This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The latest from local filmmaker Josh Gibson has received an outsize share of the internet's attention despite minimal editing and a stunt that Gibson did not intend and would dare not repeat.
Sunday, Facebook automatically produced a whimsical video from the images of a frightening car wreck that Gibson — having been "extremely, super crazy lucky" to survive — was preparing to send to a Facebook group that includes his family.
The scatman score and cartoon flourishes gave him a giggle that he felt compelled to share with the world — an ever-welcome example, for those of living flesh, of algorithms gone wrong.
"It probably just saw cars and thought, 'Oh, he's car shopping,'" said Gibson, 28.
His absurd video had more than 580,000 views on YouTube as of midday Monday and had graced the front page of the popular internet site Reddit.
The Provo resident had been en route to pick up equipment in Salt Lake City on Friday and was merging onto the freeway when his Toyota 4Runner was struck from behind by a vehicle that he believes was traveling at a speed upward of 90 mph.
Gibson's 4Runner went sideways and rolled — a trailing driver later told him that Gibson's 4Runner grazed his hood as it flipped over his car. The 4Runner finally landed on its roof and skidded for a few hundred feet before it stopped.
Gibson said emergency personnel told him they were astounded that he wasn't more badly hurt. The extent of his injuries: a sore neck, bruised shin and laceration on his left elbow that he thinks he sustained protecting his head after the sunroof shattered and he was showered by hot sparks.
But was nonetheless sad to see his "beautiful" 1999 4Runner "crumpled and totaled." He'd bought the car used a few years ago and just had finished paying it off in the last month, he said, receiving the title in the mail two days before the crash.
Gibson is a co-founder of Give Back Films and is working on documentary and freelance projects, he said.
Twitter: @matthew_piper