David Lynch's Lumiere Film

"This is David Lynch's 55 second short filmed with an original Lumiere camera. 40 international directors were asked to make a short film  ... all » using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière Brothers, working under conditions similar to those of 1895. There were three rules: (1) The film could be no longer than 52 seconds, (2) no synchronized sound was permitted, and (3) no more than three takes. Having seen all of the results (including Spike Lee's pithy effort) Lynch's film is unquestionably the most interesting. It makes me wish he would shoot an entire film with this stock. Remember while watching that all the effects are in-camera and there is no cutting for scenes." via News Of The Dead

Comments

[John]

That was completely awesome.

[DanielK]

What do you mean by no cutting between takes? Because that last wipe, with the firey border, seems impossible otherwise.

[Mark Williamson]

John, that's easy. The pan right is onto a cloth backdrop, behind which is the living room set. The backdrop is actually burned, revealing the living room set behind it, and the camera shoots through the burning cloth.

[ethan]

I've seen all the short films. David Lynch was the only who bothered to tell a story. Everyone else just shot random stuff. It didn't feel like they even planned the shot ahead of time, they just started shooting. DL's was clearly the best of the bunch.

[dobbs]

I saw these films in the early 90s when the feature-length collection was originally released. Lynch's film is neither the best of the bunch (though I'd agree it was the most interesting) nor the only one to tell a story (and note that "telling a story" was not one of the parameters of the project so that hardly matters). You can see all the films on the DVD Lumiere & Co. I got mine on eBay for a buck. Also, not that it matters, but pithy is the last word I'd use to describe Lee's effort.