You Pay Your Dues

Whew! I was going to post yesterday about our movie-making experience with the 48 Hour Film Project, but I was too tired to successfully string words together. Here’s how it went.

Bill went to the kick-off event and drew our genre literally out of a hat. The required elements were given out to the hundred participating teams. And we were off.

Bill and I talked about our genre, “detective/cop,” and what he wanted to do with it. I wasn’t surprised when he wanted to go for a film noir feel. But I was a bit scared. We tossed around a few basic concepts, including placing some actors in the roles, and then called author and blogger Robin Brande.

Our call was the briefest of hellos — no small talk for this chick — and down to business. We told Robin our genre (she groaned) and the required elements. (The character: Roosevelt or Rosie Adams, President; The prop: A bracelet; The line: “That’s what I’m talking about.”) We talked about some things we’d been thinking in terms of style, actors, and settings. She said, basically, “Okay, I’ll call you back in an hour.”

After we hung up, Bill and I didn’t know what to do with ourselves. We’ve always had to help the writer brainstorm or actually write it ourselves. This... this... freedom was a little unnerving. We did have to make some calls, coordinate some logistics and such, but having time to do it was just... wild.

Robin checked in with the script, and she was right on track so she kept on going. We got a full script about 10:30, and we loved it. LOVED IT! Very sharp, very creative, very witty. We needed to make a couple of changes to keep with the locations we had, so she retooled that and we had an absolutely amazing script by midnight. A new record for us. Bill and I talked about the film schedule, costuming, call times, and needed props. Bill sent out an email to the team, and we went to bed.

We had the crew meet at our house at 8:00, but it was more like 9:00 when we had everyone we needed. We decided to film an office scene at my in-laws’ home. The set dressing and camera set-up took much longer than we thought, so we really didn’t start filming until 10:30. Not a stellar beginning. We were also filming some of the harder scenes, which also made it difficult.

But we’ve got great people on our team, and got through those scenes before a late lunch at 2:00. The crew took turns eating and setting up for the living room scene, which we also did at my in-laws’ house (they had taken the kids to the zoo by now). I ran the actors through their lines while the crew worked on lighting, and then Bill came in to direct that scene.

We left the house by 4:00 to do scenes closer to my home. My friend provided the front of her house when one of my locations fell through, and we did a few things there. Then we used the front of my house for a long scene involving five actors and finished just before it got dark. It was supposed to be a gardening scene, but since it was cold and lightly raining, we had to make some adjustments.

We sent home most of the team, and went inside to do voice-overs until about 10:00. It was a more leisurely session, though, involving pizza and joking. When the rest of the team went home, we sent our composer some music ideas and then went to bed.

Sunday was reserved for editing the film together, doing color and audio correction, adding the music and credits, putting in the title, and probably ten other things I don’t even know. This was mostly Bill’s show, with me there for moral support and to lend another set of eyes and ears to the film. We dumped out a backup tape at 5:30, so we’d have something, and Bill worked until 6:45. We arrived at the drop-off location a whole five minutes early, and turned in the final product.

I think you know a film is great when you’ve watched the same scene twenty times in editing, and it still cracks you up. That’s the case. The script was wonderful, we have some knock-out performances, and interesting camera work. We’re very happy with the results.

Our screening is this Thursday (Group F, 9:30 p.m.), and after that the film it will available online at our website. Let’s hope it’s a winner. The title for our film — involving a hardened detective, a sultry lady, a homeowners’ association, and self-help books — is You Pay Your Dues.

Weekend Update

Still deep into the edit of “You Pay Your Dues,” a detective/cop picture.

But I wanted to let everyone know that tickets are now on sale for our Thursday night screening — grab ’em while you can!

Screening Slot: Group F, 5/10 at 9:30 p.m.

Okay, so one more pre-weekend message for everyone — our screening has been scheduled for Thursday, May 10 at 9:30 p.m. (i.e., Group F) at the AFI Silver Theatre. The tickets are not yet on sale, but once they do become available, they will sell out. I’ll try to let people know when they’re available, but in the meantime, you may want to check back at the screening website for updates.

The Home Stretch...

The 2007 48 Hour Film Project fast approaches. Just one week from... well, right about now, we will be dumping our finished film out to tape for the mad cross-town rush to drop it off at the Warehouse Theater. We’ve got a pretty great team returning this time around, but I did want to draw your attention to a couple of welcome additions. First, we have Robin Brande, author of the upcoming YA novel Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature, who has graciously stepped in as our writer. And second (thanks to a last-minute agreement between SAG and the 48 Hour Film Project organizers) is actress Mary Lechter, founder of A Class Act: Acting for Young People & Adults. We are extremely honored to be working with them both, and eagerly anticipate our best entry yet.

No pressure or anything... ;-)

From this point forward, we’ll be switching production-based communication over to a smaller, dedicated mailing list, so that casual fans won’t be bombarded with every little detailed announcement. So if you want to come aboard (and haven’t let me know already), please be sure to speak now!

I also want to make one final plea for locations — we want to get as wide a variety of potential shooting spots as possible, and we’re trying to assemble a complete list of potential assets for Robin to work with. So if you’ve got anything that we can use, please let us know ASAP. Unusual is great, but ordinary is still necessary.

So for those of you on the team, we’ll be chatting more soon. For the rest of you, we’ll be in touch about screenings once we catch our collective breath!

The Hour Fast Approaches...

I know I, for one, am surprised at how quickly the 48 Hour Film Project has come. Yes, for those of you who haven’t checked your calendars lately, the competition is in just two weeks — May 4th through the 6th. And as usual, it seems like we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then.

I’ve already heard from several of our regulars regarding their availability, but many others either have not yet responded or were tentative in their commitments. If you fall into one of those latter categories (or if your plans have changed), please let me know as soon as possible if you’ll be able to join us this time around. The big shooting day will be Saturday the 5th, but we could also use some editing and postproduction help through Sunday, if you’re so inclined.

In addition, as always, we are on the lookout for interesting or unusual locations, props, or other quirky components you may be able to contribute to the effort (or, frankly, regular locations, props, or components). So please pass those along so we can start assembling our list of potential “assets”; we’ll want to have a fairly complete inventory of our capabilities for the writers to work with — no sense writing in a 1955 Chevy if we don’t actually have one (and if we do have one, we’d be crazy not to write it in).

More details on the specifics to come across the next two weeks, so stay tuned!

“Machinations” Takes Best Sci-Fi Award

At the Filmapalooza event this past weekend, “Machinations” was just awarded Best Use of Genre (Science Fiction) for this year’s National Film Challenge. Thanks and congratulations to everyone involved!

Seattle Debrief

I’ve got to say, the Science Fiction Short Film Festival was an amazing experience. The trip itself was nightmarish — there’s nothing like having your travel agency neglect to actually book the ticket, and then try to stick you with an additional $480 charge if you actually want to make your flight. And neglect to inform you that the cost of your hotel room will unexpectedly skyrocket for the second night of your stay.

But despite all of that, the festival itself was fantastic. First, I participated in a special teachers’ session at the Science Fiction Museum; basically a live director’s commentary and Q&A session. (It’s kind of nice to know that Seattle-area teachers are going to be using “Machinations” to teach students about visual composition in film.) And I got a free pass to the museum and the Experience Music Project — not a bad way to kill a couple of hours before the festival proper.

(Speaking of commentaries, I should take a second to note that we have finally added a new entry to our long-neglected podcast: A commentary on “Machinations” with me and D.P. Adam Young. Enjoy.)

As for the screenings themselves, I couldn’t have asked for a better venue. The Cinerama Theatre is a surprisingly well-kept, 800-seat theater with a huge curved screen. And a good old-fashioned balcony. The filmmakers had prime reserved seats, of course — and we needed them, as the theater sold out both screenings. And that’s an audience of regular filmgoers, not a crowd stacked with the filmmakers’ friends and family.

The quality of the films varied, as one might expect. In some cases the concept was intriguing but the execution lacked. In others those two factors were reversed. A few films missed on both counts. And some were right on the money. Some personal favorites of mine were “Transgressions” (which ended up taking home the Grand Prize), “The Un-Gone,” “Maklar, Anyone?” (the Audience Favorite winner), “Singularity,” and “TV Man.” I also enjoyed “Haunted Planet” and “Face Machine,” and got a real kick out of the animated romp “The Tragical Historie of Guidolon the Giant Space Chicken.” The space effects in “Mizar” were absolutely asonishing (and on full 35mm film, no less). And I want to make special mention of “Agnieszka” and Douglas Trumbull award-winner “13 Ways to Die at Home”; I definitely enjoyed both of them, but they both fall firmly into the category of “What the hell was that?”

We didn’t take home any awards — not that we expected to, given the quality of the competition and the fact that there really weere only three awards given. But the audience really seemed to love our little picture; and in that theater, that was really some reaction. Talk about a rush. And even beyond the films, the experience of being to able to interact with other filmmakers and film fans was priceless.

Of course, lest I leave the experience thinking all was well with the world, I was brought back down to Earth on the return flight, where I had what was supposed to be a four-hour layover at Midway airport. Which kept on creeping later and later, until it reached nearly the six-hour mark. Sure, I was able to sit and watch the Superbowl (or at least the first three quarters) in an airport bar in Chicago, but that novelty wore off pretty fast. Didn’t manage to crawl out of a largely-abandoned National airport until one in the morning. Lost the whole day just trying to get home (and had to get up for an early meeting the next morning).

It was so worth it.

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While I’m rambling, I might as well add a few quick news bullets:

• Thanks to the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse screening, Tohubohu has taken in its first appreciable revenue; at just over $100, it doesn’t really begin to cover the amount we’ve spent on production (and the even greater amount we’ve since spent on promotion), but it’s still a really nice feeling to get that check in hand.


• Still no news on any potential awards from the National Film Challenge, and we probably won’t know anything until Filmapalooza in March. And that’s assuming they post any announcements immediately: While we’d certainly like to have a representative in attendance, our budget is pretty much spent after the aforementioned Seattle trip...


• The Internet Movie Database now has reasonably complete listings for both “Quite Contrary” and “Machinations” — so if you worked on either of those films, be sure to give those entries a look to make sure you’re credited properly (and even if you didn’t work on either of them, go give them your ratings and comments)!


• The 2007 48 Hour Film Project for Washington, D.C., will take place over the weekend of May 4th through the 6th. Clear your calendars...