MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/798
MacDirectory 59 INTERVIEW KS > When I left Israel to attend college in New York I only packed one thing: the G5. Everything else, I left in Israel. I still use the G5 and I'm due for an upgrade. RS > I love my iPod for the gym. I find the shuffle really easy to use and own a G4 Powerbook and a PC. The new, paper-thin Air is really appealing to me. MD > You both studied film in New York? KS > Yes and living in New York was one of the best experiences as a filmmaker that I could get. My professors and classmates from Hunter have given me so much encouragement. RS > I couldn't let Kobi alone in New York without me. I studied film production and script writing at the New School. Then I attended graduate school at NYU in their Interactive Telecommunications program, where I focused on creating web tools. I like using the creative side of technology for expression. MD > Given the popularity of Apple products in America, do your friends and family in Israel "get" what you envisioned? KS > The Apple community in Israel is very much an underworld, much like Apple was in the 1980s—small and cult like. Apple has become huge and fashionable, and owning Apple products is becoming less of an underworld scene here. RS > I don't think they completely grasp the scope of what we've tried to do. Apple is a sexy brand here in Israel, but they don't have the same perspective that we have. As filmmakers from Israel coming to explore this phenomenon in America, we were exposed to the whole scope of this, especially at the MacWorld Expo. My wife saved all of the text messages I sent her while filming there. One was, "We're really doing it! I love you!" Kobi and I were so excited filming there. MD > Does being from Israel affect how some of the MacHEADS reacted to you? RS > We're both American citizens, though we were raised in Israel. Still, we came as outsiders about the product and also about the American culture itself. I think that allowed us to get a different, fresh point of view, a new angle. I don't want to say more objective angle, but it was interesting for us to come and explore. MD > How did you locate the MacHEADS you interviewed in the film? RS > The Apple community has a very precise presence on the web. We posted on-line and tried to access the right groups. We set up the interviews and when going to film, you know how a friend will bring a friend along? Well, each one brought a friend and the friend in turn would give us another contact. KS > We also met a lot of people at the 2007 MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, where we spent four days shooting. MD > Did you have a favorite MacHEAD? RS > There were so many. Bruce Damer and Galen Brandt, who run the Digibarn Computer Museum in California, were extremely open, intelligent, and fascinating people. Also Shawn King, the executive producer of "Your Mac Life", an Internet show. He said, "It's the people you want to talk to about. Don't love Apple, love the community." MD > Does MacHEADS succeed in expressing what you hoped to convey about Apple users? KS > We answered a lot of questions that hadn't been asked before and worked hard debating this complex question, which involves so many factors that meld together create this idea of MacHEADS. Why Apple and how? It's fascinating and it's still evolving. Evolution is the last chapter in our film. If you think you know all about this brand, just wait — Apple is always changing. RAINES COHEN > PHOTO BY ALON GREGO KOBI SHELY AT KEYNOTE 2007 > PHOTO BY CHIMP 65 PRODUCTIONS