Melancholic Short 'Lost Memories' Asks What We'll Be Left with when Digital Fails

We live in a world, or very close to it, where our every moment can be documented and archived for future posterity. When you go to a show, long gone are the days when a sea of lighters would be held aloft, now you can be sure that the band will instead be captured from every conceivable angle and uploaded so you don't miss a thing. Francois Ferracci's melancholic short Lost Memories questions what we might be missing in the now, while we're obsessively preserving the moment for the future:

An Art Director and VFX Supervisor by trade, Ferracci initially conceived the project as a competition entry but held back so he could do the concept justice:

It started with a short film competition in Paris in which we had to imagine our future. The main actor, Luka, wanted to do it with me. I’d had this idea in mind for a long time, so I wrote it in 2 hours, and then we were ready to shoot! But there were too many visual effects shots in the film so I didn’t enter the competition, because I wanted to spend more time on post-production. As a visual effects artist, and visual effects supervisor, I knew it was going to be a nightmare! We shot with the 5D and the main problem is that a shaky camera creates huge distortions in the shots. It is sometimes impossible to get a clean tracking for set extensions in post.

As Lost Memories was shot in a busy area of Paris near the Eiffel Tower, the heavily improvised outdoor scenes were in constant threat of being disrupted by onlooking curious tourists. Having a film designed to be conveyed through images and voiceover meant that Ferracci could direct his actors while the camera was rolling and grab all the necessary shots in a mere 2-3 hours. The Final Cut Pro edit went equally fast and was completed in a day, however the After Effects VFX took around 6 months to complete, slotted around paying gigs. Take a look at the Visual Effects Breakdowns video to see how Ferracci took presented day Paris into the future:

While an argument could be made that Lost Memories weighs in on the often rehashed film vs. digital debate -- with film coming out as the last man standing once digital is wiped out -- it reads more to me as call to live in the here and now. I'm guiltier than most of maintaining a ubiquitous connection to the net or skulking in the corner of a party in the self-appointed role of archivalist, and perhaps Ferracci is right and we should cast away the filters we place between ourselves and the world -- although I am more than a little excited about the arrival of Google Glass.

Has Lost Memories convinced you to spend more time tech free or are you confident your backups could weather the electromagnetic storm?

Links:

• Francois Ferracci
• One Small Window Interview