8.24.2010

I made a movie

This past weekend I made a movie, as part of the 48 Hour Film Fest.
This was my fourth year doing the film fest. The first year I helped write and had the tiniest sliver of screen time. The second year I helped write and was 'script girl' and we made a hilarious film. Last year the experience was different. I'm not going to trash talk here, but let's just say it prompted me to  start my own team this year. And I really enjoyed it.

The thing is, I can't really tell you what this years film was about. Well, not yet anyway. The 48HFF literally gives you 48 hours (OK, it's actually around 49.5 hours if you want to get super technical) to make a movie, start to finish. You have to write, cast, film and edit the whole thing in just two days. It starts Friday night at 6 where the teams draw a genre. There are several you can get, everything from Buddy Film, Romance and Horror to Western/Musical, Mockumentary and Silent Film.
We drew Comedy. Which can be really difficult. There is [in my opinion] a general consensus on what is scary or sweet, but funny? That is very much open to interpretation.
In addition to your genre, everyone is given three parameters you must work within. We are given a character, prop and line of dialogue that must make it into the film. These pieces help prevent anyone from trying to 'work ahead.'
For Little Rock this year, 
the Character was Geoff or Georgia Cooke, a camp counselor.
The prop was a tire or wheel.
And the line was, "Here we go again."

We had a few thoughts prior to starting and most of them got tossed out the window once we got our genre and character/prop/line requirements. But one tiny thing held on. But, I can't tell you about that. Not now at least.
But soon.
I will write a post on Monday that dishes all the hilarious details.
So, here are the things that I will reveal:
 I had a ton of fun. I got to write the movie with my friend and fellow blogger, Audreya. We had some awesome acting by Lauren Clark and Pat Bradley (as well as several others). And great filming and editing. Plus a kick-ass soundtrack by David at Soundscapes.

We did run into a tiny problem that resulted in our almost not turning the movie in on time. I was going to be driving the movie to the drop off. Tyler and I had the following conversation at 7:15 (the movie was due at 7:30).
Tyler: You drive a maxima?
Me: Altima.
Tyler: Good. Have any speeding tickets?
Me: No.
Tyler: Good. Go get in your car.

Jon ran the movie out to me a few minutes later and I hauled ass. I mean, I drove very safely and within the speed limit. I got mostly greens down Chester street. Until I hit one red. No big deal. My foot on the gas pedal, I was ready to go. I was watching the lights for the other direction, waiting to see the yellow and then the red. And then, two guys decided to cross the street in front of me. So now I'm watching the light and watching them.
I guess they thought I liked what I saw because they started yelling at me, "Hey Baby! How you doing?!"
I hoped that they would move because I was punching the gas when it turned green, whether they were there or not.
Luckily, they moved. I made it to the drop off with about five minutes to spare. BUT you have to have not one copy, but two copies of your movie turned in. I went out to the parking lot and waited for our back up to arrive. I grabbed it out of Jon's hand and ran through the lobby. There was a group of people about to do an interview. I ran between them and the camera. I didn't care, I could see the guy at the table. And at this point, he is holding a stopwatch and looking pretty serious. I practically threw the disk at him. He smiled and said, "You're good."
I turned around and the camera that was once pointed at the group was now pointed squarely at me.
I was 'that girl.' The 'late girl.'
Whatever. I made it. When it comes to viewing and awards, they don't care if you were first or last to turn it in, just so long as it made it.
If you're local and want to check it out, our movie will be showing this Friday night at the Riverdale 10 at 7 p.m. Ours will be the first one. I'm a bit nervous.
For the rest of you, I'll try to get a link up early next week.

3 comments:

  1. Have I mentioned how excited I am? Or how much fun I had? I also can't wait until Monday to do a big post about it. Plus, I have enjoyed saying "I co-wrote a movie this weekend. What did you do? The laundry? SNOOZE!!" :-)

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  2. I can't wait to see this! I bet it was super fun! I should have done a movie of the Ragnar!

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  3. I wish i could tell you that there wasn't a problem and i was just sweating you at 7, but it was real - really real.

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