An Amazing Instagram Film Connects 852 Users In Under 2 Minutes

"I wanted to create structure out of this chaos," says filmmaker Thomas Jullien. The "chaos" he refers to is Instagram, and his idea of structure is brilliant: Take the photos of 852 users, and make something edifying and beautiful with it. His resulting film is only 1:45 minutes long, but it reveals so much about how people use personal imagery to connect to others. Those subjects include what you probably expect: sneakers, eye makeup, the Statue of Liberty, frontal-view biking shots, sporting events, subways across the globe, and food. The same locations never look the same — one hour could change everything. Sunsets and fires happen; and, because we know everything will change, we Instagram to make that one moment last a little longer. These flash-in-the-pan experiences can be made "immortal," even if it only feels that way for an hour. It adds up: These slices of life are cut all different ways, but ultimately converge to tell a story — alone at first, but together at last. Juxtaposed against each other, the hundreds of images flicker and start to become a surreal blur, unifying into a loose, time-defying visual dialogue about those 852 people and the things they love enough to want to keep forever. Turns out we love a lot of the same things — but, you already knew that, didn't you? (The Verge)