Holiday Road: 13 directors, one camera

Panasonic's new AG AF100 was used. From the company's press release:

The ineffable spirit of the holidays is showcased in Holiday Road, written and directed by 13 of today's hottest, up-and-coming independent writer/directors.
     The project is the brainchild of producer/actor Kevin M. Brennan, writer/director/actor Todd Berger, writer/director/actor Michael Suter, writer/director/actor Doug Manley, producer/actor Will T.S. Coleman and producer Kelly Williams.
     Brennan and Manley had won an AF100 last year at Slamdance, where Panasonic’s new large imager camcorder was the official camera and the subject of an on-site filmmakers’ contest called “The Road to Park City.” Their goofy existential riff on moviemaking (The Road to Park City is Paved with Artists) took the grand prize and they headed home with the camcorder and an idea for a movie.

      “At Slamdance 2011 we began talking with colleagues about a collaborative project that would embody the spirit of Slamdance and its slogan, ‘For filmmakers by filmmakers,’” Brennan said. “That was the genesis of Holiday Road and its parameters, basically that the filmmakers were charged with delivering a comedic short, eight minutes or less, about an assigned holiday. No actors could recur, and each short (except the St. Patrick’s Day animation) was shot on our AF100.”

Photo: Helmet Kobler

      Helena Wei both directed the November, Thanksgiving-themed short and served as Director of Photography on two other segments, May (Mothers’/Fathers’ Day) and October (Halloween).

      “On Holiday Road, multiple filmmakers used the same camera and achieved many completely different looks: it was truly a communal experience,” said Wei. “We had the AF100 outfitted with standard Lumix 14-40 and wide angle Lumix 7-14mm lenses. Given the limitations of budget and time, I feel like we were able to pull it all off because we used the AF100.”

      “One crew would shoot, buy and hang onto their own SD cards, add 35mm lenses if they wanted, record sound into camera, experiment with visual settings within the camera and either go handheld, put it on a jib/dolly, or go static, then pass it on to the next person,” she continued. “Same thing over and over again. With all our powers combined we were able to complete a feature in under a year. We had polished stylized saturated segments with lots of play on depth, we had fast-paced handheld realistic comedic sketch, we had black and white static horror, we had moody overcast underwater drama... the possibilities became endless!”