48 Hour film festival in Wash DC this weekend!

[DjfunkmasterG]

The 48 hour film fest is in Washington DC this weekend and the official kick off is in 10 hours at the "Warehouse" in DC.

The purpose of this festival is for teams of filmmakers to get together and try to crank out a short 4-7 minute film in 48 hours. The festival committee puts together the subjects (genres) and the teams pull from a hat. Categories can be:

Comedy
Horror
Action
Musical
Holiday
Western
Coming of Age
and more.

Once you pull your category you are also given the name of a prop which must appear in the film. Example (Red Gloves) This prop must be used in the film and in the story.

The Winners of each festival have their film put on a DVD titled the Best of 48 hour film fest and the year the film was made. The film my DP worked on in 2005 is on the 2005 disc, and I watched a collection of shorts from the 2004 competition. Which puts the winner of each cities festival on the DVD.

From what I hear there are 110 teams this year and I am sure competition will be fierce. However if you are in DC you should check out the kick off party which starts tonight at 7pm.

I am part of team, and I am hoping we pull the action or horror card. I know our film when finished will show in Philly Thursday May 11th 2006. Once we complete it I will update this thread to give the title and where you guys can catch it.

I am not serving as director for this project, but as 1st Asst. Cameraman, and Video Playback engineer. Plus donating all my equipment to the shoot. This team is made up of guys committed to the project and I think we can turn out something that will compete on a pretty high level.

Anyways... I will keep you all posted

[Danny]

you gotta feel sorry for the dude who gets "coming of age".

[DjfunkmasterG]

you gotta feel sorry for the dude who gets "coming of age".


funny you say that.

My DP, who won the 2005 film fest for the film he and his GF worked on together. (She was the director) they pulled Coming of Age as a wild card pull and won for best picture.

Talk about Irony.

[Danny]

as an amatuer writer, director/ actor who works for free, ive tried many different things, my favourite being comedy thus far, but i friggin hate coming of age stories there all so cliche'.


...like an adam sandler film:lol:

[MinionZombie]

The ones that suck are done ham-fistedly and copy too much from great COA flicks like Stand By Me.

Dj - that 48 hour thingy sounds well cool. They should do something like that in the UK.

[DjfunkmasterG]

it's my first time to one of these so I am not sure how it will pan out. The only person on the entire team I know is my DP. I will let you all know how it goes by Sunday night. I know they are all committed. Thomas (DP) knows them and I trust his judgement... Hell he has done wonders for DEADLANDS.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Well we wrapped Principal Photography on our short film about 90 minutes ago and are now in the editng stage. We pulled Horror for the Genre.

Title of our film: Under The Bed (Tentative) But I like the title.

Premise: Tina Tate was raped 3 months ago by a psychotic stalker. Every night she has dreams he is coming to get her. Her and her lover are at odds over the dreams yet Tina's stalker isn't you average ordinary criminal... He's Dead! (Zombie Genre Represented :elol:)

Running Time: 7 minutes

Cast: Cindy Martin, Lydi Kastiotis
Written and Directed by Lonnie Martin
Director of Photography: Thomas Fant
Produced by: Cindy martin
Edited By James McGivney
1st AC, Dolly Grip: Me (Gary Ugarek)
PA: Clint Hall & Judy Haller.
Special Make-Up FX: Spaghetti Industries Inc.

Under The Bed will be showing in Silver Spring, MD May 11th 2006 at 7:30pm at the AFI Cinemas in Silver Spring. Tickets and exact showtimes can be seen in detail at www.AFI.com/Silver

The good news... The shoot went great.

Bad News - We managed to bust one of my lights, and snapped the thread inside that camera body that allows to mount the camera to a tripod or crane device. When it broke we discovered this tiny part is made out of graphite. Now I have to call Panasonic to see what the hell it is and if I can get a replacement before my next weekend of shooting for DEADLANDS.

[MinionZombie]

That sucks about the light and the tripod mount, but sounds like a very cool film. I guess you have to come up with a story/basic script as soon as you draw the genre huh? Some damn speedy filmmaking - as for the other people, are they essentially strangers to you or do you know them - do you make up your own team or are you lumped in with randoms?

Any chance of us lot being able to view it online when it's done?

[DjfunkmasterG]

That sucks about the light and the tripod mount, but sounds like a very cool film. I guess you have to come up with a story/basic script as soon as you draw the genre huh? Some damn speedy filmmaking - as for the other people, are they essentially strangers to you or do you know them - do you make up your own team or are you lumped in with randoms?

Any chance of us lot being able to view it online when it's done?

you assemble your own teams. My DP from DEADLANDS knew everyone and he had asked me to come aboard the team. So these were all strangers to me, but now we can work together in the future because we have gotten through the formalities.

When I arrived at the directors house, he was in the middle of writing the script. So from where the ceremonial kick off was held, to his house which was a 30 minute ride he was working out the details in his head then in the door and putting it on paper.


The director will probably put online in the next few weeks. I know the version he will put online will probably be a longer version than what we submit to the festival. The festival has running time restriction. Your films have to be between 4 minutes and 7 minutes.

[MinionZombie]

4 and 7 minutes, that's quite random, but cool that you've found another group of filmmaking folk to get involved with. I certainly look forward to seeing this film.

[DjfunkmasterG]

The Director did a short 30 minute film prior to this called First Session, and after watching him do his thing and think up shots I can say he is pretty good. While I was on set I was actually thinking of the plotline for DEADLANDS 2 and after watching him I was thinking of asking him to direct it if my DP turns down the job. I really want Thomas, my DP, to direct part 2 so I can concentrate on editing and writing.

As far as the time restrictions, 4 minutes is the minimum time and 7 the max. I think there are 110 teams in this years Wash DC 48 hour film fest. When you have 110 teams and 3/4 make the deadline for submittal thats a lot of films to show within a week of the festival.

The only thing that sucks is I hear, mostly rumors on the grapevine, major production houses join and a lot of people cheat. Most having produced a film for every genre possible and they wait until the deadline to turn in something supposedly made in 48 hours. Whihc takes the fun out of the premise of the festival which is making a film from conception to completion in 48 hours.


Here is an IMDB link to Lonnie Martins film "First Session" http://imdb.com/title/tt0479033/

[MinionZombie]

RE: those people cheating, that really sucks. I was gonna say maybe it looks like they've been done previously, but I guess they'd prepare them over 48 hours too, to get that "48 hour look". They should put a disclaimer on their sign up forms or something, if you're found out to be cheating you'll be disqualified or something.

[DjfunkmasterG]

With todays camera and editing software you can make a film in 48 hours and give it a huge look and a very professional one at that.

Even though the latest Deadlands trailer is a mix of footage shot over one year, I edited the trailer in 1 hour. The entire Short we did this weekend was shot on a DVX100 using the 24P advanced mode.

The shot of my car driving in the shot on the deadlands trailer was done using the same camera. All of it is in the cinematography. Plus having a great editor is also key. I watched the editor, Jim McGivney, doing his thing. This guy is good... I mean real good. I only hope once I get more familiar with the editing process I can be as good.

When I talk about cheating... from what i heard, people spend an enitre year making a bunch of professional short films covering most of the major genres and then just submit them in at the deadline. I heard it from people in the biz, I can't say it is true, but I am sure it does happen.

[LD-50]

Dj - that 48 hour thingy sounds well cool. They should do something like that in the UK.[/QUOTE]

They do, at least they have, in London and Sheffield, as well as Paris. I just checked the website, and it doesn't have dates listed for UK cities yet, I don't know why, they have done London, Sheffield, Paris and Brisbane for at least the last 3 years, which is how long I've been doing it. (2004 Portland, 2005 DC, Baltimore, Portland 2006 DC, ??) The website is www.48hourfilm.com, check that for info on the tour, and send them some e-mail demanding a return to the UK.