Herndon Man’s Photo Could Inspire Movie

Herndon resident Marshal Skinner’s photos have always been admired; his website and Facebook page get thousands of views every month, he says.

But now, among those page views, are some of Hollywood’s top A-list actors, directors and movie producers – and they’re all toying with the idea of using one of his photos as the inspiration for their next film.

Skinner’s photo, featured above, was one of the top photos selected out of thousands of entries for a new film challenge entitled “Imaginat10n,” sponsored by Canon Inc. camera manufacturers and the father-daughter celebrity team of director Ron Howard and actress Bryce Dallas Howard.

The challenge features 10 theme categories. A call for entries was put out for photos that fall into any of the 10 categories. Out of thousands of entries, 10 photos in each category were chosen.

The categories were Character, Mood, Goal, Backstory, Setting, Obstacle, Relationship, The Unknown, Time and Discovery.

Skinner’s photo was selected for one of the 10 top photos out of roughly 7,000 entries in the Obstacle category.

Now, amateur filmmakers from around the world, along with a list of celebrities, will all make competing short films that use a series of 10 photos - one photo from each category - as the inspiration for their film.

Ron and Bryce Dallas Howard will then select their five favorite amateur films and five favorite celebrity films and package them as a Ron Howard presentation, to premiere this fall at a film festival that will tour the country.

The competition was inspired by “Project Imagin8ion,” a mentoring project Ron Howard gave Bryce in which he gave her eight photos and challenged her to make a short film inspired by them. Bryce’s film, entitled “when you find me,” went on to win awards, and Bryce is now mentoring students from select film schools across the country in the new “Imaginat10n” challenge.

Other celebrity participants include such A-list names as Eva Longoria, Jamie Foxx, James Murphy, Georgina Chapman and Biz Stone.

Skinner, who works by day as a federal employee in D.C., says he turns to his passion for photography as a creative release in his spare time.

He said, just being chosen as one of the selected photos was a great honor; anything that happens from this point on as a result of it is just icing on the cake.

“The true benefit for me, just like with the rest of my photography, is that if other people can get some joy or inspiration from the image I’m sharing, that’s the benefit for me,” he told Patch.

Skinner said he shot the photo last year at the National Zoo. He said, though the animals look menacing in the photos, the story behind it was less than so – but he felt it fit in perfectly with the “obstacle” theme.

“They were playfully trying to get a honeydew melon out of the water, but the progressively wider-open mouths captured in the image certainly project a menacing look!” he explained. “I felt that converting it to black and white also helped to convey this side of it, so that’s why I edited it that way.”

He added, making it to the final stretch of the Imaginat10n competition has been surreal.

“This has been a real journey – this is unlike any other competition I’ve ever heard of, especially with the big names that have signed on,” he said. “It’s a unique concept, and it’s very inspirational. It’s not just some promotional exercise - the people entering this contest are putting such an incredible amount of work into this, every day.”

Still Time for Any Budding Filmmaker to Enter Contest

There is still time for any budding filmmaker out there to enter the “Project Imaginat10n” contest. Film submissions are due July 23.

There is a basic set of criteria for the film entries – the film must be between one and 10 minutes in length with no more than two minutes of credits; the person submitting the film must be the director of the film and must have the permission of everyone involved in it to submit it; and the submitting director must be 16 years of age or older.

The full list of submission criteria and instructions are available on the contest’s website.

Skinner encourages anyone and everyone to consider making and entering a short film.

“You never know - I’m sitting here, just another plain Joe on the earth, and I made it this far,” he said. “I’d love more people to enter the competition.”

To see more of Skinner’s photography, visit his website or his Facebook page.

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