“Heist” – a 48 Hour Film Project
I spent this past weekend creating my fifth entry in the 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP). This year, our team Weekend Warriors competed in Boston from May 2-4, 2014. This is the 4th iteration of our team with members having previously competed in Boston and New Hampshire starting in 2011. The faces change year to year, but the core has remained the same and I think this was our strongest year yet.
The 48 Hour Film Project is an international filmmaking competition that puts your filmmaking skills (and sanity) to the test as you are challenged to make a film in less than 48 hours. Teams arrive at the kickoff meeting on Friday night and each team pulls a genre out of a hat. This year we drew “Fish Out of Water.” After the genres are pulled, the team leaders anxiously wait for the clock to hit seven when the required elements are announced. Every city receives a character, prop & line of dialogue that each team must also include in their film. The criteria we had to include were: character – Jacqueline or Jeremiah Jones, teacher; prop – a diary; line of dialogue – “It is what it is.”
I very much enjoy these weekends because it puts many of us outside of our comfort zones. I typically act as the producer and editor on our films, but usually end up filling other responsibilities as well. With such a small crew & little time, it’s an all hands on deck situation. This year some extra jobs I filled were gaffer, camera operator, composer, and set photographer. Thankfully I was never placed in front of the camera this year – this was mostly due to our decision to decide on a cast ahead of time, which we’ve never done in years past.
We started out strong, with the first draft of the script finished by 11pm on Friday (the first year we did the 48HFP, our script was not even finished by 11am on Saturday!). We did a table read with the cast and everyone was able to sleep Friday night. We woke up bright and early to get started and our shoot went smoothly. We leapfrogged between being ahead and behind schedule, but spirits were high for the entirety of the day. Even everyone on our post-production team got some sleep on Saturday night as we traded off editing overnight.
Our film is entitled “Heist” and was turned in with just 14 minutes to spare! We may or may not have had to run from the Boston Common to Hynes Convention Center to make it there on time. This was our strongest team yet and I’m excited to see what year five will bring for Weekend Warriors.
For more information about the 48 Hour Film Project, visit www.48HourFilm.com
Hope you enjoy it!
BC
