Best way to schedule 48 hour film competition?

[FilmmakerG]

Hey

Me and a few of my friends want to do a few 48 hour film competitions, just between ourselves, this year and I was wondering what is the best way to break down the two days. More specificlly how much time should I allow for each process of filmmaking?

If anyone is unfamiliar with a 48 hour film competition then here's rules from a company that run this competition all around the world: http://www.48hourfilm.com/filmmakers/rules-filmmaking.php

Thanks

George


__________________________________
www.youtube.com/FilmmakerG

 

[directorik]

Thanks Michael. I decided to do a musical because I had the talent available to me.

I have been asked to do a feature Halloween musical now because of that little project.

 

[Scoopicman]

Check out our musical entry (I'm the dude with long hair):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziQynJBPho0&feature=player_embedded

A little long and self-referencial, but well done! I thought the lyrics were pretty clever and I liked the "out of sync" bit.

 

[Scoopicman]

The DVD’s were out the door at 6PM for the 7PM deadline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_zkw4nPuw4

What's funny about this one is you can tell you were ready for most of the genres - Horror, Western, Suspense, Comedy, Holiday, Musical, Historical Fiction, etc.! I'm guessing if you drew Road Movie, the car would have broken down at this location, too!

Length: 9:45? How did you get away with that?

 

[Scoopicman]

Amazing advice from everyone, thanks.
...............I guess it's all about pre and post production.

BTW, my favorite 48 Hour Film was shot in one take! That's hard to do and keep things interesting, but not putting down a tripod and lighting every single shot would save a lot of time. Would have to be well planned, blocked and rehearsed. Here is that movie:

YARD SALE


The actors are great in that.

 

[Scoopicman]

Here's our progression:
-2006 Curtain Call - http://www.yafiunderground.com/Video/curtain.mov
-2007 9th Life - http://www.yafiunderground.com/Video/9thLife-LB-final.mov
-2008 Extra Credit - http://www.yafiunderground.com/Video/EC-web.mov
-2009 Blaze of Glory - http://yafiunderground.com/Video/bog-festival-ws.mov

I almost skipped CURTAIN CALL, based on your comments. But, in a lot of ways, it was better than the next 2 movies. Though the pace and ending is low-key, it had a score and felt more finished than 9TH LIFE. The music, with the pitch bend bell sounds and synth strings, bore a very close resemblence to the Playstation game, ALIEN TRILOGY, which is a sound I really like. I thought that there were some cool silhouetted shots of the killer. I also noticed an impressive number of camera setups and cuts.


9TH LIFE was uneven and had hit and miss ideas - kid getting weedwhacked - miss. However, the part where they put the cat box in the street was brilliant!! (My favorite part of all 4 movies!) The flying hubcap was great. I thought the rocket idea could have been better, by simply speeding the shots up by 400% or so. Also, a highpass filter at 500khz or higher would sell the end phone voice (most editing programs have it).


I felt that EXTRA CREDIT needed more closeups, tighter editing and more stage business from the actors. For instance, I would have liked to see more reactions; perhaps the husband sipping a beer and coughing, as he started hearing more details of his wife and her student. Music could have helped smooth the restaurant sequence, too. The concept of controversy and mixed company was interesting though.


BLAZE OF GLORY was definitely the best, overall. Some smooth camera movement, especially the funny shot where the protagonist is spilling is guts to the janitor, who pulls off the headphones, revealing that he didn't hear a word! Classic! Reminded me a little of 9TH LIFE, where each attempt fails, with disasterous results. The pacing and actor delivery were much improved, and the end had a real punctuation to it.

 

[M1chae1]

BTW, my favorite 48 Hour Film was shot in one take! That's hard to do and keep things interesting, but not putting down a tripod and lighting every single shot would save a lot of time. Would have to be well planned, blocked and rehearsed. Here is that movie:

YARD SALE


The actors are great in that.

Hey man, very well done. That was great. Very well executed. Love the concept. Not to mention your actors were awesome.

We did the same thing with one of our 48s...one shot. Not only that, but we actually had flashbacks involved...as the camera would pan to another room in the house, the actors that were just cut would RUN off camera and change clothing, then pretty much exactly the time they were done changing, the camera would come back to them as a flashback...there were several of these changes in the film...very difficult.

Here it is: Lakeshore

 

[knightly]

I almost skipped CURTAIN CALL, based on your comments. But, in a lot of ways, it was better than the next 2 movies. Though the pace and ending is low-key, it had a score and felt more finished than 9TH LIFE. The music, with the pitch bend bell sounds and synth strings, bore a very close resemblence to the Playstation game, ALIEN TRILOGY, which is a sound I really like. I thought that there were some cool silhouetted shots of the killer. I also noticed an impressive number of camera setups and cuts.

I'm actually really proud of alot of the cinematography in this one for being the first one we tried. The music was fun (done by a friend of mine, the creepy tinkly, scratchy sounds are generated on my old '57 Tiesco Del Ray Blues guitar... and lots of reverb

9TH LIFE was uneven and had hit and miss ideas - kid getting weedwhacked - miss. However, the part where they put the cat box in the street was brilliant!! (My favorite part of all 4 movies!) The flying hubcap was great. I thought the rocket idea could have been better, by simply speeding the shots up by 400% or so. Also, a highpass filter at 500khz or higher would sell the end phone voice (most editing programs have it).

I blame myself for the kid getting weed whacked, as we were trying for a complex dolly counter move shot that didn't work at all (but we tried - the dolly was made the night before for this shoot). I am also really happy with the slow push into the catbox on the street. We ran out of time for the rocket thing and just lashed a scene together quickly to get it done.

I felt that EXTRA CREDIT needed more closeups, tighter editing and more stage business from the actors. For instance, I would have liked to see more reactions; perhaps the husband sipping a beer and coughing, as he started hearing more details of his wife and her student. Music could have helped smooth the restaurant sequence, too. The concept of controversy and mixed company was interesting though.

The lack of closeups was mostly due to almost losing the location as we were filming. The location owners' wife hadn't been told that we would be there and told us to leave. As the producers went upstairs to talk to them and see what we could work out, they gave me the sign to speed up (non-verbal from working at the fencing booth together to set pace for the show based on the amount of customers in line). I quickly pulled my AD and DP aside and sliced all of the shots that were not masters or 2 shots... then we shot the masters first in case we lost the location entirely before we could get the rest in so we had SOMETHING to edit. I really enjoyed the concept of that one quite a bit and the writing group was pretty solid.

BLAZE OF GLORY was definitely the best, overall. Some smooth camera movement, especially the funny shot where the protagonist is spilling is guts to the janitor, who pulls off the headphones, revealing that he didn't hear a word! Classic! Reminded me a little of 9TH LIFE, where each attempt fails, with disasterous results. The pacing and actor delivery were much improved, and the end had a real punctuation to it.

Thanks, we've been using all of the shoots to improve, and it's paying off (it just takes alot of time and effort to get there). This progression is one of the reason I'm a big advocate of people jsut starting out who have no clue what they're getting themselves into

This is, BTW, the most critique we've gotten from outside the group, so thank you for that I always appreciate constructive criticism that helps me improve.

 

[directorik]

What's funny about this one is you can tell you were ready for most of the genres - Horror, Western, Suspense, Comedy, Holiday, Musical, Historical Fiction, etc.! I'm guessing if you drew Road Movie, the car would have broken down at this location, too!

Length: 9:45? How did you get away with that?

Oh yeah, we were prepared. No matter what we picked we were doing
a musical. And no matter what we picked we were shooting at that
location. It's actually really big place with a lot of variations so
just about anything can be shot there.

To keep it at 7 minutes I did a lot of trimming, cut pieces out of
songs and ran shorter credits over much of the final number. It
was still quite good but the version I posted was before the cuts
for the competition. The 105 second credit reduces the cut to 8
minutes so there wasn't really much to cut out.

 

[Scoopicman]

Hey man, very well done. That was great. Very well executed. Love the concept. Not to mention your actors were awesome.

I wish I made YARDSALE, but that was someone else. Still my favorite, though.

We did the same thing with one of our 48s...one shot. Not only that, but we actually had flashbacks involved...as the camera would pan to another room in the house, the actors that were just cut would RUN off camera and change clothing, then pretty much exactly the time they were done changing, the camera would come back to them as a flashback...there were several of these changes in the film...very difficult.

Here it is: Lakeshore

Wow, that took some serious coordination! Great job.

Thanks, we've been using all of the shoots to improve, and it's paying off (it just takes alot of time and effort to get there). This progression is one of the reason I'm a big advocate of people jsut starting out who have no clue what they're getting themselves into

Exactly! You learn by doing. I've heard people say that shorts are a waste of time, but that couldn't be further from the truth, if you actually care about getting better. Making any movie is like its own film school. Certainly, there is a difference between sustaining an interesting idea for a 90 minute feature and making a short, but shorts will teach you most of the technique and the basics of storytelling. The audience response is always very telling, as well. You see what works and what doesn't.

This is, BTW, the most critique we've gotten from outside the group, so thank you for that I always appreciate constructive criticism that helps me improve.

Sure thing. I owed you for that detailed breakdown you gave for EXILE!

This is where you separate the hardcores from the lightweights! I, too, have been hoping for musical the past two years but ended up with mystery and then detective. Boring...

"Boring," if you let it be so. I love sci-fi, horror, thriller, but of course, I couldn't get lucky enough to draw those genres. I had the same feeling (boring) about ending up with Spy and Historical Fiction, but when it was over, I was happy about how we handled them.

The great thing about doing 48 Hour is that if forces you to think on your feet, by taking on subjects you never would have considered doing. It's funny how many "good" filmmakers I know, who cannot handle the pressure of one of these. Some of these guys won't settle for less than a perfect take and months of pre-planning, so they can't handle it. In a way, it separates the doers from the talkers.