Canon, Ron Howard and the public, have selected 91 winning photographs from the “Project Imaginat10n,” contest where five innovative celebrities – Eva Longoria (film and TV actress), Jamie Foxx (Academy Award winner), Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter), Georgina Chapman (designer and co-founder of Marchesa) and James Murphy (founder of LCD Soundsystem) – will direct short films based on ten of the photos.
A consumer vote helped narrow down the photographs, where one of the selected winners’ photos was chosen by Ron Howard in the “Discovery” category to be a thematic tie across the celebrities’ films. The directors will now each select one additional photograph from the other nine storytelling categories that personally inspire them, ultimately utilizing ten photos to represent their creativity and imagination. In addition to “Discovery,” the themes include Character, Mood, Goal, Backstory, Setting, Obstacle, Relationship, The Unknown and Time. The winning photographs determined by Ron Howard and the consumer vote can be seen at Imagination USA.
Ron Howard said, “In choosing ‘Unparalled’ for the Discovery category, it was important that I picked an image that was tremendously imaginative, visually fantastic and thematically pliable so that it could give the filmmakers a lot of possibilities to inspire an element of mystery and suspense. Moments of discovery are often what you remember most in a film.”
In 2011, Ron Howard and Canon U.S.A. partnered for a similar creative endeavor, “Project Imagin8ion.” Eight photos were selected and influenced an award-winning short film, “when you find me,” directed by Bryce Dallas Howard. For year two of Canon’s “Long Live Imagination” campaign and the next endeavor, “Project Imaginat10n,” Ron Howard will once again mentor the celebrity directors as they begin the filmmaking process to prove that “we’re all creative.”
“I am so passionate about the integrity and user-generated process of ‘Project Imaginat10n’ where our celebrity directors can be directly inspired by photographers from all across the country,” said Ron Howard. “As we selected the photographs, I was blown away by the beauty, perspective and intrigue that they conveyed, and was thrilled that so many people wanted to once again take part in this exciting artistic experiment.”
The celebrity directors are currently reviewing the winning photos to make their selections, craft their stories, develop their scripts and prepare to produce their own short films with Canon’s Cinema EOS System and DSLR cameras. The films will be produced by Freestyle Picture Company, which also produced “when you find me” in 2011. All five films go into production between Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 and will premiere at a special “Project Imaginat10n” Film Festival. The “10” in “Imaginat10n,” represents ten films that will ultimately be produced – five additional directors will be announced at a later date.
The 91 winners of the photo contest span in age from 16 to 67 years-old and are from across the USA.
Backstory:
Predator – Misty Fugate of Sale Creek, TN
Cleansing – David Pavlina of Lake Zurich, IL
Pause – Kayla Rice of Brattleboro, VT
Dry Dock – Danielle Austen of Hillsborough, NJ
Memories – J.W. Hendricks of Orlando, FL
Cornish Pigs – Beth Gardner of Peabody, MA
Tony the horse – Kamran Khan of New York, NY
Rest Easy – Grace Lankford of Hummelstown, PA
Wash Up – Susie Conley of San Francisco, CA
Fires be damned! – Melissa Wollenberg of Littleton, CO
Time:
Foggy Morning – Omalix Martinez of Orlando, FL
Nostalgic Light – Tim Braun of Heber, UT
Manhattan’s Many Moons – Damon Colquhoun of New York, NY
Too Many Shows to Show – Brent Williams of Delray Beach, FL
Patch Me Through – Walter Arnold of Hendersonville, NC
Time to go our separate ways – Daniel Bajusz of Oakland, CA
Anytime…Night or Day – Kim Fitzsimmons of Holt Summit, MO
Five More Minutes, Please – Mike Alcoran of Buena Park, CA
Morning – Sandra Rouse of Colorado Springs, CO
Well Worn – Gigi Embrechts of Littleton, CO
Character:
Torn – Danielle Torres of Brooklyn, NY
Her throne was magic – Brittany Johnson of Edmond, OK
Do you know me? – Sacha Sanborn of Columbus, OH
The Bride – Michael Harris of Miami, FL
Tyrant – Brad Wagner of Missoula, MT
Moving On – Dick Pitini of Powatan, VA
Everythings Magic – Nicole Matthews of Rocky River, OH
Plague Doctor Mask Portrait – Daivd Pritchard of Austin, TX
The Collector – Mary Beth Koeth of Miami Beach, FL
Archduchess Antoinette – Michael Rosner of Burbank, CA
Relationship:
Whale Kite – Vonelle Swanson of Lincoln City, OR
Gone fishin – Richard Waters of Broken Arrow, OK
Sharing a Smoke – Marcellus Nealy of Cleveland, OH
Self Portrait of Henry Jekyll – Michael Bilotta of Worcester, MA
Let My Machine Talk To Me – Heather Evans Smith of Winston-Salem, NC
Twins – Nicholas Scarpinato of Stafford, VA
Fly – Rachel Procell of Natchitoches, LA
My Mom – Patricia Whited of Norcross, GA
People Making Out in Bushwick – Laura Kirsch of Brooklyn, NY
A Boy and His Dog – Robin Fryday of Novato, CA
Mood:
Lost In Blue – Sammie Saxon of Columbus, GA
Come What May – Tanya Musgrave of Candler, NC
Star Lily – Susan Conner of Altaville, CA
The Treasure – MarySue Price of Buzzards Bay, MA
creep – Jennifer Wall of Chesapeake, VA
Alone – Brian Pflanz of Somersworth, NH
upon being rejected – Ruby Del Angel of Sanger, TX
Bright Eye – Ryan Waneka of Colorado Springs, CO
Angst – Emily Hunteman of Austin, TX
Little Girl and the Storm – Theresa McManus of Gilbert, AZ
Setting:
Blue Ridge Mountains – Rob Woodcox of Livonia, MI
The Way home – Rory Sagner of Yelm, WA
The Long Walk – Mike Marin of Brooklyn, NY
Spinning Fire – Andy Wheeler of Elmira, NY
From Above – Adam Johnson of Lombard, IL
Escapes – Zach Isaacson of Spokane, WA
Baptismal – Ryan Weiss of Wilkes-Barre, PA
Foggy Lake Take Off – Steven Hatch of Idaho Falls, ID
Umbrellas At Night – Steven Thompson of Mt Horeb, WI
Tourist View – Dave Ballis of Pinellas Park, FL
Goal:
Dedication – Ed Ziehm of Fort Myers, FL
Joy! – Michaela Calanchini of San Francisco, CA
Hallway of Haystacks – Renee Vaughter-Delaware of Cottonwood, AZ
Protect at all Cost – Amy Larson of Mendota VA
Ava Admiring Baby Chick – Tim VanBrackle of Daytona Beach, FL
Bound By the Shoe – Nicole Andrews of Springfield, MO
Determined – Sal Rodriguez of St Clair Shores, MI
Have I Missed Something? – Carl Williams of Chesapeake, VA
Don’t let go! – Vincent Lee of Ijamsville, MD
Alli’s Dreams – Debra Vickers of Charleston, WV
Obstacle:
A Cry for Help – Tavis Glover of Honolulu, HI
Forgotten Tale – Phil Koch of Milwaukee, WI
Hot Embers – Reid Collins of Eau Claire, WI
Quiet Before the Storm – Nicki Aguirre of Woodbridge, VA
Space is just a memory… – Chad Kiraly of Jacksonville, FL
The Giant Chandelier – Cahill Taft of Newport, RI
The Ice Man Cometh – Wesley Wong of San Francisco, CA
The Sharing Game – Brooke Shaden of Oak Park, CA
Vigor Divided – Jesse McClear of Midland Township, MI
Wide Open – Marshal Skinner of Herndon, VA
The Unknown:
Moon Reflecting in Puddle – Steve Bartlett of Kent, WA
Salt – Claire Oring of Redondo Beach, CA
Stairwell Entity – Tom Stirling of Salem, MA
Ewwww…. – Ron Vollentine of Erie, PA
Goats In A Tree – Don Brown of Fort Lauderdale, FL
Heart – Dylan Singleton of Columbia, MD
Peek-A-Boo – Tyler Bolen of Spokane, WA
the hallway – Dylan Strickland of Los Angeles, CA
Too High – Kevin Vandivier of Austin, TX
Trouble ahead – Mike Beiriger of Los Angeles, CA
Discovery:
Unparalled – Jennifer Harris of New Orleans, LA
For more details please go to Project Imaginat10n.