To promote the 2014 Toronto Silent Film Festival, which is celebrating 100 years of Charlie Chaplin on film, our task was to get modern filmgoers excited about one of cinema’s oldest stars. So, we hacked a familiar medium amongst the tech-savvy generation, and introduced The Instagram Time Machine.
Through linking images on the @TSFF2014 account, we transformed the typically random clutter of Thumbnail Mode into a flowing, interactive timeline of one of film’s most recognizable figures, Charlie Chaplin, complete with historical images and fifteen-second film trailers.
By literally turning the platform on its side, we managed to bridge the gap between old and new. And silent film, which used to continuously break the barriers of the medium, proved it could still do the same 100 years later.