Instant Dreams is a feature documentary by Willem Baptist (who I collaborated with on many of his previous films, like Wild boar and I’m Never Afraid!) about the fascination and love for Polaroids. When Polaroid announced the end of instant film in 2008, the last still working factory was bought by a small group of enthusiasts.
Among them is the retired scientist Stephen Herchen who previously collaborated with the inventor of Polaroid and is still trying to unravel the secret of the lost chemical formula.
Instant Dreams was lensed by Gregor Meerman, using his Arri Alexa to shoot absolutely stunning material. I’ve received a lot of compliments on the look of Instant Dreams, but really Gregor deserves most the credit. Some additional material was shot using a drone, some GH4 on a gimbal and some Black Magic Pocket Cinema camera – which needed to be seamlessly matched with the Arri Alexa material. And there was a substantial amount of archive footages – some of it scanned from the original 16mm negatives, but other elements were pulled directly off Youtube. So a lot of additional work was done restoring the material to hold up in cinematic projection.
Credits
| written and directed by | Jasper Coppes |
| cinematographer | |
| editor | Tralala |
| producer | Lonnie van Brummelen |
| production company | Vriza |