La Jetee

This is a film which has been a major inspiration for me, even though I've only ever seen clips of it. At long last I found a full - length version posted on Google Video. Basically, it is a short film based on black and white still photographs that tells the story of a man sent back in time from a post apocalyptic future.

I first heard about La Jetee when 12 Monkeys came out. According to the writers, it was one of their sources of inspiration and this is reflected in the script they produced.

The idea that you can make a film based just on photographs has had a grip on my imagination ever since. Now that we have cheap digital cameras available, photo sharing services such as Flickr and PhotoBucket and free software such as Photo Story 3 and Windows Movie Maker means that we can all produce such films with remarkable ease and at virtually no cost.

Just think of all the possible ideas that could be used as class/student projects. At long last I now have the access to affordable technologies and fast internet which means last years theoretical lesson plans have now become concrete realities.

For a great introduction to Photo shop 3 (my programme of choice) check out Teachnet's page