LONDON -- Remember Charlie Lyne, the British filmmaker who created that Kickstarter last year with the goal of forcing the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to watch a lengthy film about paint drying?
Well, he succeeded. A total of 686 people helped Lyne raise an impressive £5,963 ($8,486) in the end, which meant he had enough money to send film censors 10 hours and seven minutes of glorious paint drying footage (the BBFC charge per minute, which meant that each £8.51 Lyne received tacked another minute on to the films run-time).
"I was amazed, not just by the amount raised but by the sheer number of people who got involved from all around the world," Lyne told Mashable.
"I wasn't sure whether the project would mean much to people outside of the British film industry, let alone outside of the UK, but censorship seems to be a fairly universal concept, sadly."
'Paint Drying' has been delivered to the BBFC: https://t.co/UTaPUfvIQF pic.twitter.com/wRoCycFgKS— Charlie Lyne (@charlielyne) January 20, 2016
The BBFC received the footage and dutifully planned for two examiners to watch the film in its entirety on Jan. 25 and 26 (they're only allowed to do nine hours per day, meaning they were required to spread it over two days). By the time you read this, two no-doubt sleepy BBFC employees will be starting the process of taking notes and coming up with a certificate for Lyne's film.
Today's the day: two BBFC examiners are currently watching 'Paint Drying'. AMA: https://t.co/weVqKBnZzf pic.twitter.com/tTsS15176P— Charlie Lyne (@charlielyne) January 25, 2016
Lyne started the project to protest film censorship and the BBFC's role in deciding what the public can and can't view. When asked about the BBFC's reaction, he said that the process of submitting the film was all very smooth and polite.
"I've heard a few rumblings of internal discussions through friends of friends but I think they've decided it's best if they don't directly comment on it, which is fair enough," he said.
Lyne started a Reddit AMA on Monday to discuss his protest. His thread quickly drummed up hundreds of comments and shot to the top of the /r/IAMA subreddit.
Wow, top of /r/IAMA! Take that 'Astronaut Scott Kelly, currently spending a year in space'. pic.twitter.com/EYGP9CKsyb— Charlie Lyne (@charlielyne) January 25, 2016
"It's strange," Lyne continued. "I've had a lot of responses along the lines of, 'I hope you're happy knowing those poor souls will to have to endure such misery,' but also, 'ha, joke's on you, you've given them the day off.' It's one way or the other, surely?
"In truth, those 10 hours are really just the catalyst for everything else: people reading about and joining the protest; people questioning (or defending) the role of the BBFC; this conversation we're having right now."
So after the censors are done with it, what's next for Paint Drying?
"I've been talking to a cinema in London about showing the film, but as somebody pointed out on Reddit yesterday, I shouldn't even be thinking about screening it until I have the approval of the BBFC," Lyne said.
"Like all British filmmakers, I'm at their mercy."
Mashable has reached out to the BBFC for comment and we will update this article when we receive a response.
UPDATED 12:35 26 JANUARY: The BBFC has responded to Mashable and sent the following statement:
"The BBFC will classify the film as it would any other submission. With regards to the motives behind making the film (as a protest against censorship and fees for classification), the BBFC was set up in 1912 by the film industry itself, as an independent body to bring a degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally.
The BBFC is a non-profit organisation that works to protect children, from content which might raise harm risks and to empower the public, especially parents, to make informed viewing choices. It implements Classification Guidelines that reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research.
The BBFC respects the principle of adult free choice, but will still intervene where required by the law or where in our view there is a credible harm risk. Both the free choice principle and these limited exceptions are supported by the public, and also reflect our statutory duties.
The BBFC's income is derived solely from the fees it charges for its services, calculated by measuring the running time of films, DVDs/videos and other works submitted for classification. Film makers wishing to show their films at cinemas in the UK without a BBFC certificate may do so with permission from the local authority for the area in which the cinema is located."
When asked about their reaction to receiving Paint Drying, a BBFC spokesperson said that the submission was received and scheduled just like any other submission.
"Examiners are required to watch a very wide variety of content every day, so this didn't phase them," they said.
UPDATED 12:50 26 JANUARY: The BBFC has released the official classification for Paint Drying.
PAINT DRYING (U) no material likely to offend or harm https://t.co/pBgqyxy8c4— BBFC (@BBFC) January 26, 2016
Sorry everyone, I should really have put a spoiler tag on that. pic.twitter.com/sXK3jgRqG1— Charlie Lyne (@charlielyne) January 26, 2016
£5,936 well spent. pic.twitter.com/DKfufcr4qk— Charlie Lyne (@charlielyne) January 26, 2016