Bezalel Academy Graduation Short 'Sight' Depicts a Disturbing View of Future Tech

It's in the nature of filmmaking to want to pull your audience into a deep, immersive world and as more of the population tips into the bracket of 'always connected', it makes sense to extend that emersion to multi-platform experiences. Imagine the all encompassing stories that could be told if attention could be captured at every blink of the eye as it is in possible future short Sight:

The graduation project of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design students Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo, Sight taps into the pair's love of the overlapping fields of sci-fi and technology:

At first we were set on making a film that had augmented reality in it. We did some research, delved into every kind of augmented tech out there today, and somewhere along the way we thought ‘Hey, I wonder how augmented reality would be like without the device or apparatus barrier. What if we could just SEE augmented reality?’ So we kind of tried to envision the world and how it would act after this kind of technology is standard, and it rolled on from there.

Whilst much of the discussion around the film seems to have focussed on its relation to recent Project Glass demonstrations from Google or similarities to Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror, Sight's true strengths lay not in the prescient nature of its narrative but in its design. Hands down, the 'on eye' menu system is one of the best designed, real or imagined, you're likely to see, with May-raz and Lazo's choice of apps and how their protagonist gamifies his world seeming all too plausible -- doesn't Wingman feel troublingly like a kindred spirit to the much maligned pulled app Girls Around Me? There's also great attention to detail throughout, from the actors' focus shifts as they toggle between app and human interaction, to the apartment full of nothing outside of the bare essentials. It's a world full of seductive distractions and information enablers, but perhaps not one you should leave your admin password laying around in.

Do you think the use of technology in Sight was effective? How have you deployed believable tech in your own stories?

[via Venture Beat]

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17 Comments

this question has nothing to do with this post, but i didn't know where to ask it. (maybe this website needs a forum?)

when you come to this website, there's a pop-up for the DSLR cinematography guide. is that javascript? i'm curious because i want to incorporate something loosely based on that pop-up.

July 30, 2012 at 5:19PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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It's a plugin. Hope that helps!

July 30, 2012 at 6:04PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Ryan Koo
Founder
Writer/Director

That's a cool sci fi short. Back in the day it would have taken months to get it running in some festivals to be seen only by few hundreds . Now you can put it on Vimeo and have 700k views in 6 days :) . I'm sure few producers will give these guys a call. Gotta love vimeo and youtube.

July 30, 2012 at 8:07PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Marcus

looks very good, and i m glad people enjoyed charlie brooker's black mirror as much as I did, but they should invest in a book about storytelling at that school. no like-able character, no arc and a lot of padding that's not essential to tell their story but show of gimmicky visuals.

still, great visuals and nice locations they managed to get for a probably very limited budget.

July 31, 2012 at 2:08AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Pat

It's a design and visual arts oriented school, FYI

July 31, 2012 at 4:54AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Itai

every film doesnt need an "arc" i suggest u listen to bafta podcastsby established screenwriters about story telling....theres no reason to stick to archetypes, be creative. that said i think these guys will be major

July 31, 2012 at 7:40AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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rob

you dont need an arc or likeable characters to have a good story

July 31, 2012 at 10:18AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Peter Kelly

Agreed, however I could see an arc going on: he starts as a nerdy/ goofy/ ends up "evil" .

July 31, 2012 at 10:36AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Marcus

This is a very similar project to the TV Pilots: Black Mirror S01E03 you should check it out.

July 31, 2012 at 4:18AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Terrific short.

July 31, 2012 at 6:50AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Lliam Worthington

I think this was creative sci-fi worth the watching.

July 31, 2012 at 7:39AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Deejayanix

I made this back in '09.

https://vimeo.com/30680902

July 31, 2012 at 8:08AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Thx for sharing. Top work, and a great way of questioning a technology that all too many of my friends often see as a future given

August 1, 2012 at 10:54AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Interesting that no one mentions that the Betzalel School is in Israel.

August 2, 2012 at 2:54PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Why? Is it really relevant where the school is?

September 17, 2012 at 4:16AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Richard Lapthorn

Wow, what a fantastic short! Smartly made in its execution, with superb a cast who both made the sci-fi elements believable. Wise decision to focus on the human elements of the technology, especially being used on a first date, something most of can relate to.

I used a similar type of cyber-enhancement in my first film while attending film school. It's not nearly as elegant a film as 'Sight', but there are similar themes of bio-technology integration into every day lives, and the potential for danger should things go awry. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQQniXcxtkA

And thanks for sharing this one Koo!

August 2, 2012 at 8:21PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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Arun

This is probably one of the best experimental shorts I've seen as far as VFX and design go. I'm really impressed with the ideas they complemented the concept with. Some of them were actually pretty clever. I made a post about this film on my site, so please take some time to check it out! Thanks to those of you who will.

http://www.kyranford.com/sfs-sight/

August 6, 2012 at 1:49AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM

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