Alan Michael Martelly, 20, a former Peachtree City resident attending the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, had one of his photographs selected for part of Project Imagin8ion. The project, a collaboration between Canon and director Ron Howard, is the first ever user-generated photo contest to inspire a Hollywood short film. There were 96,362 submissions for the eight categories of the contest; setting, character, mood, time, goal, relationship, obstacle and the unknown. Maretelly’s photo, “My Word” was selected for the goal category.
“The picture is of my friend, Kara, and it was taken in the basement of a dorm. I see a girl reaching out to the world and trying to control it,” Martelly said. He added some darkness to the photo in the editing process, as well as the elements that give it a space pirate kind of feel. “I’m excited to see how the photo plays a part in the film. It’s the goal, so it could be pretty big.”
The film begins shooting this month and the premiere will be in New York City in November. Martelly will join the other seven winners at the premiere.
Project Imagin8ion was the first photo contest that the Starr’s Mill graduate (Class of 2008) entered. He was browsing around YouTube when he saw the information for the contest and decided to enter the photo which he had taken several months earlier. Martelly is working with both photography and cinematography in school and has also been working on a screenplay.
The film will be directed by Howard’s daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard.
“This project has opened my eyes to the infinite possibilities of tapping into a larger community for creative inspiration,” said Ron Howard. “As I selected the photographs, the story started to take shape using these building blocks to drive the tone and narrative possibilities. I was handed this challenge by Canon and I’m very interested to see how this exercise plays out with Bryce now taking charge to direct a film that is very much influenced by these eight photos.”
To follow the project, visit www.youtube.com/imagination.
