Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Film Directing Program's Guest Artist Workshop, December 2, 2010
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In an effort to reach out and collaborate with young artists and media-makers nation-wide, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been touring a select group of colleges this past fall. As a part of the Film Directing Program’s Guest Artist Workshop, Gordon-Levitt joined CalArtians in The Bijou Theater for a discussion of his acting career and an introduction to hitRECord’s collaborative process. Gordon-Levitt was particularly excited about sharing his collaborative production company with the abundance of artistic talent at CalArts.
“Are we recording?”
Gordon-Levitt started hitRECord.org five years ago as an outlet for his own creativity. Since then it has evolved into a professional mass-collaborative production company with which anyone with an internet connection can contribute to a range of digital multimedia projects directed by Gordon-Levitt.
Here’s how it works:
- become a member at http://hitRECord.org
- contribute RECords–original material such as writings, music, illustrations, animations, or video
- other users can then download your RECords, modify them, build upon them, and reupload them as new RECords
- with enough activity and Gordon-Levitt’s support, the RECord could evolve into a larger-scale project.
As a result, hitRECord.org has collaboratively produced a number of short films that were screened at the 2010 Sundance and SXSW film festivals.
Audience members also got a sneak peak of the then-unpublished pages of hitRECord.org’s latest project, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories (view the original RECord here). Since published, the tiny book is now available for purchase. Great stocking stuffer Gordon-Levitt claims.
Gordon-Levitt’s nearly two-hour presentation at The Bijou was followed by questions from the audience. Gordon-Levitt cited Rian Johnson, director of Brick, as a strong influence. As a director, Johnson knew what he wanted, but he was also open to the creative inspiration of others involved in the production. Gordon-Levitt’s goal is to combine as much creative input as possible in order to create richer, collaborative projects.
Gordon-Levitt’s opening remarks submitted as a “RECord” on hitRECord.org:
Morgan and Destiny’s Eleventeeth Date – The Zeppelin Zoo
An original hitRECord.org production presented at SXSW 2010.
Actor Ewan McGregor (l) is interviewed by CalArts faculty Jon Reiss.