The average feature film has a running time around 90 to 120 minutes. Instagram’s video have a much shorter time limit: 15 seconds. But that limit hasn’t stopped Michigan filmmaker Cat Muncey from attempting her goal of creating a full length feature using Instagram filters.
Muncey’s film — a thriller titled Division — will be filtered using Instagram, each shot chopped up into a clip short enough to meet the time limit. Muncey admits the process is laborious; according to the project’s Kickstarter, Division will use over 1,000 Instagram videos stitched together to create a coherent narrative and aesthetic.
Muncey, a Traverse City, Michigan native, drew from the city’s history for the film’s plot line. The title comes from the name of a street that runs through the city, close to an old insane asylum, and was once thought to be the dividing line between the sane and insane.
Here’s Muncey talking about the film, appropriately enough, on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/guGDPLvV–/
Instagram has been used a platform for a creative expression, but this is the first time a filmmaker will use the media-sharing platform as editing software. For good reason: As noted above, it’s labor intensive — and Muncey will end up with a square film, which is fine for her purposes but would probably turn off filmmakers who don’t want their Instagram use to define their films. Still, it’s a creative first for Instagram to add to its already long, versatile list.
