An all-time favorite, The Neighbors was the first lo-film we shot with two cameras.  It's the fourth one in the Los Angeles series.

Puppets show up a fair amount in the margins of our lo-fim world, but on this day puppets were front and center.  This is the ninth lo-film of the main New York series.

A silent film starring a real clown, this lo-film is much beloved.  It's date is one of the few that is not 100% for-sure, but we know it happened in the months after the first Los Angeles run, and, while technically not part of that in-a-row record, is often thought of as the last lo-film in that series.

Vampires keeping it casual in Brooklyn.  While we shot in BK, our friend in Boston spent a few hours whipping up some vampire music, without knowing anything except the genre - and resulting in one of the best original soundtracks we've done.  This was the fourth lo-film in the main New York series.

The shoot date may be off by a few months, but this western was certainly shot before we had access to editing software, and finished years later when we did.  This is a great example of a pre-lo-film - a film we made in the same impromptu style before we had given the process the lo-film name.

The tenth film in the sixteen-in-a-row Los Angeles run shows that group really being efficient; in less than three hours in a tiny space they made a mean streets Sesame Street that was a standout of the whole run.  Historic also as the debut of The Beez.

Sports legends are forever, and this racquetball player is just that.  Superballs is another lo-film that proved very popular with living room audiences.  The fifth Saturday in the Los Angeles series.

May 16th saw a huge turnout and we got so much material we ended up getting two lo-films out of the shoot.  Booger Patrol as "original text" and Histrionics as "crit".  This was the 6th lo-film Saturday of the main New York series.

A lo-film filmmaking workshop in Istanbul, Turkey, yielded the highest concentration of lo-film activity:  three lo-films on three consecutive days.   This is the third day of that mini-run.

The first outing of the current phase, this has a very different feel than the lo-films of yesteryear.  Dare we say Lynchian?  At least wanna be!

This is one of the few lo-films that is a genuine drama, rather than a zany genre take-off.  With this one we went for believable characters and realistic conflict - but still making it up as we went along!  The fourth of four in a row.

The twelfth lo-film of the Los Angeles Sixteen, this two-camera day was right in the sweet spot of that run.

A high water mark of the original lo-film run, this day we decided not to do a specific genre, but rather create a reason for a variety of characters to come together.  A two-camera shoot, the periods of uninterrupted filming were much longer than ever before.  And the cameras mostly worked separately, simultaneously shooting different scenes so that actors could exit one improvised moment, step through a door way, and find themselves entering another scene already in progress.  Los Angeles series: 11 of 16.

This lo-film was made with an existing inter-generational troupe of actors, and what emerged was a story of being trapped in the locked doors and endless hallways of a mysterious institution.

A lot of existing material was used to paint the portrait of a filthy and obtuse songwriter and his continually surprising family.  Although shot in Los Angeles, it's the eighth film in the ten-in-a-row New York run.

A kid-driven story of... personal discovery?  Lots of lo-film alumni in this one!  Part of the run of four-in-a-row from 2014.

The organizers of this lo-film workshop in Wichita sprung a surprise location on us - a replica western town.  It's always interesting to see what a group that doesn't know each other well creates together.  Also, this is one time we know for sure it was a one day edit.

Before we decided what a lo-film was and started doing them weekly, there were all the films we'd been making since we were kids.  We call movies like this pre-lo-films - and they usually have the additional challenge of being shot in sequence with no editing.  In fact, to create the intercutting between the supermarket and the Martian rock band, we shot the rock band, rewound the tape, and shot over parts of it.  The music is laid in after with two vcrs and a Y-splitter.  Old school!

A small group of co-workers/friends met at a Bed Stuy apartment and this story of mysterious groups and forces emerged.  lo-film had long boasted lo-fi effects, but by this point more advanced effects software was in our toolbox.

This one was made in Greenwich Village with an existing clown band, The Maestrosities.  These characters and their relationships already existed, but all the scenarios were improvised. 

A formidable ruler and a hidden plot.  The first official lo-film made in Istanbul, this is a great study in using the near-by architecture in careful ways to create a different world.

The third lo-film of the East Coast mini-run, this one was pretty much completely kid led.

Technically, this doesn't follow all the lo-film rules, since we made up the story the night before, but we were doing a 48 hour film competition so...

We don't think the judges liked our sense of humor.  Decide for yourself, but for the record, the character of Shlomo Spiderman predates Dr. Spaceman by several years.

Alternating between a pirate-themed reality show and a late night b-movie, this is unique in the annals of lo-film: two one-off shoot days, 3000 miles apart, later constituted into a single piece.

Just a few pre-lo-films are in this archive, but this serves as a good example of the sort of stuff we did back in the early 1990s.

Seventh of the New York Ten, this film started with an open premise and evolved to unexpected places.

This was the fifth film of the Main New York run, and one of many that were shot in Greenpoint.  Working around a lot of "I can be there for an hour" type schedules, this lo-film still managed to be unified.

Spring is here.

When the Los Angeles run was at full steam anything near it might get sucked in - which is what happened when two guys in a red convertible came within our orbit.  The two story lines were filmed entirely separately and simultaneously.

With this lo-film we decided to focus on action.  Doing, rather than speaking.  It's a fast paced lo-film, and the third of the main New York series.

This kicked off the main New York run in 2009.  Just four people and the rain, but a story came out that connected it all.

Only the second official lo-film, things got ambitious on this day.  A fully composited lo-film is challenging, but trying to use a dark blue bedspread as a makeshift blue screen is really going to add problems!  But the ensuing lo-fi look, poor key and all, ended up making this piece what it is: a classic lo-film.

The oldest pre-lo-film in the archive, Breakin' Hearts is a teen movie parody only a few years removed from the John Hughes hey day.  A sentimental favorite, but mortifyingly embarrassing in countless ways.

Great soundtrack though.

An action movie without action.  A crime movie without crime.  Basically, a soap opera with a little kick.  Obviously TV ready.

The third lo-film in the Los Angeles series.

A Midsummer Night's lo-film.  The sixth of the original sixteen, shot up in the canyons.

Spider.

The second of the three day blitz in Istanbul.  This time the challenge was: what can we create on this work table? 

This was one of the first lo-films to reach outside the close social group - namely, into the world of co-worker friends.  It's the 15th of 16, and it's definitely from another dimension.

This cyberpunk sci-fi adventure is a great example of lo-fi effects.  And has a higher death toll than your average lo-film.  The seventh in the Los Angeles series.

The eight day of the Los Angeles lo-films, the women vastly outnumbered the men, and decided on a satire of greek culture.  The shoot also provided the image that became the cover of the first lo-film DVD.   No video available.

The second outing of the 2009 NYC series maybe needed a heavier editing hand.

A full musical in a day.  We found existing instrumental music and some people wrote lyrics and recorded tracks while others did elaborate set decoration.   When we finally started shooting, we used the recorded tracks to lip-synch to.  The last consecutive Saturday of that first run.  #16.