Seeking Advice. First Project. 48hr-film contest.

M

Mannie Bothans

This year I wanted to join a team in a 48hr film project competition, and the nearest one to me is about two hours from where I live. It starts July 25th.

Then my 12 year old son found out about it and wanted to have a major role in doing one. I have always wanted to produce something that I could show to this community. I have learned so much from every here. Everyone has been so helpful to me. I feel like I take and take… and never give anything back. I want to finally learn by doing and share what I’ve learned. So I decided to take the plunge and form my own team so that my son and I can do this as a father and son experience.

So now, I need to assemble a cast and crew from scratch, with no experience doing any filmmaking before. Yes, I’m crazy. (My wife has already established that.) I need to find an editor, some sound people, a music person, actors, everything.

So-- what advice would you have for such a total newb?

Any advice at all, about any step in the pre-prod-or-post process of a 48 hr competition is welcome.

I know that if I can’t find an experienced editor (or even if I can) I need to get more experience with workflow to know exactly how long a finished short will take to cut render and burn, etc. Did I mention I need to find a good editor?

I know I want to try to do everything in one location that can double for many locations-- the only problem is, the competition dropoff (and all of the actors I have thus-far recruited) are in Louisville-- and I live 1.5 hours away in Lexington. I don’t know as many location options in Louisville as I do in Lexington.

I know I need to do as much planning and prepwork as I can (as much as rules allow) in advance. Locations, cast crew, equipment, etc.

I know I need to plan backup contingency plans and need to be flexible.

I’d like to start editing while still in production. Did I mention I need to find a good editor?

My wife is going to handle all of the food for us because I know I need to feed my cast and crew regularly. Lots of coffee, soft drinks, water, protein, nutrients, etc. She is also going to handle all of the requisite paperwork.

I need to find someone with a good audio track-record. Right now I don’t even have anyone who can swing boom on set, let alone mix music, dialogue, foley/sfx, etc. I don’t have a composer, or even anyone who could DAW-up enough with royalty-free stuff. Did I mention I need to find a great audio team?

I’d like to plan well enough that different people can be doing different things at different times, so that some members of the team could get a few winks-o-nappage.

Multi-camera is only an option for me if I plan for it way in advance and find and order one just like the one I have early on.

I know some people cheat and write scripts for each genre ahead of time and tweak them with the prop/dialogue a go-time, but I am really proud of the integrity of my son. He said, “Where’s the fun in that. I want to see what we can do within the rules. We’re beginners, it’s gonna look like crap anyway. Let’s just have fun and do our best.” He’s 12 years old. Did I mention I was proud of my son?

The possible genres are:
Comedy
Dark Comedy
Drama
Film Noir
Film de Femme
Fish Out of Water
Horror
Musical or Western
Road Movie
Romance
Sci Fi
Silent Film
Thriller/Suspense
Time Travel

My 12 year-old will help write the script/improv scenario outlines and maybe appear on camera. My wife would function as 2ndAD, craft service, and HMA. I have a 6-year-old daughter that would be happy if we called her production assistant. :) I have two actors that have some experience in the industry.

I also own a small smattering of gear, including a Canon XF100 home video camera, which is all I have really ever had experience with. I have a cheap Proaim Mattebox (but no filters to use in it yet), a cheap little opteka steadyvid thing for going handheld. I have a Manfrotto 504 head on 546BK sticks. I will probably want to rent a little slider and some grip gear, but I haven’t even looked into the possibility of renting stuff around here. I don’t have a dolly, jib, or anything else really. I need to buy lots more batteries for everything, as well as more CF cards, etc.

For audio I own a Sennheiser MKH 50 hypercardiod mic for indoor shooting, a Rode NTG-3 mic for outdoors, a 9′ boompole, a rode blimp with wombat cover, and a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones. The XF100 also has XLRs, but I also have a SoundDevices 702.

For extremely soft light I own a "CowboyStudio 4500 Watt Photo Studio Lighting Softbox Video Light Kit" (each of the 15 bulbs is an 85W CFL... 300W equiv w/ 5,600 lumens... and each of the three fixtures support five bulbs each-- so each softbox is a 1500W-equivalent source with really short throw)... and I also acquired an OLD, used, tungsten set that included a junior2k, a baby650, and a mini200-- all mole-richardson fresnels, but I need to switch out the plugs before I can even test them to see if they work, and I don't yet have ANY c-stands, sandbags, flags, scrims, cutters, silks, barn doors, or other support grip gear that we'd need to make good use of or even mount the heavy fresnels.

For editing my home computer is getting more dated every second. It is a Windows 7 64bit, with Intel i7 4.5GHz processor, and 32 Gig DDR3, a 240GB SSD, four Western Digital 1TB 7200rpm SATAs in 2 Raid 0 config, GeForce GTX 670 card, w/a Blackmagic Design Intensity Shuttle Capture Device, a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 for audio, one Asus PA248Q 24" video monitor, with two KRK RP8 speakers, and the Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, with After Effects, Audition, SpeedGrade, etc., and RedGiant TrapCode Suite.

I have been collecting all of this equipment every birthday, Christmas, etc for I-don’t-know-how-long… but I don't really know how to use any of it well. This crash course will be a recipe for disaster, but we are gonna give it a go.

I will probably end up functioning as UPM, Line Producer, Director, and if we couldn't find anyone else to do it, also the DP, Camera Operator, Focus Puller, etc.

I’d like to find more actors who are flexible and willing to be a part of the organic process from the
beginning, and jump in and play grip/sparky etc. I also need to secure some wicked cool location (or different location possibilities for different genres) that would streamlines the set design-- just didn't look like someone's house, or a busy public park. I also need an editor. Did I mention I need to find someone who knows how to swing a boom and someone to monitor the sound, mix, design, edit, compose, etc.?

Is anyone available to help our team from near or afar? Did I mention I needed an editor? Have any of you ever used Sony Ci?

So, back to my original question… I am so totally new at this, so do you have any advice for a total newb (including, but not limited to, advice like “Forget it, join someone else’s team, you don’t know jack so how can you expect to jump in and call the shots if you don’t know what you’re doing.”)
 
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About a week before the best of screening, keep an eye on your email or the Louisville 48HFP Facebook page. They will announce the list of films to be shown at the Best Of. If your movie is nominated for even one award, it will be shown at that screening.

I've heard that not every city does it the same way, but the NH Facebook page also listed all the nominees for each award. It's possible that some cities don't announce the individual nominations until the screening, though.

You may be surprised by the nominations too. A little bit of creativity goes a long way in these awards, and a clever use of any of any of the required elements could land you a nomination that you weren't expecting.
 
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Steve, I'm not sure if he is scared or scarred. Maybe both!

Our required elements were a slice of pizza, a professional athlete named Lucy or Lefty Ellsworth, and the line was "How was I to know?" We might have overdone the line because we were scared it might accidentally get cut, our use of pizza was generic and uncreative, and we made our professional athlete a rodeo rider since our film was set on a horse farm.
 
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in Pittsburgh, best of teams were informed via e-mail, and results will be posted after today.

We took home best Director and best Actor. No music award for me, maybe next year!
 
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Okay, here is the trailer:

http://youtu.be/FgVIL_apv7E

A wealthy horsefarm owner goes on a journey of twists and turns and not just on horseback.

Title: ​Sargento's Saddle
Team Name: Alan Smithee Productions
City: Louisville, KY 48 Hour Film Project 2014
Team Leader: Nicholas Skidmore
Assigned Genre: Film Noir
Assigned Prop: A Slice of Pizza
Assigned Character: Lucy or Lefty Ellsworth, a Professional Athlete

A team with ages 3 to 53, working with kids and animals, wrote, recorded, composed the score, and edited footage gathered by one unit at four different locations in three different cities, eighty miles apart-- in 48 hours... and turned it in on time.
 
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Mannie Bothans said:
You were robbed, Josh. Thanks for posting the link.
Click to expand...

Hahahah...thanks for the kind words! Everyone at the screening told me that, but there was a musical in the best-of, and the musical always wins. I think my music was better and better recorded (also it was a musical without vocals, which seemed more "silent film" than "musical" to me, but whatever), but I'm not too broken up about it. I'll nail it next year :D

Yours looks great, doubly so for your first bit of filmmaking! Can't wait to see the whole thing! Congrats again on finishing!
 
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ItDonnedOnMe said:
From the trailer it certainly looks better than a lot of first 48 attempts. Can't wait to see the full film.
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The team pulled it off, despite my inexperience and my setting them up for an extremely difficult (i.e. elaborate) logistical filming nightmare. However, last second total re-writes, our DP switching from DP to 1stAD, all three cameras with completely different picture style settings, I had no one on the job of synching boomed audio from the external recorder so none of it could be used at all, and all in-camera dialogue (after a GREAT slam fix-n-mix) was synched to a different cut than the final cut (i.e. no lips match up), and ADR session with a totally different actor doing the voiceover, locations falling through forcing us to use the backups that yeilded four locations in three cities 80 miles apart, only having one editor who had the flu, bronchitis, and pneumonia over the weekend-- and more-- make the "from the trailer" in your line above a VERY key part of that sentence.
 
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Got it - I still look forward to seeing the full film though! Sounds like you had an adventurous weekend, it's impressive that you managed to finish on time with all of that. Hope it didn't scare you off from doing it again - sometimes things actually do go smoothly!
 
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SixOhThree said:
Great team name!!
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Thanks. I mentioned that idea to my son, and we just laughed and laughed about the idea-- and eventually, it just stuck.

ItDonnedOnMe said:
Got it - I still look forward to seeing the full film though! Sounds like you had an adventurous weekend, it's impressive that you managed to finish on time with all of that. Hope it didn't scare you off from doing it again - sometimes things actually do go smoothly!
Click to expand...

Well, I have negotiated a truce with my wife and I no longer have to sell all of my equipment and abandon filmmaking forever. However, there is currently an ironclad nonproliferation treaty in place in my household that strictly forbids even my mention of the words "Forty" and "Eight" together in the same sentence EVER again.
 
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Some pics from the set: http://news-graphic.mycapture.com/m...vent=1828669&CategoryID=74421&ListSubAlbums=0

And the full local newspaper story:
10388199_10100950017446327_6639309755069629524_n.jpg
 
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How cool is that story!

Here in L.A. a filmmaker making a move for the 48hr project doesn't
get a story in the paper. Granted, there are 150 teams...
 
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Nice write up!

directorik said:
Here in L.A. a filmmaker making a move for the 48hr project doesn't
get a story in the paper. Granted, there are 150 teams...
Click to expand...

I imagine it's also because in LA there's so much other production going on it's not considered newsworthy. In SF, where there's usually 80-100 teams, we've had a few articles written about our team as well as a segment on the local CBS evening magazine.

What I've found though is that most teams don't even think about promotion like that, and if you can prepare a little ahead of time and reach out to local media it's possible to find interest. It also helps if you can prepare some of the story and research ahead of time - don't just contact them and say "hey, are you interested in doing a story about this?". Write up a few paragraphs about what the 48 is, who you and your team are, include any unusual details that might make an interesting hook for the story. Local media are increasingly faced with producing original content with fewer resources than before, so by doing some of the work for them you make it a lot easier for them to say yes. It's actually a great opportunity to practice and learn how to promote future projects as well.
 
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Ha ha, yes, in Georgetown, KY it makes the front page. We had 30 teams competing in Louisville. Thing is, I have no idea how the media even found out. I have a lot of experience doing press packets and press releases from my job of the last 12 years and my undergrad education-- but the truth is, it is big news in this neck of the woods when someone makes a movie.

That's why all of you should move here and help me on my next one.

You'll be a star (in local media). :)
 
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