It started as a parody of Christopher Nolan’s IMAX obsession and racked up 14 million views. Then, over the summer, as everyone watched AI disrupt Hollywood, a crew of 30 decided to see what a 17-year-old iMac could do.
While many panic about AI and fear for their jobs, there are some filmmakers in Hollywood who say they can now bypass studio giants and take more creative risks thanks to the new technology.
It confused me because it tangles two things I’m hugely passionate about: supporting creatives and levelling the playing field. AI is obviously impacting whole industries. But it’s also opening doors for those who, until just a few years ago, could never even dream of competing with studios on much bigger budgets. And yet here we are, entering a new dawn where tech-powered rivals in far more modest premises don’t need huge sets to create blockbuster triumphs.
It means a filmmaker in a spare bedroom can outgun a Hollywood studio. Pure David and Goliath territory. Who doesn’t love to get behind the underdog? But it’s hard to be too cheerful about all this when the same tools are keeping actors and crews awake at night.
British filmmaker Will Norman is such an underdog. He wasn’t really interested in what the latest technology could do. He was more curious about what the oldest could achieve. So he decided to affectionately mock Christopher Nolan’s all-out devotion to IMAX with a “shot on iMac” sketch, posing as “Christopher Notlan” and shooting the piece entirely on the webcam of a 2009 iMac he bought off eBay for £15. (The Uber he ordered to go pick it up cost more than the machine, apparently.)
The joke was supposed to be a one-off, but it attracted over 14 million views. That’s when things changed. People started getting in touch with Will, volunteering their time, equipment, and skills, so he could actually create The Oddersy – a 10-minute retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, shot on the same iMac.
Talk about putting a computer through its paces. They drilled screw holes into its base plate so they could mount it on a tripod. They ran it off a camping battery on location. Lime bikes became camera dollies. They also clipped detachable phone lenses over the webcam. And Photo Booth (remember that?) supplied the visual effects. And for the biggest part of the story: an Ithacan warship crossing the choppy sea? They strapped the iMac to a 25ft Technocrane and hung it over a rubber dinghy on a lake in Essex. They did what all creatives have done since the dawn of time: improvised.
There was just one problem. A 17-year-old iMac can’t record its own webcam without freezing. So the team cable-tied an iPad to the back, beamed the video feed across, and screen-recorded the iPad instead. It’s genius, but it also meant a perfect take could be ruined in any given moment, either by a stray mouse cursor or a software-update notification. “The limitations became the most exciting part,” says Will. “The camera has no control over focus, extremely limited dynamic range and occasionally decides your face should be purple, so every scene required us to invent a completely impractical solution.”
The result is 10 funny minutes of forced-perspective giants (was that… Sam Cornforth as the Cyclops?), miniature horses in sand, classic Photo Booth backdrops, and a whole load of ridiculous fun around a lake in Essex. It premiered at Close-Up Cinema in London, hosted by filmmaker and critic Jack Howard, who called it “pure cinema”, adding: “I’m not sure I’ll see anything like that again. I’m not sure I want to see anything like that again.”
Jokes aside, Will’s turned a viral moment into something far more lasting, along with his 30-strong crew, while reminding us about the joy of creativity itself. It’s about problem-solving, working with constraints. Coming up with clever ideas to create the final product. OK, so The Oddersy isn’t going to win any Oscars, but it certainly cheers us up and puts Will in front of a lot of new fans.
I know it probably prompts an eye roll, but no matter how much AI and new technology disrupt our beloved creative industries, Will’s project is a good reminder that the best ideas still come from us.
The Oddersy is available to watch on YouTube. Will has asked people to view it on an iMac, if they can, and share a photo on Instagram Stories, tagging @willnormanfilms with #AsNotlanIntended. In return, you’ll get a personally dedicated digital headshot signed by Christopher Notlan himself.
