An alien encounter doesn’t necessarily seem like something you would want to repeat, but a man named Carl Merryweather is trying to reunite with the “Skyman” he claims he met almost 30 years ago. The story captured the attention of Blair Witch Project director Dan Myrick and he made it his next project. The filmmaker has launched an Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund a docudrama film about what Merryweather finds.
Myrick describes the project as “a labor of love … inspired by a fascination with UFO subculture.” He plans to make dramatized version of Merryweather’s journey back to the desert where he says he first met the alien he calls the Skyman. Based on the overview of the project on Indiegogo, the film, Skyman, will try to answer the question of whether Merryweather is a true “experiencer” or if he is “just another crackpot looking for fame and fortune.” Either way, it sounds like it could be interesting.
Myrick plans to make the film independently so that he doesn’t have to answer to a studio.
“Having worked in the Hollywood system for many years, I know all too well how an original concept can get quickly watered down in an effort to appeal to the masses,” he writes on the campaign’s Indiegogo page. “This film is a way for me to reconnect with my filmmaking roots and retain a level of creative control that would otherwise be impossible in today’s filmmaking environment.”
The Indiegogo campaign, which is live now, is seeking $25,000 to cover online casting, development, marketing, and more. Contributors have the option of giving as little as $5, which will earn them downloadable promo images and their name on the film’s website. On the other end of the spectrum, those who donate $5,000 will get an associate producer credit, a personalized director’s chair, dinner with Myrick, and more.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.