The Baltimore 48 Hour Film Project

What Happened During Your Weekend?

The Baltimore filmmakers share stories from their wild weekend of filmmaking. (Blogging ended shortly after the filmmaking weekend.)

why we do this...

We couldn\\\'t have been more happy drawing \\\'Comedy,\\\' because going into this, we knew it was all about fun.

We weren\\\'t looking to win awards, we weren\\\'t looking to \\\'perfect our craft,\\\' we were only hoping to amuse ourselves and feel like we were a bunch of 13-year-olds with a camcorder again.

And, by Saturday night, after shooting for 12 hours in 100 degree heat, we realized there was not one single disagreement, not one argument, nor even a second of tension the entire day. Pretty amazing.

The only trouble we ran into was cutting time and time again after we kept cracking ourselves up.

Is our film going to win any technical awards? No. Will the audience be even slightly amused? I have no idea. Does that matter? Not in the least.

It\\\'s important to remember why we do this. And, if winning is what drives you... then, by all means, \\\'sweep the leg Johnny\\\' But, I\\\'m much more happy with a bunch of idiots in the woods using equipment no one is quite sure how to operate, then I am on set dealing with drama and power-struggles.

Great success! Bring on 2009.

- KC Robertson, Bars & Tone

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"Survivor-48HFP"

It was hot, it was miserable, we were exhausted, and yet no one died, so I should consider it a success. There was more drama on the set than on the screen and we learned some important lessons about cooperation, loyalty and trust. They say, "adversity never builds as much character as it reveals." This was a very revealing weekend and one that will stay with me for a long time to come.

- Elden Rhoads, Dream Rivers Films

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Murphy strikes with a vengence

After watching the "Best of" in DC - I decided to make the step to an HD Camera - I did a test short and it rendered okay on the old version of Studio that I had used for several years so I thought. okay. I'm ready.

We shot the whole film in HD and then I got down to editing and with each added clip the computer slowed down more and more. Then to top it off... The power when out for over an hour on Sunday afternoon as I was trying to make sense of the computer slowdown.

I called Rob @ 6:30pm and said there was no way I would be on time. Hours worth of software upgrades and patches later (two days) It was finally finished.

Unbelievably, I still liked doing it.

See you on the screen.

- Mark McKinney, Actors with Strings

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The Heat!!!

to Pat: I kind of understand what you mean. Having made several movies much like this 48hr one with my friends over the years, we tend to go back and look upon our stuff (no matter how great, good, dumb, bad, or odd it might be) and find deeper meanings within the subtext...meanings any one that isn't us wouldn't ever look for or find most likely. Still when you are involved with the making of a movie, especially one you love or are proud of, there is a ZEN like feeling sometimes while watching it.

to the blog: The heat on Saturday was brutal, the sun as well...it was so seething hot that it almost felt cold. I don't know if any of you shot anything in the outdoors like us, but we came back with sunburn and severe exhaustion...yet, all the constant laughing and the always certain joy of movie making makes it worthwhile. Still...it was HOT!!!

- Bob Rose, Intentionally Blank Entertainment

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After-meaning

Plenty of stories, but what's really weird for me is doing the actual analysis of what we made. On my way home to some much deserved rest, I started thinking about thing beyond the actual subtext we specifically put in, and it's sort of creepy. I think my team should get together and discuss our feelings. It was a collaboration, and let me say, we were all there... Finding symbolism in your work in post is sort of creepy. Especially when it's a Alt-Life spy comedy.

Has anyone else found things in their instinct-driven work that brought up subliminally active concerns?

- Patrick Storck, Drop Three Media

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