In 2002, Kerry Conran (1, right) and his brother Kevin (1, left) pitched a six-minute short film that they had spent 4 years creating on Macintoshes to producer John Avnet (2). A VHS tape of the short, titled Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, was presented to Avnet in a handmade sheet metal box lined with foam (3) along with a mock comic book cover (4, 5). The brothers also left behind a plastic model of the robot (6) featured in the short. Based on the visual sophistication and sheer magnitude of the Conran Brothers' vision for their pulp fantasy story, Avnet signed them on to create a full length movie. Kerry directed for the first time, while Kevin produced thousands of concept sketches. To the brothers' amazement, the film's budget grew to $70 million attracting an A-list cast including Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. Described in detail in the documentary of the making of the movie on the DVD (the source of the pictures here), this success story should inspire a new wave of filmmakers who now have access to even more sophisticated off-the-shelf tools.

- mike lee - baltimore