It's fun to take a look from time to time at what kinds of creative projects people are doing. Here's a little roundup:
A 24-FOOT-LONG LOOK AT ONE DAY OF A HORRIBLE WAR
A new perspective on Word War I and on the format of a book: Joe Sacco's book The Great War is actually a 24-foot-long foldout illustration. No captions.
It shows the events of the day from the preparation for the Battle of the Somme, takes you into the trenches, and leaves you with images of the effects of the carnage.
The Australian illustrator drew upon extensive research and incorporated images of kindness--German and British injured helping each other--as well as the machinery and devastation of a day that resulted in 21,000 deaths and close to another 40,000 injuries on the British side alone.
AN ANIMATED LOOK AT THE LIFE OF A PHILOSOPHER
Director Michel Gondry did an animation of his conversations with philosopher, linguist and anti-war activist Noam Chomsky (Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?). Here is a nine-minute film about how he went about it: http://youtu.be/m7dbZBgmV3E . You can rent the film itself from the American iTunes site for $6.99. It's an hour and 28 minutes long.
STORIES OF EVERYDAY COURAGE AND JOY
The video storytelling platform Magisto teamed up with country music star Brad Paisley to invite his fans to make short films about how their lives have changed. The soundtrack they were asked to use is Paisley's song, "I Can't Change the World."
The sponsors selected a Grand Prize Winner and ten runners-up. One woman created a film about a soldier's homecoming, another made a tribute to her brother, who had four bouts with cancer, and a father created a celebration of his daughter's first birthday. The Grand Prize winner was about how a family went from fostering one child to adopting twelve. You can see the winners here: http://blog.magisto.com/2013/12/18/winners-brad-paisley-contest/
