The Boston 48 Hour Film Project
What Happened During Your Weekend?
The Boston filmmakers share stories from their wild weekend of filmmaking. (Blogging ended 14 days after the filmmaking weekend.)
I feel your pain, Marsha
To KDS Productions:
We got romance the first two years we did 48 hour, so we really feel your pain. When we drew it the second year, I thought, "I knew I shouldn't have tried to pass off those maxi pads to Joe Lombardi in 6th grade as shoulder pads -- God is punishing me."
And yes, he wore them under his jean jacket. Hopefully, I've paid that karmic debt. Anyway, hang in there -- I'm sure your film is great, and if you get romance next year, I think you are allowed to toss it back without penalty.
- Anne Continelli, 20 American Dollars
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SUPER FABULOUS AWESOME FUN SHENANIGANS
With 25 crew (12 principles, 8 extras, musicians, comic book artists, etc), 7 locations, and a shooting day that lasted from Saturday at 6:30a to Sunday at 1:30a, we were...
..well tired. :) BUT we had a super fun fabulous awesome time, and with parking tickets, google directions, and crew from Boston, CT, NH, VT, Western MA & OHIO! getting around Boston, Brighton, Somerville, Cambridge and Arlington in multiple clown-esque filled cars, it was a time to be had (and we made it to the finish line in time (5:33pm to be exact!))
Great experience all around (however I was so overtired that I drove for home for 45 min with my windshield wipers on high and didn't realize it! We can laugh at me because thankfully no harm was done :)). Can't wait for the next one!
- Crystal Place, The Wandering Jesters
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Coinky-Dink??
We shot at the Enchanted Bake Shoppe in Haverhill, MA. There's a girl that works there, and her last name is actually Higginbottom. I know it's not the exact spelling, but that's pretty weird.
- Frank Flahive, Lyve Media
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Huh?
I just want to ask what was in the water/air on the weekend of April 4th that made everyone want to kill their actors or kidnap children in last night\\\'s screening?
- Rachel Imbriglio, Quarter Life Crisis
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AWESOME
- Julia Ripa, Group E -- KDS Productions
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Unique Production Requirements Make for Interesting Weekend
I am the Co-Producer/Director of Photography for KDS Production's film Above All Else.
When my co-producer/writer told me that she wanted our film to take place in a closet, my first reaction was..."Are you crazy? how am I going to pull that off?" Well, let me tell you...two actors, a director, audio engineer, a second camera operator, myself and the occasional PA in a small supply closet...its a good thing we were all friends (the fact we are all still friends is equally amazing). I managed to shoot the film without seeing crew, cables, shadows or anything else unwanted.
One of the challenges my partner hit me with before we even got home from the Kick-Off Event (her creative mind was already at work) she told me to find a way to make the video shake like and earthquake and to add video noise (both were important effects to the story), so I went home and started a search for filters and help, of course all the hits were about REMOVING shake and video noise....I eventually found what I wanted and it looked great in the finished film.
The other challenge was to simulate the lighting effect of office emergency lighting, how to do this without actually triping the emergency system...When the director was rehearsing the cast on Saturday morning I grabbed one of our PAs and we spent 45 minutes on the set planning and testing some ideas.
The challenges didn't end after shooting wrapped up. Saturday night we captured our footage into my editing computer and called it a night. The next morning I got up early to begin work on some of the effects shots, only to find out that none of the clips' audio would playback through the firewire cable to our record deck (big problem for mastering the show back to tape at the end), so I had to spend a hour to re-capture all the footage with a different tape deck.
With all these challenges we still managed to put together a very successful and powerful film and still get it in on time (actually early, we were back at the Lir before Ben was)
A very fun weekend, can't wait until next year.
- Adam Dusenberry, KDS Productions
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Isn't it romantic?
This was our 2nd year, and for the second year in a row, we drew "Romance" as our genre. Last year's entry was pretty much what you'd expect of romance, so this year, I wanted to test the limits of the genre a little. How to do that?
Well, first you gather three actors who have never laid eyes on one another before, so that the challenge of conveying love will be interesting for them. Then, you stick two of them together in a small supply closet for about 5 hours (along with 4 crew members and their gear) and you make the third actor stand outside in the drizzle and cold and tell her she's got to scream at her cell phone for a half-hour or so while you shoot her scene. Then, you make your cast face panic, chaos, and death all day, several times over per scene, until you get the reactions you want. And finally, you stay up half the night after shooting assembling special audiovisual effects that get laid in after the fact.
In fact, the audiovisual effects were the ONLY thing that got laid all weekend, near as I can tell.
However, our team was awesome, and the actors were phenomenal -- I'd do this again in a heartbeat with any of them. Except maybe the next time, I'll write us a bigger space in which to work!
- Marsha Browne, KDS Productions
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Rookie campaign
I think it's safe to say that I've been trying to get on a 48 Hour Film Project team for years. The last two years, however, I've actually been sick the weekend of the shoots and had to cancel. This year, however, I hooked on with Argali, a team that had some people who I worked with on it. They've been in the 48 Hour Film project for the past few years, but they didn't have a writer.
The oddest thing is that writer seemed to be one of the positions that no one was eager to fill. This is dumbfounding to me as I am a writer, so I had my job. ("You mean you're going to let me just go off an my own and write the entire dang script? Really?")
I think it's safe to say that this was one of the best weekends I've ever had. Everyone just went about their business and I think we all had a great time, and the film turned out to be amazing.
Seeing as we had the thriller/suspense genre and we wrote a script about a serial killer, we spent Saturday morning coming up with different ways to kill people. With the old house we had use of for a set, we had no shortage of methods.
Anyway, by the end of the weekend, most of us were ready to go do it again. Well, except maybe our director and team leader. He needs the rest, i think.
- Greg Lam, Argali Films
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Folded In Two
As the lead writer, by Saturday morning my job was 99% finished. Yet there I was, hanging out in the back room with actors dressed as the characters I'd created a few hours earlier, and wondering why exactly the first shot was taking four hours.
One would think after four hours that the film crew would have uncovered, at minimum, some manner of grail. But then I don't know all that much about cinematography, so who am I to say? things did pick up after that, and also coffee was located to much rejoicing.
- Gene Doucette, LTJ Films
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10lb Gorilla
This years makes I think about my 3rd year participating in the Competition. Since last year, I'd anticipated working with the same Team I'd been on Previously, but Im reallly glad I took a chance and stabbed that team in the back (jk) by sneaking off to the Meet and Greet at the Burren.
It was there, at that first meet that I met my Newest team, Chocolate Gorrilla, which Im gonna have to say is the huge possibe of some of the coolest people I've ever met. From the start, I could see that the Director and Producers were really on there game, and organized and ready to roll...they were cool enough to let me hang.
Anyway, I should probably put out there that Team ChoGo's Cast and Crew Headquaters was at a Penthouse suite...(pause for Affect) overlooking the city...that was pretty much awesome, and a great environment which got the group feeling comfortable enough to splurt out great creative input, which I think the viewers'll probably really appreciate after watching our Film "The Isles of Syre".
In summary "Go ChoGo"!
- Key Grip, Team ChoGo (Chocolate Gorilla)
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Mustaches and Pickles
Slapping a mustache on our lead lady and making her snap pickles for no good reason was by far one of the funniest things thats weekend.
I must say, when your tired you come up with the best ideas.
GO DGSAAFBS GO!
- Greg North, Danny Glover's Super Action Adventure Force Brigade Squad
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DISASTER x 2 - and first time
Hi all.
This was the first time I have been a part of the 48 Hour Film Project. It was a blast. I entered as a solo. I knew it would be challenging (and it was). My 12 year old camera broke, so a few weeks ago I borrowed my brother's hand held little Panasonic.
Disaster 1
Saturday my brother had a medical emergency and I had to baby sit my nephew ...from 1pm to 8:30pm (My brother is fine now...thanks for asking!). I thought, "No problem!" A little rewrite and a decision to not add music made from scratch should put me back on track... it did.
Disaster 2
Sunday I had finished editing everything on Windows Moviemaker 2001edition (Yup...cutting edge). As my own critic, I am hard to please. I always strive to do better. I was actually happy with the movie. It was around 4:40pm. I live about an hour from the drop off location. All I had to do was add the closing credits. I added the closing credits...and lost the movie. Yup,...the whole thing...gone!
4:40 - lost movie. 4:45 - stopped swearing.
I have never been great with computers and I think this one has been waiting for the right moment to get me.
I quickly imported any files I still had on the computer and put the movie together as best as possible and ran out the door. I did not get a chance to see what I turned in until I got home. Did I leave in clips that should have been removed? Did I miss edit points completely? Does it make sense? As soon as I got home I turned it on. What did it find?
Well... I spelled the team name wrong, I am missing some of my favorite parts and other scenes need to be edited more, but I turned it in on time.
It was lots of fun. I hope everyone else had fun too.
Brian Dwyer
Team Sea Glass (Sae Glass)
- Brian Dwyer, Sea Glass
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The Donor
My first time as producer and, once it was over, I loved it. We had a diverse cast and crew ages 16 to over 80 representing Asian American, African American, Latin American, Muliticultural American, Caucasian and International.
The oddest (and creepiest) moments were when I did a phone scene with my 16 year old nephew (he was on camera while I was voiceover) as he answered an ad to be sperm donor to a lesbian couple (me). The best was our catering/craft services done by a friend/senior citizen who went all out. Yum.
Many arguments during the idea/writing process, but it all worked out in the very end. Ah, we creatives are an emotional bunch.
I found producing and acting to be a fine combo.
Saturday evening I swore I would never do this again. Sunday I had mixed feelings. Wednesday (our screening day) I was looking forward to next year. Go figure. We had one fantastic and talented team, both the novices and the pros.
- Andrea Lyman, AAA Actor Team
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Another unforgettable weekend
Fools that we are, we came up with a story ("The Accidental Diplomat") that required four locations (along with songs, animations, and various bodily fluids), two of which we wouldn't be able to confirm until businesses opened on Saturday morning.
One (a computer store) came quickly, thanks to some nice guys in our neighborhood who even agreed to appear on screen.
The other (a travel agency -- or, in a pinch, a real estate office as a stand-in) proved much harder. All the travel agencies we looked up were out of business (damn you, internet!), and all the realtors were grumpy (damn you, economy!)
At the last minute, we found an internet radio station that was willing to let us use their office (bless you, internet!)
Our last shoot, at one of our own locations, didn't wrap until midnight. But our tireless crew burned the 9AM oil, and when I re-emerged after a little shut-eye, I found a very strong rough cut I could tweak until the rest of the gang re-appeared to help bring it on home.
I can't wait until our screening (we're in one of the last groups, next Tuesday) to see what the audience thinks!
- Justin Fielding, Castparty Productions
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