Not only does Errol Morris make really badass documentaries, he also invents kick-ass new filmmaking technology.
I’m so happy he finally got some major due with Fog of War, but I think time will prove that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I hope Morris keeps RIPPING as much as he has the last few times out, and that history pays him his due as one of the true creative and communicative geniuses of this era.
[via the always-excellent Kottke.org]
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Does anyone have any thoughts on how to make an “Interrotron” out of homemade objects? I’ve got two vx-2000′s, powerbook G4 and could find other resources. Any theoretical input would be good.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to make an “Interrotron” out of homemade objects? I’ve got two vx-2000′s, powerbook G4 and could find other resources. Any theoretical input would be good.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to make an “Interrotron” out of homemade objects? I’ve got two vx-2000′s, powerbook G4 and could find other resources. Any theoretical input would be good.
I built a quick and dirty version out of a cardboard box, a pane of glass from an old flatbed scanner, and mirror. Well, those are the passive components. I also used a MacBook Pro and one of the original iSight cameras. The cardboard box is the width of the screen and about 3x the height. I use it sitting on a desktop, so the top of the box works out to be about the height of my head. The glass from the scanner is mounted at a 45 degree angle. The iSight camera is mounted behind the glass. When I look straight ahead, I can barely see the camera through the glass (because it’s dark behind the glass). Most of what I see the reflection from a mirror also at a 45 degree angle that’s in the bottom of the box. The mirror reflects light from the MacBook Pro screen up to the glass so that I can see the screen. The image has made two “bounces” (one mirror, one glass) so it’s a mirror image of a mirror image and so back to normal by the time I see it. I use the device for video meetings where I want to present slides with narration and a video feed of me. Works great with Adobe ConnectNow. That’s free service and I had all the parts laying around so the device was free too. I invented it not knowing about the interrotron, but coworker (Tim Mund) pointed me to Errol Morris’ work. Morris didn’t need the double bounce that I did because faces are generally symmetric.