Ron Howard, Canon photo contest for film

Moviemaker Ron Howard and Canon USA Inc. are working together to create what Canon calls "the first user-generated photo contest in history to ultimately inspire a Hollywood short film."

The film will be shot with Canon digital single-lens-reflex products.

Canon's interactive, user-participation marketing campaign, titled "Long Live Imagination," was launched Sunday when Howard and Canon, which is based in Lake Success, invited photographers to send their most imaginative photos based on a series of movie themes.

Details are at the project's

youtube.com/imagination website. So far, there are eight theme suggestions for photos: setting, time, character, mood, relationship, goal, obstacle, and the unknown.