Iris fosters creative spirit in budding filmmakers

Iris’ creative inspiration platform, Under The Influence, has unveiled a new challenge called Straight 8 for young creative and budding filmmakers – to make a short film on one cartridge of Kodak Super 8mm cine film with no retakes, no editing and no post-production.For the first time, the legendary global film making competition, Straight 8, will make its way to Singapore – marking its foray into the wider Asia region."We (Iris) were the only Asian agency to enter the Cannes shootout this year, and that’s one of the main reasons why we’re bringing the competition to Asia. The Straight 8 industry shootout was for charity and attracted film production companies, creative agencies, animation houses including entries from the US, Ireland, Singapore and the United Kingdom. But Asia was under represented and we think that needs to change," Grant Hunter, APAC executive creative director at iris Worldwide said.The official call for entries will take place in 2017, and in preparation for it, Under The Influence will be presenting the best straight 8 films at a showcase for the first time in Asia on 21st September.The competition offers anyone to make a short film on one cartridge of Kodak Super 8 film, editing only in camera and with a maximum length of 3mins 20secs as dictated by the roll of film. With no re-takes, no post-production whatsoever, and with original soundtracks submitted "blind", the competition creates a level playing field for both experts and rookies alike, said the agency.Hunter added, “The issue of scam work has evoked much discussion and caused passion to run high in the advertising world recently. These films are a stark juxtaposition from that – they are true examples of creative risk-taking, where the strength of the narrative are key and with no second chances, you can’t “sort it out” in post-production. We feel it would be a great time to inspire our Singaporean creative community with a pure shot of creative inspiration from some of the best films from around the world.”