When filmmaker William Webb decided to enter the 2025 Public Domain Day Film Remix Contest, he didn’t expect to walk away with an honorable mention. What began as a playful experiment with home movie footage turned into something that blended humor, history and personal reflection.

The resulting project, titled Hoffmann’s Honeymoon, combines 1920s home movies with audio from early Hollywood films that recently entered the public domain. The final product feels both intimate and theatrical, a creative remix that celebrates the quirks of ordinary life through the lens of old film.

“I really liked the tension between the Hollywood fiction films, made for a public audience, and the Hoffmann home movies, made for a private audience,” Webb said. “Well, I’m not sure Hoffmann originally made them for any audience other than his family, but that just makes it more fun to transform them into a lightly narrative story.”

The project leans on the unique charm of home movies, a form of filmmaking often dismissed as amateur or insignificant. Webb, however, sees them as rich with historical and emotional texture. “I love home movies as they provide an insight into ordinary lives at the time of their making,” he said. “You don’t just see the families portrayed, but also how they could produce their own films.”

In Hoffmann’s case, that includes lenticular footage, an early method to simulate color. Webb noted how difficult it is to reproduce that look today. So, rather than use it, he focused on more traditional black-and-white segments. “I avoided using the lenticular footage as the vertical lines present throughout felt distracting without explaining them in-video,” he said.

The decision to layer in audio from vintage public domain films gave Hoffmann’s Honeymoon a distinct narrative voice—quite literally. Webb said the idea came from learning that Hoffmann himself used to screen his films for social clubs and narrate them live, often with humor. Webb took that concept and modernized it by pulling clips from early talkies.

“I liked the idea of taking that intent and lining it up with films of the era,” Webb said. “Using these early talkies to provide that narration.”

Some of the pairings between footage and dialogue came together through planning. Others just clicked. Webb, who is getting married this year, drew inspiration from the romance plots in the featured films and allowed those ideas to steer the project toward a loose wedding narrative. One moment stood out.

“The image of a little girl inside a redwood also jumped out as a way to bring home ownership into it,” he said. “Thanks to the plot of The Cocoanuts.”

When asked what kind of mood he was trying to create, Webb said his goal was celebration. “As with all the Public Domain Day films, the intent was to make something celebratory and playful—embracing the spirit of public domain!”

That sense of play is everywhere in the edit. He didn’t polish away the rawness of the original home movies. In fact, he leaned into it.

“I largely worked to embrace those raw elements,” Webb said. “I think that unvarnished feel is an interesting contrast to the at-the-time cutting edge talkies.”

Despite the strong sense of story, Webb admitted he knew little about the Hoffmann family. “I have absolutely no idea of the stories behind Hoffmann’s home movies,” he said. “Which in a way was nice—it meant I could create wholly new associations…without preconception.”

One moment that surprised even Webb was a line from The Great Gabbo paired with a man who appeared frequently in the home footage. The line was, “Ha ha ha, how comical.”

“Gabbo is a ventriloquist dummy, so very unanimated,” he said. “Mixing this with this real gentleman’s hysterical facial expressions is a great source of joy for me.”

Still, there were challenges. Webb had to avoid what he calls “fishbowling” — laying audio over moments when Hoffmann’s subjects were visibly speaking. “I didn’t want to present it as if the people on screen were the sources of the dialogue,” he said. “The lines are supposed to build a narrative around what’s happening, not pretend those people are speaking.”

Asked what he might like to remix next, Webb pointed to another genre: vintage educational films. “A fusion of instructional films with fiction films would be great fun,” he said.

Reflecting on the historical value of home movies, Webb said they capture moments that Hollywood often overlooks. “When someone points a camera at something, they imbue it with a sort of importance,” he said. “Home movies show a very personal view of the world.”

He spoke fondly of a recurring element in Hoffmann’s reels: pets. Dogs, cats, Boston terriers. “This sort of thing makes home movies feel very tender to me,” he said.

Webb sees a link between past and present. Today’s smartphone videos and vlogs, he said, are part of a modern evolution of the home movie. In 2019, he guest-curated a home movies program for Sheffield Doc/Fest that included both archival clips and YouTube vlogs.

“Phone cameras have made filming way easier than ever before,” he said. “And my hope is that many of these recordings will also be archived for future generations.”

So, what would he tell someone with old family footage collecting dust in a box?

“Get them scanned and see what’s on there,” he said. “You never know what your relatives recorded, but you do know they thought it important enough to focus a lens on.”

Working on Hoffmann’s Honeymoon left Webb with a deeper appreciation for home videos, including his own. “It made me grateful for the recordings I have of my family and friends,” he said.

One scene in particular stayed with him: a moment where Hoffmann kisses his wife. That intimacy helped Webb realize just how personal home movies can be.

“And I’ve filmed my dog a lot,” he said with a laugh. “So, it’s good to see I’m in a long line of home movie makers who want to make sure their family pets are included.”

Webb, who works as a video essayist, is currently working on a new commission for Little White Lies, a British film magazine. He is also developing a multi-screen installation piece centered on The X-Files. It is currently awaiting funding.

As for public domain remix projects? He’s open to the next idea. So long as it’s surprising, strange or sentimental.

Just like a good home movie.