipedia
The World's Biggest, Shortest Film
http://www.the1secondfilm.com
The 1 Second Film is 12
frames, each shot twice, creating one second of
animation. The frames are 12 9-foot by 5-foot paintings that were done collaboratively at an all-night event, on March 8th, 2001. The film will be screened once - the 1 second of animation, followed by 90 minutes of credits, with a
documentary about the making of the film running with the credits. The film is directed by Nirvan Mullick, and anyone can become a producer with a donation of 1 dollar or more. 1
dollar up to $9.99 gets you listed as an Associate Producer, 10 dollars or more gets a Producer rating, and 100 bucks up Executive Producer. (n.b.,
wertperch, the
imp and
I are all Producers.)
I spoke with Nirvan Mullick, the director of The 1 Second Film, over a couple of days of Thanksgiving weekend. I'd seen his animation before, and am the proud owner of his other two animated films - The Box Man and The Three of Us. The 1 Second Film is actually the first of five films/projects/fundraisers that Nirvan plans to direct.
I wanted to know what the inspiration for this project was. It seems wonderfully creative, and I'm always curious how something goes from the initial idea to a real, tangible project. He tells me that while reading Sartre, he got to thinking about moments in our lives, and is there such thing as a perfect moment. And if there is, can that perfect moment be planned? The other films will be the 2nd Second Film (launched by two events, one in New York, and one in Afganistan, about the destruction of the World Trade Center); the 3-D Second Film, the 111 Second Film Festival, and finally the 11,111 Second Film. As with The 1 Second Film, all will be fundraisers for nonprofits, all will be launched with collaborative events.
Nirvan has pitched, and continues to pitch the project to any celebrities he comes across, and a number of celebrities have bought in. These include Kevin Bacon, George Clooney, Christina Ricci, Spike Jonze, Tom Arnold, Andy Dick, Tom Green, John Leguizamo, and many more. The web site and blog about the film, www.the1secondfilm.com, lists all of the producers, not only the famous ones.
The paintings are spectacular - and all quite different from each other. We watched several clips of Nirvan talking with the celebs, as well as random LA denizens who are now producers - a meter maid, tourists and shoppers in Beverly Hills, security guards. Reactions vary from the assumption that it's a scam, to George C. autographing a tin of Hint Mints. The Mint people contribute money to the project for each autographed tin, with a marvelously subjective "value" placed on each celebrity. Nirvan has filmed Tom Green and Andy Dick in a bidding war, each wanting their names higher up on the web site, in the brochure, and of course in the credits and on IMDb, than the other.
This project, most of all, raises wonderful questions about the nature of art and film. What is a film? Is it one second of animation, or 90 minutes of credits that are also a documentary? What is celebrity, and what is it worth? Why is it valuable, and how do we value it? What is art? Is it the paintings, the act of painting, the event where the paintings are done, the film of the paintings or the finished film about the paintings and the filming? What is film, what is marketing? Where does one end and the other begin?
If you were making a film of one second, what would it be?
-Nirvan Mullick
http://www.the1secondfilm.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_1_Second_Film
p.s. If you sign yourself up as a producer, tell 'em grundoon sent you - not only will I get the producer credit, but I'll get a free t-shirt out of the deal.
Update, August 28, 2006.
Roping in the other media, the YouTube blurb:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGuyZHsKfDk