Welcome to shaky cam 2.0. Writer-director Nacho Vigalondo doesn’t have a character running around “Open Windows” with a camera in his hand, but he does have one in the midst of a Skype-type call, another with an active iPhone camera, an abundance of security camera perspectives and more. Think you’ve seen those point-of-views before? Perhaps, but not just via a laptop screen.

Nick (Elijah Wood) runs JillGoddard-Caught.com, a website that offers an endless stream of photos of Hollywood starlet, Jill Goddard (Sasha Grey). Under the impression he’s won a fan contest and will get to have dinner with Jill, Nick flies to Austin, Texas to meet her while she tours with her latest film. Trouble is, just before he heads out the door for their date, he gets a Skype call from someone named Chord (Neil Maskell) who’s got some bad news; Jill can’t make it anymore. Nick isn’t happy and neither is Chord, but whereas Nick is ready to pack up and head home disappointed, Chord is enraged and insists on making the trip worth Nick’s while so he gives Nick access to Jill’s cell phone, a view of her hotel room and more amounting to an all-access pass to her life.

With “Open Windows” making its world premiere in SXSW’s Visions program, Vigalondo and Wood were both in town to talk about the movie. We discussed what inspired Vigalondo to take on the challenge, the immense amount of preparation the shooting technique required, how the format affected Wood’s performance, and more, and you can catch it all in the video interview below.

By Perri Nemiroff