Last night I watched the film Primer, an independent production that has garnered critical acclaim and awards including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. Without revealing too much of the science fiction themes, it is highly technical and captures the spirit of innovation.
The movie begins with four friends who are trying to invent new technologies in their spare time, using as little money as possible by cannibalizing appliances and 'borrowing' materials from their corporate day jobs. As they experiment in a garage, they finally create something of note.
This film does a wonderful job of catching that excitement, the discovery of something new and the promise of success. It is an intimate representation of a process that has occurred hundreds of times. Many innovations have come from two guys in a garage. Whether we are talking about Apple, Atari, or Microsoft.
Primer itself is such a success story. The writer/director Shane Carruth quit his corporate engineering career to become a writer. After a few years of fiction writing, he turned to film-making. Primer cost a mere $7000 and has become a cult hit. Carruth did much himself, playing one of the two leads, besides editing and scoring the movie.
Many can enjoy this film for its glimpse into that innovative world. Others can appreciate the improbably success of the tiny production. It is an example that if you try your hardest, and be creative, you can find success. It doesn't matter how small you are, innovation is big.
Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, innovation + creativity, Shane Carruth, Apple Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Atari Inc. |
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Recent Comments | 5 Total
May 10, 2005 at 7:13pm by Ron Graham
This is a coincidence: I also just watched "Primer" within the last week. My take on it is somewhat different. I don't see any way that you can lump the creation of what amounts to a time machine into the same category as *real ideas* developed from garages. For that reason, although I was enthralled the same way you were for the first third of the movie, as soon as the movie shifted focus from a start-up's troubles to "The Butterfly Effect," I had to compare it to sci-fi movies of the same type. And there it doesn't stand up well.
I give Carruth credit for making something we could actually watch on a budget that was probably less than Sam Raimi paid to make "The Evil Dead." But as an "entrepreneur-as-hero" movie it's not exemplary.
May 11, 2005 at 10:39am by Karen Bradshaw
I was thrilled with Primer, particularly since my own brother Keith Bradshaw happened to play in the film. AND, he is a scientist, inventor and clean room tech at UT Dallas. Primer exemplifies what America is known for and has practically disappeared in the entertainment industry - innovation and a SMART idea. Perfect? No. But life isn't perfect. This film makes the viewer feel as if they are really part of the event; privy to 'secret' conversations and 'knowing'. I love the feeling of collaboration the film engenders. It's fun, smart and really feels NEW...not the old formulaic techie Hollywood stuff we are being fed. LOVED it. Feels SMART. Feels GOOD. Makes CONVERSATION...we need this dialogue for sparking up the olde GRAY matter.
THINKING is such good exercise...America is flabby in that department. Waiting for Shane's next project.
May 14, 2005 at 10:23pm by victoria
I also watched this movie last week. I totally agree with Kevin in his opinions about this movie. It catches your attention all the way to to end, and does a great job in showing what innovation can bring. But further than that , also about how passionate one can be when you are really doing what you like.
I must say though that I am not sure I understood it 100% in terms of what happened first...later... I am actually planning of watching it again this week.
May 17, 2005 at 10:21pm by Mark Alan Effinger
First, let me say: Karen, you are so right-on in the "America is Flabby" in the innovation department.
Now, I say that as a general rule, because there are some wicked-smart folks I get to meet every week that throw that notion out the window.
Case in point: I spent last Friday in tiny Ferndale, Washington at the headquarters of PRWeb. They're a great company, and definitely one to watch.
Why do I say that? Because the founder, David McInnis, creates a new, large-scale, mind-bending innovation every few weeks. Or sooner.
Last Friday he was sharing with me about how PRWeb is really not a Press Release engine. They've become an Online Visibility Engine (OVE).
Then he takes off for New York on Monday. Today, I received an email talking about their relationship with Yahoo News and the new mRSS feeds that PRWeb has already integrated into their web site.
Just add water.
So, I digress, but I hope you can see the light through the clouds of the corporate innovation killers. Small business leaders, which make up the majority of businesses, are innovating at light speed.
Now, if we could just create an Idea-2-Market engine that could speed the process, reduce the overhead, and streamline the lethargic mechanics of getting to cashflow on these new innovations.
One last thing: Where can I pick up Primer? I'm headed to Netflicks immediately following this post. Sounds like an amazing flick for the buck (I heard Thr Brother's McMullen was around $25,000, which was also startling at the time).
Have a phenomenallly creative week!
Mark Alan Effinger
me@exitpath.com
www.richcontent.com
May 26, 2005 at 11:02pm by Mark Alan Effinger
Alright -- I watched the flick, and was duly impressed.
Sure you could fault the producer/writer/director/actor for missing some elements of the process... but there was genius in almost every scene.
The palladium collection from the catalytic converter of a car, the copper tubing from the refrigerator coils (found engineering is where it's at when you're on a budget. I founded my first company on laser tubes from copiers and out-of-spec units pulled from the assembly line, and PVC plumbing pipe. 10,000 units later and we had quite the little Inc 500 company!).
The time-shifted recording to maintain consistancy and not mess-up the past was absolutely brilliant.
The cloak and dagger ending was excellent, as the budget limitations forced the director to get extremely creative in how he exposed the time shifts, personality shifts, mistakes...
In the context of creativity, this was excellent. Anyone who has bootstrapped a business understands that it takes extreme bouts of creativity, migrating to effective productivity, to make everything come together.
This movie, on all levels, exemplfied those elements. I mean, c'mon, these guys made a movie for what is about one month's salary for the average mid-level executive.
Impressive.