Two months ago, we interviewed Ron Howard about his latest film project, a collaboration with Canon Cameras entitled ‘Project Imagin8ion.’ From May 22nd until June 14th, amateur and professional photographers were given the chance to submit their most creative photos into eight separate movie theme categories — Setting, Character, Mood, Time, Goal, Relationship, Obstacle, and The Unknown — which would eventually inspire a short film to be produced by Mr. Howard himself and directed by his daughter, actress Bryce Dallas Howard.
“This project has opened my eyes to the infinite possibilities of tapping into a larger community for creative inspiration,” said Ron Howard. “As I selected the photographs, the story started to take shape using these building blocks to drive the tone and narrative possibilities. I was handed this challenge by Canon and I’m very interested to see how this exercise plays out with Bryce now taking charge to direct a film that is very much influenced by these eight photos.”
96,362 submissions were ultimately sent in, a number which “far surpassed [Canon’s] expectations” according to Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vp and general manager, Imagining Technologies & Communications Group, Canon USA. After studying and arguing over the tens of thousands of submissions, Mr Howard whittled them all down to these eight winners:
(SETTING — “The Final View” by Walter Arnold of Hendersonville, N.C.)
(CHARACTER — “Dreams” by Jen Berry of Los Angeles, CA)
(MOOD — “City Lights” by Mikey L’Heureux of Tarzana, CA)
(TIME — “Running From Wind” by Brooke Shaden of Canoga Park, CA)
(GOAL — “My Word” by Alan Michael Martelly of Peachtree City, GA)
(RELATIONSHIP — “Too Much” by Lexia Frank of Wesley Chapel, FL)
(OBSTACLE — “Yea, Though I Walk” by Chris Wehner of Broken Arrow, OK)
(THE UNKOWN — “Where One Day Ends, One Day Begins” by Kelly Shipp of Conway, AR)
Congratulations to all the winners! According to Canon, Ron Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Freestyle productions are currently working these eight photos to craft a script for the short film, which they will produce in New York City sometime in September using Canon dSLRs. Later in the year, Canon will host a premier for the film, where the eight winners will get a chance to walk the red carpet and meet the father-daughter filmmaking duo.
