The 1 Second Film

The 1 Second Film
Directed by	Nirvan Mullick
Written by	Nirvan Mullick
Produced by	(See article)
Music by	Carlo Dean
Distributed by	The Collaboration Foundation
Release date	Probably 2009
Running time	90 min. 1 sec.
Language	English
Budget	US$ 1,000,000.01 (intended)

The 1 Second Film is a non-profit collaborative art film that combines social-networking with collaborative art to empower many small contributions to make a difference. The Producers are people who have donated $1 or more to "The Global Fund for Women" . The producers of The 1 Second Film range from celebrities to great-grandmothers.

The "1 Second" of The 1 Second Film refers to one-second of animation (made of 12 large paintings), which is followed by 90 minutes of producer credits that also include a feature-length documentary. The entire film will be printed on 70mm film, making it the "World's Biggest Shortest Film".

All profits raised by the finished film will be donated to the Global Fund for Women, a grant-making organization helping to advance women's human rights around the world.

The 1 Second Film is a production of The Collaboration Foundation. It is the start of a 5 Phase Plan to bring the world together, one second at a time, using collaborative art to address critical social issues.

Production

The title derives from the fact that the actual content of the film is just one second long, created by animating 12 large frames (9 ft x 5 ft collaborative paintings). The frames were painted by hundreds of people during a multi-disciplinary event on March 8, 2001 (International Women's Day). Each frame/mural had an art director that engaged the audience as participants; color design for the frames of animation was selected by Jules Engel. Each of the 12 paintings is filmed twice (on 70 mm film) to create the 24 frames in one second of film.

The one second of animation will be immediately followed by 90 minutes of producer credits which will play alongside a 'making of' documentary.

Micro-collaboration

The film is financed entirely by donations. Virtually any individual in the world can purchase a production credit on the film for a minimum of US$1.00 (with no maximum). Depending on the amount of money donated the contributor is given credit either as Associate Producer (US$1–9.99), Producer (US$10–99.99), or Executive Producer (US$100 and up). Every producer also receives a Producer Profile on The 1 Second Film’s social networking website.

The film is built around 'micro-collaboration' — lots of people that work together in many small ways. Whether it's helping to paint one-frame of the animation, donating $1 to help finance the film, submitting content for the 'making-of' documentary, or telling a friend about the project, the creators of The 1 Second Film believe that every little bit helps make a difference. Collectively, thousands of small contributions are helping to create a film that is much larger than one individual could create alone.

Project history

Kiefer Sutherland holding a cheque for the film

The 1 Second Film began as a student project by Nirvan Mullick while at California Institute of the Arts. To raise money for the film, the director began selling producer credits on the streets of Hollywood for $1 or more. After getting several celebrities to donate, and a petition drive along with the help of Stephen Colbert, he was able to get the credits listed on the Internet Movie Database.

The Internet Movie Database began to list all of The 1 Second Film's credits, thus making contributions to the film a major draw for aspiring actors, directors, or producers. The project began utilizing this in its promotions, utilizing the ability to be included on IMDb as a selling point for potential donors. However, due to the high volume of submissions, IMDb replaced the producer credits for this film with a single credit for "Producers of The 1 Second Film", who are not listed individually. This angered many who donated solely for that privilege. As of now, the entire project itself is not listed on IMDb. Jon Reeves, head of data acquisition, gave the following reasons on the IMDb message boards when revisiting the eligibility of the listing:

At the time I met Nirvan, he had assured me there would be significant national press coverage by last summer. We gave him the benefit of the doubt, and a significant grace period. I see no entries in the Google News archives or anywhere else that come close to meeting that standard. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that, whatever the intentions of the filmmakers (and Nirvan certainly seemed earnest when I talked to him), in practice, 1SF is currently more of a performance art project than an actual film. (Note that the bulk of the film has been, ever since we originally listed it, the documentary of the various events surrounding it.) I will say that this is the first time that I've looked at their site where the emphasis really does seem to be on finishing the film, and not the various circuses around it.

I would point out that Nirvan said last February: "Jon, I promise we will have significant press to show within 3 months, and am fine with you suspending all our listings if we haven’t done so by then." At the time, they were working on revamping their web site and their Oprah promotional tour. Since both those activities are now complete, I see no reason not to suspend this title. (8 Jan 2008)

He later posted an update stating that the title manager agreed and had made the decision to suspend the listing until further notice.

When this decision was later questioned, he added:

When I spoke with Nirvan (over a year ago!), he was given specific benchmarks and timetables which he agreed to for its continued listing. Those were not met, and the listing was removed (in fact, quite some time after the deadline).

This film has been 7 years in the making, and is still only about 1/4 of the way to its fundraising goal. Our usual standard for listing an in-production film is that it have significant involvement of "name" individuals and measurable progress every 6 months. The involvement of the "name" people in this case is generally about 5 minutes each, plus trivially small (for them) financial contributions. The progress has continually been a moving target, with no end in sight. The words "The Last Dangerous Visions" will make sense to science fiction fans (it's a book that's been famously "coming soon" since 1973). (21 April 2008)

Celebrity producers

Samuel L. Jackson with daughter Zoe Jackson holding a producer credit

A variety of high-profile celebrities have donated to become producers of the project. Producers include: Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Stephen Colbert, Pierce Brosnan, Christina Ricci, Ben Harper, Tom Arnold, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Tom Green, Andy Dick, Tony Kanal, Mark Ruffalo, Seth Green, Bob Odenkirk, Jesse Bradford, Robert Carradine, Robbie Amell, Tyson C. Beckford, Selma Blair, Patrick Fugit, Bill Pullman, James Cromwell, Bobby Cannavale, Steve Coogan, Atom Egoyan, Jason Ritter, Don McKellar, Mark McKinney, Steve Buscemi, Alan Cumming, David LaChapelle, John Leguizamo, B. J. Novak, and Pauly Shore. Zoe Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson's daughter, is also on board.

Contributors also include YouTube CEO Chad Hurley, YouTube stars including iJustine and Brookers, as well as Kyle MacDonald from one red paperclip.

The full listing of Celebrity Producers can be viewed on The 1 Second Film's website.

Future productions

After the one-time 70mm world premiere of the film, the 12 pieces of artwork will be auctioned off to benefit the Global Fund for Women. All profits raised by the film will also be donated to this charity.

The 1 Second Film is the beginning of a 5 Phase Plan by The Collaboration Foundation to create collaborative art on a global scale while raising money and awareness for various social issues. The "sequels" will consist of films animated during simultaneous collaborative animation events around the world, with each phase increasing in length and scale.

External links

• Official website
• The Collaboration Foundation
• The 1 Second interview with Nirvan Mullick, Spring 2001, CalArts Newspaper
• The brains behind: The 1 Second Film
• The Global Fund for Women Official website
• Video segment from 'Connected Life'