Orlando Museum of Art’s 1ST Thursday Event - 6pm - March 5th, 2009.
This unique short film explores the meaning of happiness throughout one’s lifespan from birth till death. It is sponsored by United Arts of Central Florida and Full Sail University and the premiere is part of the OMA 1st Thursday/2009 Florida Film Festival party.
In November of '08 local Producer/Director, Craig Richards created this proposal for a Personal Development grant from United Arts of Central Florida. The proposal was a collaborative film project entitled: ":-)2ME The Happiness Experiment”, which brought together a local force of 163 contributing artists, over 80 actors, 12 writers, 11 producers, 10 directors, 120 crew/craft folks, 8 editors and dozens of local vendors to create 13 film vignettes, based on artwork that answered the question “What Makes Me Happy ?”. These vignettes were then edited together into one short film that explores the life arc of human emotion and specifically, happiness.
Local artists submitted 2-D and 3-D artwork that answered the question:
“What Makes Me Happy ?” The artists were broken up into age groups 0-5, 5-10, 10-15, all the way to the 80 year old age group, which represents the oldest submission group.
The members of the ORLANDO FILM INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS GROUP chose the art pieces that best represented each age group (one from each generation) and then handed them off to local writers, who wrote 3 to 4 minute scripts based on this artwork.
Once the scripts were written, local directors, actors, producers, directors of photography and crewmembers were selected to put the short films together. Local musicians worked with the individual directors on the score which fits the age group of the piece. Once the pieces were shot, local editors and motion graphic artists were gathered to edit each vignette and create a common CGI transition to tie all the pieces together into one cohesive film.
:-)2ME: THE HAPPINESS EXPERIMENT, is the largest collaborative film project ever to be produced in Florida. This film brings together artists from every genre to create a masterpiece of cinematic art that delves into the human psyche and truly explores the meaning of happiness.