48 Hour Film Project highlights

[The film is here.]
I had a whole lot of fun this weekend. My crew was great. It was a real treat working with them. Our 48Hour Film Project will be judged later this week and the awards will occur next week. Keep your fingers crossed! There's a bunch of silliness in our lil' movie.

Initially, I was very worried about the outcome of the production. We didn't find out what genre our film would be until the first night of the competition. We had brainstormed a few ideas and I knew the actors we had available were strongest in comedy. I had been praying for our team for a few days and for myself--a first-time director under extreme time restraint with a team of first time competitors! I didn't want to get stressed out or obviously let down all the people who were sacrificing time, sleep and resources to make this happen.

That being the case, our producer and I represented the team at the genre drawing. As he went up to draw, I'm dialoguing with God, "Okay, I know I've already prayed about this and I know, it's kinda silly but it would be really great if we got Comedy." I promise you, no sooner had I gotten the words out of my mouth than I hear the announcer say, "Team New Beginning - Comedy" over the loudspeaker. I nearly jumped up and screamed! I can't remember ever having such a specific prayer answered in such a specific (and immediate) fashion! I'm like SHUT UP! That's awesome! Statistically, there's only about 7% chance that we would draw the exact genre we wanted.

All that considered, I have no gripes about the end product.

Production Highlight: We shot a "wedding" scene after I had been awake for 30 hours straight with a 1.5 hour nap at the 24 hour mark. The room with no air conditioning, no sound absorption, 17 cast members and 5 or so crew members.

I was holding one of the extras' baby girl so should wouldn't be crawling around the shooting area. She fell into a deep sleep in my arms. The temperature in the room was about 84 degrees and I was at about 94 and sweating because the baby was so hot. I was losing my voice and every time I called "cut" the cast would naturally start talking.

Here I am trying to give direction to my lead actor who can't hear me because the entire cast is talking. Various other people in the room would try to repeat what I was saying which made it more difficult for him to hear what I was saying.

Finally, I had a mini meltdown and as loud as a sore throat can, yelled at everyone: "Quiet!!! I've already given my directions!" and emphasized my statement with a wide sweeping arm motion. It worked for the moment and we got some work done. When we finished the shoot, I hear a couple of the cast--friends, no less--mocking me in a hoity-toity voice. "I've already give my directions! Quiet!!!" They had quite a giggle or two at my expense. That's okay. I know what's going on my next t-shirt.