Sundance Film Festival 1999 Identity Trailer Series
Excerpt from Come to Life
I led a team of aspiring filmmakers from the Sundance Film Festival’s Technical Department in creating three promotional identity trailers for the 1999 festival event. This rare and prestigious commission, green-lighted by Robert Redford and shot on 35mm film, was the culmination of a decade of my time working for Sundance in several different capacities including Festival Runner, Print Traffic Department Coordinator, Film Presentation Manager, Sundance Resort Projectionist and Film Critic. My time with Sundance was very special, offering unprecedented access to the emerging world of independent film and filmmakers, coinciding with some of the most exciting developmental years in the festival’s history. The experience was a direct inspiration towards my ability to formulate and implement the Supernova Digital Animation Festival in 2016 for Denver Digerati as a new, exciting niche to explore through a distinguished festival construct. The materials below include quality transfers direct from 35mm film of the trailers as well as a snapshot of associated materials from proposal to marketing.
Come to Life
Come to Life was an elaborate constructed set piece with numerous props, shot inside my warehouse studio in Salt Lake City as the first of three trailers to be presented at the Sundance Film Festival, all centered around an old and defunct Motiograph H-7500 carbon arch movie projector as the focal character within all three. The perfectly preserved 35mm projector was a rare find, obtained at Deseret Industries, the prominent local thrift store conglomerate that serviced the state of Utah. Click the image above or watch the full short film HERE
Wish you were here
Wish you were here was filmed at key locations inside Salt Lake City proper and several well beyond in the greater Utah landscape. The Motiograph H-7500 takes on a different character in part two of the series, one reflecting on its exciting, at times daunting time on earth, concluding with a sense of rebirth. Our crew had to haul to each location and build the extremely heavy projector, all within a schedule that optimized light, crew availability and the whim of the elements. Click the image above or watch the full short film HERE
Dream Factory
Dream Factory was the most radical and experimental of the three part trailer series. Short entirely in Jeff Orgill’s apartment studio in Los Angeles, CA, the film takes viewers inside the guts and complex mechanisms of the Motiograph H-7500, shot with micro lenses that allowed for tight spaces and impressive results. The projector is deconstructed into specific compartments, all built sets, in which 35 mm film flows in order to deliver its imaginative imagery to audiences. Click the image above or watch the full short film HERE
Select Materials from the Sundance Trailer project archive
Email was a relatively new tool for communication at the time of the Sundance trailer project. My associates Jeff Winograd, Jeff Orgill and I all lived in different states during our time working at the Sundance Film Festival, only coming together in January for ten days each year. Our correspondence and formulation of a proposal for the project materialized as an interesting study for the use of this new method of communication and idea-sharing. I kept the significant portions of the dialogue intact for future reference, not knowing exactly how this form of communication would fully transform the future.
“Wish You Were Here” trailer stills
“Come to Life” trailer stills
“Dream Factory” trailer stills
1999 Sundance Film Festival Trailer Series promotional postcard for “Wish You Were Here”
1999 Sundance Film Festival Trailer Series poster for “Come to Life”
1999 Sundance Film Festival Trailer Series credits graphic, based on projector elements central to the concept
Graphic for auxiliary exhibition hosted by Bibliotect in association with 1999 Sundance Film Festival Trailer Series