“Irrational Fear of Nothing” Olympus and Vimeo explore Paranoia in NYC

Vimeo Brand Studio is an in-house production studio that works with filmmakers to create premium, perhaps unexpected content for brands.

They have just wound up a series of three films with camera company Olympus that put the cameras to work in exploring the beauty of the worlds that surround us.

The latest film, “Irrational Fear of Nothing” is directed by Paul Trillo, a New York filmmaker who has been building up quite a reputation on the festival scene.

Irrational Fear of Nothing has a simple concept — the camera follows a man as he wakes up, leaves the house and wanders around New York. The man is extremely paranoid and we hear the stream of his thoughts as he freaks out about everything around his, especially what other people think of him.

The paranoia is enhanced by the cinematography. The camera has been mounted on a snorricam rig — basically a rear selfie stick — that keeps the actor at the centre of the frame as we look over his shoulder. The effect is like a video game view. As the actor turns, he remains static at the centre of the frame and the world spins around him.

This is certainly nothing like a normal ad, but the branding purpose works — the Olympus camera is proved in the real world, in the hands of real filmmakers of being capable of producing cinema, as a competitor to the likes of Canon 5D etc.

The making-of video shows the production process and talks about the camera in more detail: