Thursday, June 17, 2004
48 hours needs
48 hours needs
48 hours needs
thrills
48 thrills
- The Clash
As Dan and I drove towards Auckland to take part in the 48 Hour Film Contest we remarked upon how strange it was that none of us had any idea the film we would be making, while on the way back to Wellington, we would know it like the back of our hands. Nothing too insightful, but you’ve got to start somewhere. I won’t go through the whole weekend with you, mainly because like most good times, it’s all a bit of a blur.
An hour before the competition started we discussed the genre category we’d collectively least like to get, and that was Musical or Soap Opera. Hence everyone thought Catherine was joking when she got off the phone and said,
It’s Musical or Soap Opera.
I felt my heart drop. Of all the preparation I had done, I had the least idea of what we might do should we draw those genres. But there was no time moan, it was pen to paper as slowly the room filled with the cast and crew. Ideas bounced around the room, but by midnight Damian and I had the storyline, and by 2-30am, after only the slightest of changes, our script was complete and we left our base quietly confident it was a good’n.
Fortunately everyone agreed after the full read through at 6-30 the following morning, and after that, it was time for shooting. We ‘wrapped’ at around midnight, stopping only briefly for lunch, dinner and the odd rush to the toilet. Yes, that’s right, I’d caught a 24 hour bug slap bang in the middle of a 48 Hour Film competition. Wuckid. But that was the only minor disruption to a day that went smoothly and professionally; the calmness, confidence and willingness of everyone involved was unlike any shoot I’d been on, embodied best by an actor whose first scene began shooting at 7-30am, his next 14 hours later. Personally I enjoyed seeing the cold words I had written being given such life by the actors, it was quite a thrill. And then it was back to bed. The edit began at 6-00, and went without a hitch, until the clock began ticking down for the last hour. It began to get a little tense, but I believe that had it been a 50 hour, or even 60 hour film contest, that last hour would have still been equally anxious. But our film was entered into the competition with 17 minutes to go, while back at the base we played out the film to an audience for the first time.
I’m happy to say we all are very pleased with the film and everyone who’s seen it so far has been positive. It was a nice feeling that Sunday night, all tired and happy, milling around in the afterglow of accomplishment. Most of us headed down into town to swap war stories with other teams and it was slightly bewildering to be part of the outside world when for the past two days all that mattered was the film. I got a nice text message from Miss A asking how it had gone, but it felt odd to receive a message from the outside world that seemed at the time to be very far away. I remember comparing it to what I would imagine Big Brother to be like, in that you have this rather intense experience then it’s back to normal life.
As it happened normal life for me entailed a lot of sleep, and I kept my head down until the screening on Tuesday night. We were the last of ten films that evening and I don’t think I’d be too far wrong to say we were one of the best, but really I have no idea how we will fare and right now it is totally out of our hands. But I feel it was a job well done and I’m happy with it. We’ll see if the judges agree come Sunday night.
Dan and I packed up the car and drove through the rain back to Wellington, still buzzing from the experience two days later. By the time I got home I was exhausted and wasn’t really up to phone calls from people who wanted to know how we’d got on. But if I were I would have said that it was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life and told of the amazing team of people we worked with…
I swear on our sweet mother’s grave.
48 hours needs
48 hours needs
thrills
48 thrills
- The Clash
As Dan and I drove towards Auckland to take part in the 48 Hour Film Contest we remarked upon how strange it was that none of us had any idea the film we would be making, while on the way back to Wellington, we would know it like the back of our hands. Nothing too insightful, but you’ve got to start somewhere. I won’t go through the whole weekend with you, mainly because like most good times, it’s all a bit of a blur.
An hour before the competition started we discussed the genre category we’d collectively least like to get, and that was Musical or Soap Opera. Hence everyone thought Catherine was joking when she got off the phone and said,
It’s Musical or Soap Opera.
I felt my heart drop. Of all the preparation I had done, I had the least idea of what we might do should we draw those genres. But there was no time moan, it was pen to paper as slowly the room filled with the cast and crew. Ideas bounced around the room, but by midnight Damian and I had the storyline, and by 2-30am, after only the slightest of changes, our script was complete and we left our base quietly confident it was a good’n.
Fortunately everyone agreed after the full read through at 6-30 the following morning, and after that, it was time for shooting. We ‘wrapped’ at around midnight, stopping only briefly for lunch, dinner and the odd rush to the toilet. Yes, that’s right, I’d caught a 24 hour bug slap bang in the middle of a 48 Hour Film competition. Wuckid. But that was the only minor disruption to a day that went smoothly and professionally; the calmness, confidence and willingness of everyone involved was unlike any shoot I’d been on, embodied best by an actor whose first scene began shooting at 7-30am, his next 14 hours later. Personally I enjoyed seeing the cold words I had written being given such life by the actors, it was quite a thrill. And then it was back to bed. The edit began at 6-00, and went without a hitch, until the clock began ticking down for the last hour. It began to get a little tense, but I believe that had it been a 50 hour, or even 60 hour film contest, that last hour would have still been equally anxious. But our film was entered into the competition with 17 minutes to go, while back at the base we played out the film to an audience for the first time.
I’m happy to say we all are very pleased with the film and everyone who’s seen it so far has been positive. It was a nice feeling that Sunday night, all tired and happy, milling around in the afterglow of accomplishment. Most of us headed down into town to swap war stories with other teams and it was slightly bewildering to be part of the outside world when for the past two days all that mattered was the film. I got a nice text message from Miss A asking how it had gone, but it felt odd to receive a message from the outside world that seemed at the time to be very far away. I remember comparing it to what I would imagine Big Brother to be like, in that you have this rather intense experience then it’s back to normal life.
As it happened normal life for me entailed a lot of sleep, and I kept my head down until the screening on Tuesday night. We were the last of ten films that evening and I don’t think I’d be too far wrong to say we were one of the best, but really I have no idea how we will fare and right now it is totally out of our hands. But I feel it was a job well done and I’m happy with it. We’ll see if the judges agree come Sunday night.
Dan and I packed up the car and drove through the rain back to Wellington, still buzzing from the experience two days later. By the time I got home I was exhausted and wasn’t really up to phone calls from people who wanted to know how we’d got on. But if I were I would have said that it was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life and told of the amazing team of people we worked with…
I swear on our sweet mother’s grave.
