Nice Work!

i love the way you integrated still images and video together. its really well done.

This is absolutely fantastic.

The epic nature of the campaign makes everything seem so badass.
If this campaign was based on ladybugs and sunflowers, those weather shots would have seemed ridiculous.

Stunning. How are you guys managing the handhelds with the 5D?

I love the message, the silence and the pictures! THANK YOU!

This is great work.

awesome work.

Absolutely incredible.

far out.

enjoyed watching this. I added to my "amazing canon 5d mark ii footage" channel

Great work! Really well made and defiantly keeps you interested.

Nice Work! ....vimeo.com/7985306....mfg Jack

the epigraph reminds me how important the poetry of Walt Whitman is to the essential 'American' voice -- anytime I come across something imbued with genuine possibility I think back on Whitman. Incidentally, did Levi's AOR (Cutwater & Chuck McBride) have a hand in your project or did you work w/Levi's direct? The real story is the stories in deft production. Inspirational.

This is awesome..great work! How did you set this up?...as in who, where, what to film. Was it all spontaneous? Thanks!

Beautiful work man!

Hey

that was really cool and well worth the time. those are some great stories that you found. thanks for sharing. i can't begin to imagine what else is out there in country that we will always overlook.

amazing

admittedly, i seldom have patience for things online like this anymore, but you've managed to create a captivatingly simple piece.
i haven't come in contact with anything lately that has managed to maintain such an uplifting view of the u.s. without having to be tongue in cheek or straight up satire, but i think you've created an honest, but forgiving portrayal of a country (and kudos for not having gratuitous amounts of shots of people wearing blue levi jeans).

sweet.

righteous!

Right on! By the way, are the stills taken from the video or shot as stills?

Congrats on the staff pick John, Matt and Ally.

Looking forward to seeing more and more of your guys stuff!

beautiful story. love it!

awesome awesome work. very inspirational! best i've seen in a LONG long time :) it's simple but profound. great job!

Stunning work. Truly inspiring and heart warming. Kudos on the great photography too. I love how you mixed them in between with that nice soft music touch.

Superb, nice video and photography. One question, why is this not in HD?

bea......utiful!

this is stunning and wonderful.
Your country can be so poetic when you want ;-)

seriously, Mr. Carl, this is magnificent. This is what I want to do with my career. This is the kind of films I want to make.

wow excelent... congratulations!

i feel like i have just been given something from levis. it touched me deeply. thank you.

This is so inspirational, and beautiful. Thank you!

I was just about going to bed, when I saw this piece of work. And now I know where I'm going to travel in my dreams. And I know it's going to be a great trip.
Thank You.

Unquestionable beauty and depth.

one tecnical question ( very unpoetic, sorry):
audio recording?
a separated portable audio unit (wich?) or..straight from the camera?

beautiful! i was driven to tears at least once...

amazing

Hey John,
I loved this piece! May I ask what camera you used and how you were able to accomplish some of the effects? It's a great mix of art and narrative in a documentary style film.

Keep up the good work!!!

I love the stills actually. They hint at a hundred different untold stories of other Americans and give a tiny glimpse of the "others" who aren't featured here. It also adds to the concept of the size of the project you entered into. They work really, really well and provide a colourful backdrop of people and textures. The pace is also really excellent. The man surrounded by bins and dogs who talks of Jesus is quite a shock until you return to him later and explain his hopes in the context of Hurricane Katrina. It's a fabulous document of America as it is now. I wouldn't want to dissolve into hyperbole, but it is brilliant. Am a bit worried about posting my work in Egypt if this is what I am up against!!

This is brilliant. Nice job.

Simply ace.

beautifully done. amazing score. i sensed a little Michael Mann and Terrence Malick in this piece. I would love to work on projects like this or have a chance to collaborate with the artists associated with this video. i look forward to seeing more from you John Carl.

incredibly inspiring

Amazing Video! Awe Inspiring! This is the way the world should see us, as the great people we truly are, even through adversity.

This is just....too cool. I really enjoyed this video...It was just amazingly good.

Really like this and your use of stills and video. also, your mashup of styles and effects works really well--doesn't come off as self-consciously artsy. and the soundtrack moved the whole piece along nicely.

beautiful work. thanks for the inspiration. thanks for sharing. gonna twitter 'n' spread it here in Germany.

muy bueno.

Yo tengo otro trabajo hecho para Levi's bajo la misma campaña, lo podes ver en mi cuenta

Beautiful work. So glad I found it today. Spent a few hours checking out your work. Really great stuff. Can't wait to see more.

Any Depth of Field Adapters Used? Great Stuff. I loved the Levis "Go Forth" commercials, and was pleasantly suprised to see a short film that played off that concept. Keep up the good work : )

i'm amazed
my fav: 00:18, 6:17

I like the effects applied to photos
5:58 - how did you do this effect? is lensflare?

Truly nice

That was unbelievable, simply unbelievable.

Very special. Very personal. :)

Dear Mr. Carl and Co.

That a piece sponsored by Levis would move me to tears as yours did really caught me by surprise. Being partly American-raised but in Europe since decades, I belong to what some might call a group in voluntary exile. America is also a home of mine, and I miss it very often and I suffer from the unbalanced images of its people that represents the bulk of what the rest of the world gets to see and bases its opinion on. The world needs more of work like yours to remind the world (and America) that there are wonderful human beings out there everywhere. They are what make every country the place it is. And your brilliant editing and concept choices are likely the best one could have made to convey the love and the happiness and the hopes that your people have given to what I am not afraid to call a hymn to the place you love. That's what I felt. That's also what I cried for. Allow me to remind you of an exceptional short piece of music that would have fit in very nicely as an epilogue and that wakens the same feelings in me every time I listen to it: Jaco Pastorius' "Amerika", live during his birthday concert back in ? lemme see... gotta forestle this up (my new 'green' search engine)... oh yeah, album "Invitation", 1983?

Many thanks for having taken me home for a moment.

Beautiful and amazingly sincere.

Absolutely inspirational and touching. Thank you.

I was really impressed by how sincere everyone was. Do you attribute this to the people you sought out, or your process of interviewing?

Anyway, you've reached so far beyond most videos with this because of its sincerity. Its more than just beautiful or clever. I absolutely loved it.

this inspired me a lot!!!

I thought this was incredibly inspiring and beautiful. Each story made me so happy and made my heart just feel good. I wanted to cry at parts. The only that part I wasn't crazy about was the text between each...section. Because there didn't really seem to be sections, just you had made them like that. If you took the text out and kept everything else I think it would be perfect. Amazing film though, I'm telling everyone I know to watch it and revel.

I'm actually really glad that you incorporated stills - they gave you a chance to show off some of those amazing composites. Are the particles @ 6:57 part of a video composite - or were they added with after effects?

The whole piece is stirring.

Just amazing how much this video just inspired me!
Very nice work guys!!!

Maybe, just maybe, the best film on Vimeo - certainly one of the most refreshing films I have seen in a long time.

OMFuckingGod!
Lovely.
Superb.
Well-timed.
mmmmmmmMMMMMMagnifico!

Very well done. I really liked how you incorporated the still images and made them seem as if they weren't...still. Adding the bokeh in front really added a lot to the finished product!

excellent.
beautiful!
music = you got it right on the money
nice mix of motion & stills...
awesome, awesome piece!!

Beautiful

I am touched... I truly am...

but i still have to nag about the audio is are there options to put external microphones on a 5d? and is it possible to turn off the automatic gain for audio?

Preoccupied with being “I” masks our sense of “we.” But occasionally our “I’s” open wide enough to see that “me” is composed of “we” (when turned left side up).

This film, in that regard, is a masterpiece.

Nice music

fantastic work

love the font.

this is fantastic.

nice colors. how did you go about doing it?

Amazing work. Congrats

beautiful stuff man... which post stabilization do u use?

Absolutely amazing, great work!