Just did the Boston 48hr

[Uranium City]

I think the true test of a 48 Hour Film in strictly filmic terms is how well it holds up after the competition, standing alone. If you've made a great film, and it sounds like M1chael has and I can't wait to see it, it'll have a life beyond the competition. You blow them away at traditional festivals with your awesome movie and THEN you blow them away again when they learn it was made in 48 hours. But the competition itself (at least in areas apart from Hollywood) is more like playing kiddie t-ball on a team with Babe Ruth..."everyone wins, yea! But did you see that one kid who kept hitting home runs? HE'S got a future."

Also keep in mind you can always fix your film after the competition ends...add to it, subtract from it, further clean up the audio. If it's meant to have a life afterwards, you can tweak it forever. I'm still tweaking my entry from last summer before entering a few festivals this summer.

Challenge yourself, get it done before time expires even if it could be fixed further, see what magic you can make according to their rules.

 

[M1chae1]

Absolutely Uranium...we are going to tweak it up a bit after the festival's end. A little color correction (which we didn't have time for), a bit more audio tweaking, an ADR addition. Surprisingly though, it's pretty damn polished for any time frame, let alone 48hrs...which is what we wanted to screen.

Now sits the decision...do we submit it to festival, or expound on it? I'm not at liberty to say at this juncture. I will say one thing...this puppy has legs.

And honestly...we didn't miss the time frame because of the quality we produced. If anything we missed the deadline because of computer issues...but hey, it was 15 minutes...we shouldn't have missed it at all, you know? Whatever. Not one person on the team (around 15 of us) was upset...good vibes regardless.

 

[Uranium City]

Now sits the decision...do we submit it to festival, or expound on it? I'm not at liberty to say at this juncture. I will say one thing...this puppy has legs.

And honestly...we didn't miss the time frame because of the quality we produced. If anything we missed the deadline because of computer issues...but hey, it was 15 minutes...we shouldn't have missed it at all, you know? Whatever. Not one person on the team (around 15 of us) was upset...good vibes regardless.

That's awesome! I can't wait to see it. One thing is certain...the amount of adrenaline involved usually equals a good time had by all. One of the most fun projects I've ever been involved with. Do you know if you're going to upload to 48.tv yourselves or wait for them to do it? I can't wait to see it. Here's what we turned in last summer: http://vimeo.com/2329708 (the audio is pretty crummy in this copy, but please bear with). We figure as soon as the judges saw we decided to shoot B+W they pretty much looked the other way. It certainly generated the most discussion, though.

 

[CeraGraves]

In a way you two are pretty fortunate. You should see the Los Angeles entries....

The LA entries must be though competition! I am very thankful in that regard...

But atleast you're entertained and get your money's worth when going to see them as apposed to being subjected to a 5min film that feels like a 50min film because you just want it to be over so badly. lol

 

[CeraGraves]

They should have their own 'competition.' I know I know...that's lame of me to say. But there has to be a way to make the playing fields at least some-what level.

Maybe a budget restriction?

Perhaps it's just not possible to create rules and disallow teams based on production commodities at hand and budget.

I completely disagree, who says that the LA films have higher budgets to begin with anyway? Better equipment and more experience, yes, but there's no way to judge that the budget would be.

I'm sure the audience thought that your film had a budget, when the only cost was feeding people, just like the one I did. They would just know how to made a kick ass film regardless of the budget - and if they're willing to spend thousands of dollars or whatever on a little 48 film, then let them go right ahead, that's their progitive - if they really want it that bad then go ahead, but they'll probably spend more than they win lol!

If you want to make the playingfield level, then the groups that we were in shouldn't be competeing with some of thegroups we saw last night - we should be in a more competitive level - perhaps even with those films with budgets.

To me, one of the bigest parts of the 48 is to test how far you're willing to go and what you're will to do and how far you'll push yourself to do it - so if someone wants to spend money on it, that's all just part of the competition....



On the other hand - I do think that there should be a stipulation regarding the eligibility of certain people to take part in the compeition - mainly those who are affiliated with the competition itself. I dunno if anyone else has run into this problem, but last year in Providence the team that won was directed by the head of the RIFC - the RIFC runs the 48hr in Providence, so they know the character, the prop, and the line ahead of time plus they create the wild card genres (which that team chose to go for)--- coincidence?

And then they accused our team of cheating because we made costumes.....

 

[M1chae1]

On the other hand - I do think that there should be a stipulation regarding the eligibility of certain people to take part in the compeition - mainly those who are affiliated with the competition itself. I dunno if anyone else has run into this problem, but last year in Providence the team that won was directed by the head of the RIFC - the RIFC runs the 48hr in Providence, so they know the character, the prop, and the line ahead of time plus they create the wild card genres (which that team chose to go for)--- coincidence?

And then they accused our team of cheating because we made costumes.....

Yup. Sarah's not lying...it's true. The very people that put together the Providence 48hr, were part of the team that won Best Film. We know several people that sent them scathing emails about how unprofessional that is, and how the term 'conflict of interest' obviously means nothing to them.

Their film did look good, I'll give them that...but hey, they new the character, prop, and line of dialog before anyone else. Plus, like Sarah said they new what the wildcards were, and they just so happened to pick that. Who freakin knows, they might have been filming this for days before the event. And I also find it very interesting that their opening title sequence was super slick...not something you see in a 48hr. I mean, they could have had a designer working on it the whole time...still...it's fishy. They shouldn't even have entered the competition...straight up.

Rigged baby! Rigged! lol.

 

[Zensteve]

Dang, that's a bit of a raw deal.

It's pretty much a standard disclaimer that any competition/lotto/raffle/contest cannot be entered by those affiliated with it.

Not cool. Not cool at all.

 

[Coldhitz]

I completely disagree, who says that the LA films have higher budgets to begin with anyway? Better equipment and more experience, yes, but there's no way to judge that the budget would be.

I'm sure the audience thought that your film had a budget, when the only cost was feeding people, just like the one I did. They would just know how to made a kick ass film regardless of the budget - and if they're willing to spend thousands of dollars or whatever on a little 48 film, then let them go right ahead, that's their progitive - if they really want it that bad then go ahead, but they'll probably spend more than they win lol!

If you want to make the playingfield level, then the groups that we were in shouldn't be competeing with some of thegroups we saw last night - we should be in a more competitive level - perhaps even with those films with budgets.

To me, one of the bigest parts of the 48 is to test how far you're willing to go and what you're will to do and how far you'll push yourself to do it - so if someone wants to spend money on it, that's all just part of the competition....



On the other hand - I do think that there should be a stipulation regarding the eligibility of certain people to take part in the compeition - mainly those who are affiliated with the competition itself. I dunno if anyone else has run into this problem, but last year in Providence the team that won was directed by the head of the RIFC - the RIFC runs the 48hr in Providence, so they know the character, the prop, and the line ahead of time plus they create the wild card genres (which that team chose to go for)--- coincidence?

And then they accused our team of cheating because we made costumes.....

I am thinking of getting into the mix at the Dallas competition this year . That makes me wanna leave it for others , as this calls into question the integrity of those behind the competition . I wonder if this has been an issue in other cities or was a single occurrence ?