Tiny Films from Tiny Stories
A while back I joined the open-collaborative production site, hitRECord. On there I found this phenomenon called "Tiny Stories". These are very very short stories that are made up of one or sometimes two sentences. I was instantly captivated by the idea of this. The tagline "the universe is not made up of atoms, it's made of tiny stories" resonates with me and inspired my twitter handle @TheTinyExplorer. We are all explorers on this planet and everyday, no matter how small, we explore more and more thereof.
As an extension of these Tiny Stories, the hitRECord community creates Tiny Illustrations, Tiny Songs and Tiny Films. I made my first Tiny Film in September 2012 by remixing a VO of a Tiny Story, A Commercial Edge. My brother helped me and we went to the edge of Worcester to shoot this tiny scene.
The next time I tried my hand at a tiny film was during the filming of my third year film seminar documentary. We were on the road to Suurbraak, a small town in the Western Cape. I filmed the road for hours and when getting back to my PC, I found the perfect Tiny Story to accompany the footage.
The next Tiny Film I made involved a lot more work. I remember reading the Tiny Story and instantly being transported to a world where I'm stuck in some kind of facility with no means of escape. This had to become the premise of my Tiny Film, And Then We Realized. With the help of my friend, Lwando Nteya, we made an extended version of the Tiny Film as well.
Finally, a very chilling Tiny Film that I've made rings true to the essence of Tiny Stories. It was simply a small insignificant event that could be expressed as a Tiny Story. I was at the right place, at the right time, to record this footage. Suicide is a Tiny Film that observes the movements of a black plastic bag in the road on a windy day.
Wow, that was quite a few videos to watch.
The idea of Tiny Films inspires me to explore the smaller things in everyday life that people tend to miss out on. In future, I will keep on making these Tiny Films. I wish that more people stop and just observe the small seemingly insignificant things. Especially in today's fast paced world.
Peace, Love and WearAwesomeSocks
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