USA Projects

Charade will be a short experimental film made of manipulated footage from the 1963 film Charade with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. I’m interested in the core themes of the original film, identity and deception. The film is full of people who are not who they say they are, including the actors themselves. I’ve heard many stories of people who have changed their names, lied about their past and created new identities. The reasons for this kind of deception intrigues me and is why I want to make this film.

I began making manipulated found footage films in 2005. I started with aging educational films and eventually included Hollywood genres. The use of Hollywood films opened up issues of the artificial world that Hollywood represents. In the case of Charade, this would include the practice of studio actors changing their names, and creating new identities for themselves. This practice would add another role to play in addition to their movie roles.

The film Charade is in public domain with exception of it’s soundtrack. While most films made of found footage are covered by fair use, having the extra freedom to use more of the plot elements or unmanipulated footage if I choose is another benefit of working with this film.

My process of working is to digitally erase and layer images from found footage frame by frame, then reedit the footage into altered narratives. This process is very labor intensive and it takes about three months to finish a three to five minute film. The money I’m asking for will go for my labor as an animator and editor to realize this project. Any money raised over my minimum goal will go to hiring a musician for the score.