“Best Of” Wrapup and a Special Request

Well, last night was the “Best of the 48 Hour Film Project” screening, and I have to say it was a blast. Seeing “All Roads Lead Away” up on the big screen in high definition was an awe-inspiring experience. Once again, we were shut out of the major awards, but regardless, I’m immensely proud of our movie and extremely grateful for all of the hard work everyone put into making it.

I’m sure they’ll post the award-winners on the official site soon, but I thought I’d go ahead and let you all know directly. They should all be viewable on 48.tv sometime in the not-too-distant future, but I’ll post links to the ones that are already viewable online (as near as I can tell, anyway).

• Audience Favorite, Group A: “The End” (Flat Feet Films)
  
• Audience Favorite, Group B: “The Bad News Bearer” (Sprezzatura)
  
• Audience Favorite, Group C: “Fairy Bust” (3mm Films)
  
• Audience Favorite, Group D: “Skip to the End” (JSC Productions)
  
• Audience Favorite, Group E: “I’ll See You in Hell” (Everyday Astronaut)
  
• Audience Favorite, Group F: “Get Closer” (Dead City Films)
  
• Audience Favorite, Group G: “iLoveU2” (WIT Films)
  
• Audience Favorite, Group H: “Mementos” (Integral Arts)
  
• Best Use of Character: “The End of the Rainbow” (Musky Adventures)
  
• Best Use of Prop: “Spy, Gina, Spy!” (The Quest)
  
• Best Use of Line: “The Loins of America” (Has Been Productions)
  
• Best Sound Design: “I’ll See You in Hell” (Everyday Astronaut)
  
• Best Graphics: “The Mark” (oops! Productions)
  
• Best Editing: “May Day” (Oozing Sarcasm)
  
• Best Acting: “Mementos” (Integral Arts)
  
• Best Directing: “The Mark” (oops! Productions)
  
• Best Script: “The Bad News Bearer” (Sprezzatura)
  
• Best Cinematography (tie): “American Revolution” (Roanoke) and “Get Closer” (Dead City Films)
  
• Second Runner-Up, Best Picture: “The Mark” (oops! Productions)
  
• First Runner-Up, Best Picture: “I’ll See You in Hell” (Everyday Astronaut)
  
• Best Picture: “The Bad News Bearer” (Sprezzatura)
  

Now for a request: As many of you are aware, we had to cut a lot of material (more than two minutes’ worth) from “All Roads Lead Away” in order to keep our running time under the seven-minute limit. And while normally I’m a big fan of that forced editing — it almost always makes for a tighter, better-paced film — in this case I fear we may have trimmed a bit too much. With that in mind, I’ve posted both the original 48 Hour Film Project cut and a somewhat longer cut that reincorporates some (but not all) of the lost material on the official site.

And I figured what better “test audience” to provide honest feedback than this group?

So if you get a chance, take a look at both versions with a critical eye. Do the new and extended scenes add to your understanding and appreciation of the story, or do they drag the pacing down? Do they add genuine character moments or are they mere directorial self-indulgence? Consider this a “director’s-cut-in-progress,” and one in which your reactions may have an impact.

For our final “archival” cut (i.e., the version we’ll be submitting to festivals) we may go with the full extended edit. Or we may keep to the original shorter cut. Or something in between. So go ahead and let your opinion be heard — at the very least you’ll be getting a glimpse into the filmmaking process.

Best of the 48 Hour Film Project

Straight from the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner (where several 48 Hour Film Project films — including “The Kumbio Takedown” — screened this week) comes word about the upcoming “Best of the DC 48 Hour Film Project” showcase.

And “All Roads Lead Away” is in, one of 24 films selected for the honor. As was the case last year, there will be a separate slate of films shown across the two screenings (one at 7:00 and another at 9:30), and our film will be part of the second (i.e., we’ll be at 9:30); all shows will be on Thursday, May 29th, again at the AFI Silver Theater.

Furthermore, we’ll be screening in high definition; we’ve been working with the 48 Hour production team to get them our full-HD files (rather than the standard-definition version that was shown at the premiere screening). If you’re at all able to make it, this is going to be worth seeing. In fact, tickets are available (or, as of this writing, soon will be) for both shows, and there are some strong offerings in both screenings (judging by what I’ve seen so far). And after the second screening, there'll be a wrap party at McGinty’s Pub — so do plan on sticking around!

Congratulations to everyone who pitched in on this little picture. I’m so proud of the efforts you all put in, and I hope to see you next Thursday!

P.S.: Here is the full screening lineup — unlike last year, there are no duplicates this time around. (My understanding is that the judges’ final decisions are not yet locked down, meaning there’s no way to pick the “front-runners.”) And I’m just listing these in alphabetical order by team name; we don’t know the screening order yet.

Screening 1 — 7:00 p.m.

• Actors With Strings: “The Chair” (Historical Fiction)
  
• Butch’s All-Stars: “Commitment”
  
• Dead City Films: “Get Closer” (Spy)
  
• Double Deuce Films: “The Hauntening, Part 3”
  
• Flik Productions: “Road to Greenwood”
  
• Flat Feet Films: “The End” (Fantasy)
  
• Habitual Offenders: “Recalculating”
  
• The Quest: “Spy, Gina, Spy!”
  
• Roadside Productions: “Sales of a Deathman” (Road Movie)
  
• Roanoke: “American Revolution” (Historical Fiction)
  
• 3mm Films: “Fairy Bust” (Fantasy) (behind-the-scenes video)
  
• WIT Films: “iLoveU2” (Sci Fi)
  

Screening 2 — 9:30 p.m.

• Elbow Productions: “al-Kinda”
  
• Everyday Astronaut: “I’ll See You in Hell” (Comedy)
  
• Faisonfilm Productions: “The Invisible Werewolf” (Comedy)
  
• Integral Arts: “Mementos” (Drama)
  
• JSC Productions: “Skip to the End” (Road Movie)
  
• Musky Adventures: “The End of the Rainbow”
  
• oops! Productions: “The Mark”
  
• Oozing Sarcasm: “May Day” (Holiday Film)
  
• Revolver Films: “Dick and the Vault” (Historical Fiction)
  
• River Run Films: “The Dinner Party”
  
• Sprezzatura: “The Bad News Bearer” (Comedy)
  
• Tohubohu: “All Roads Lead Away” (Road Movie)
  

Grab Some Popcorn

Just thought I’d send out a quick little notice to let you newsblog readers know that our latest short, “All Roads Lead Away,” is now available for viewing.

The audience reception at Friday night’s premiere was phenomenal, and really gives me hope that we’ll make the “Best of the 48 Hour Film Project” screening on May 29th. (And we’ve already submitted the film for consideration to the DC Shorts film festival. No guarantee that it’ll get in, of course — they receive hundreds of submissions each year — but I’ve got a good feeling about it.)

So sit back, grab a tub of popcorn (or maybe just a bag — it’s not all that long a film), and give it a viewing. And if you like it, don’t forget to let us know (and spread the word)!

48 Recap

Hard to believe this is our fifth year participating in the 48 Hour Film Project (and our sixth film — what were we thinking doing two films at once in only our second year?). And every time I’m reminded that this really is film school; as far as I’m concerned, we’d better take advantage of that and try something new each time.

So if our big “add-on” last year was bringing in a professional author to write our script (well, and pushing the envelope with noir-styled lighting — no small feat given our meager lighting kit), then this year had a few new elements. We brought in another professional author (Barry Lyga), worked with two great SAG actors (Joe Hansard and Jennifer Massey) as our leads, shot in HDV, and even managed to use a homemade car mount for our “road movie.”

With a lot of our regular troupe (both in front of and behind the camera) unavailable this time around, we’d be a little leaner than usual. But there’s something to be said for keeping things small — and coming right off of “Number One With a Bullet,” we’d honed our workflow pretty well. Of course, the time we’d spent on the earlier shoot also meant we hadn’t prepared as much as usual, so we’d be winging things a bit.

So, about the weekend. After the kickoff event, I spent the drive home brainstorming with Barry (and some really wild ideas got tossed around at that stage), so that by the time I’d arrived at our “base of operations,” we already had a good handle on the story, and Pam and I could begin working out casting and logistics (including borrowing a neighbor’s beat-up old car — as Pam says, the “third star” of our movie). It was still a late night, but we were in great shape to start shooting first thing Saturday morning.

Saturday was (as usual) a loooong day, but we managed to remain pretty flexible. We did have to switch the timing for one location (which meant we lost an actress for that scene and had to recast at the last minute), but we still managed to finish everything by around midnight. And we got some really great performances — and shots — in the process. Then it was time to get the overnight editor (Jacob Cremer, back in town for the weekend) set up and grab a couple of hours’ rest before the big scramble on Sunday.

We did run into a few snags at that point. We weren’t able to get in touch with the artist whose music we’d originally wanted to use (he was out of town without phone or email access), so that was out. (Fortunately, the 48 Hour Film Project organizers had worked out a music licensing deal that gave us a few options.) Jacob wasn’t able to get as far as I’d hoped (we had a lot of material there), which meant I still had to string out a lot of footage before I could start polishing anything. And our initial cut — once we reached that stage — came in at more than nine minutes. The upper limit being seven. Whoops.

So as unfortunately happens at that stage, you make tradeoffs. And in our case, that meant sacrificing color and audio correction for really taking the time to look at the piece and make intelligent cuts. So while it may not be as technically polished as I’d like, it’s a lot more creatively rewarding. And that “second choice” music really ended up complementing the story perfectly.

And most importantly, we got it finished. (Just one copy, though — no time for a backup.)

Oh, and the title? “All Roads Lead Away.”

Will there be a “director’s cut”? Probably — but that’ll mostly be just to correct those technical issues. The old mantra about editing holds true — the forced necessity of cutting it down really does improve the flow of the story. So while I may add a couple of shots (and maybe one scene) back in, it certainly won’t be going back up to that nine-minute version.

Now I can’t wait to see it up on the big screen; it promises to be a great capper to the whole experience. (And for the record, I’ve also gotten a sneak peek at the Integral Arts entry — so I can say that attendees at tonight’s 9:30 screening will not be disappointed. Do you have your tickets yet?)

Hope to see you all there!

“All Roads Lead Away”

I’m still tired from the 48 Hour Film Project, and I wasn’t even that involved in yesterday’s work. The experience of making a film in two days is so intense that it takes a lot out of you. Our script by Barry Lyga was ambitious, and our filming went from our Saturday 8:30 a.m. call time until almost midnight. It was a very long day for the crew and our two lead actors, who really carried the piece. Well, three lead actors if you include the beat-up car which we considered the third star of the movie.

Barry gave us an amazing script, dramatic and contemplative. Bill and I selected two strong actors (Jennifer Massey and Joe Hansard) who could pull off the emotion of the film. We got to test the new camera car mount, to the delight of the cameraman. I kept asking for reassurance that the expensive camera was not, was NOT, going to fall off the hood of the car. After a last-minute location change, I was slotted for a small part in the movie — which ended up on the cutting room floor in the interest of meeting our seven-minute running time requirement. I’m still in the background helping a customer, and my hair is in a later office scene. Oh, the glamour.

Bill spent Sunday editing the film at his workplace, while I searched for music at home. I found the piece that we ended up using within a few minutes. Unfortunately, I then spent almost two hours continuing to search for music, finding almost nothing, and deciding to stick with my first choice. After Bill was forced to make some difficult decisions about editing, he sent me the film online so I could look at it. With my fresh perspective — having not spent the last six hours putting it together — I was able to suggest different places to cut, allowing some great moments to fit back in (though not my scene, alas). For later festivals, we may look at putting in a lost scene where the couple fights outside the car. It was a crew favorite as Jennifer screamed, “GET IN THE CAR!!!” with pure fury.

Our screening is Friday at 9:30 at the AFI Silver Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland. We’re really proud of it, and I can’t wait to see it on the big screen. If you’re in the area, you can order tickets online — but do so soon, because the shows always sell out. If you can’t get to the show, the film — “All Roads Lead Away” — will be available on our website sometime after the screening.

The Adventure Continues

One last message to everyone before we bury ourselves in this weekend’s filmmaking frenzy. Tickets to our 48 Hour Film Project screening — we’re part of Group H, showing next Friday, May 9, at 9:30 pm — are now on sale online or at the AFI Silver Theater box office. The show is expected to sell out, so if you’d like to attend (and for the record, I’d like to see as many friendly faces in the audience as possible), be sure to pick up your tickets sooner rather than later.

And as an aside, I’ve recut the trailer for “Number One With a Bullet” slightly — mostly just adding in a few extra shots to help explain the plot a bit better. (It’s amazing what another eight seconds can do.) Go ahead and give it a look-see.

P.S.: If you’re on this weekend’s production team, expect to hear from us with more info tonight. And if you want to be on the team and haven’t said so before now... well, talk fast.