2005 - April 19th - Our Screening!

Screening!
Originally uploaded by duckydale.

Tuesday, April 19th - Our Screening:
I got out of work early that day, not because of the screenings, but because there was nothing to do. I went home and was really tired. I wanted a nap but didn’t have that much time so I think I just sat around. By the time we had to leave I was in a mood. I didn’t feel so good and wasn’t in the mood to be “ON.” I don’t know if it was the butterflies in my stomach or just not feeling up to par but it took all I had to turn on the charm and feel like being ring leader. That and I had a sinking feeling that Ryan, our excellent and unsung hero of a composer, may have been left off the credits. Can you imagine if we left this kid off the film? I would have felt like the most irresponsible jacknut out there. When Ryan showed up, I told him I wasn’t sure his name was listed and to not hate me. I wanted to brace him so that when noone is listed as composer, he doesn’t turn to me and want to beat me to a pulp. So you know… that may have been part of my anxiety.
Last year I made the mistake of trying to make sure everyone in my group, the cast, and everyone I knew got into the screening. It made me crazy and almost made me miss the screening. This year I vowed to just lay low and let whatever happens happen. If people get it, GREAT! If not, not my problem. It worked to some degree. I still was outside waiting to see who did show at five of.
We settled in. As usual, the late films screen first! Ours was going to be third. As I skimmed the program, I noticed that there were three “FOREIGN FILMS” (Wildcards) screening tonight. Two of which were late. Ha! We’re not alone.
The first foreign film was the most filmic of the evening. It was a Russian drama played for dramatic purposes which was different! Some people liked it some though it out of place. I applauded their departure from the comedy. As the second late film ended I got tense. I had not watched our film “Io Non Sono Cosi” since we finished it on that fateful Sunday night. I couldn’t even remember if it was funny or if it made sense anymore. Brace yourself…
It actually turned out pretty well. We got some laughs where I thought we would. We got some positive audience reaction as it showed! Pat ourselves on the back, we did it and survived yet another year. Of course, it could have been more outrageous on the laughs, it could have possibly played for more shock value in the end but overall it looked pretty good and the sound levels were right on and people seemed to enjoy it. I felt relieved and almost annoyed that I now had to sit through seven more films. I’m so bad.
Luckily, one of those remaining films was from my favorite group last year. A group of students that had MOCKUMENTARY last year were once again playing for kicks and homage in this, their second outing. Starring the Colin Quinn-esque boy that made Spudgie McGonagal tolerable last year and his ASS, these kids again delivered! With a sequence in which J. Withers tries to land his first American role and trying to learn how to say “So what’s the plan this time brainiac” (the required dialogue from last year) was inspired and quite the inside joke for those that saw it in 2004. Then in one last tip of the hat to the audience and their efforts of the past, we got one last glimpse of Colin Quinn-esques bare ASS! Those kids slay me!
We’re not even going to get into the monstrosity that is the film made by one team which may or may not sound like MireBike. Don’t want to name names, but the freak tried to steal on of my actresses at the Happy Hour with me right there and then proceeded to scare the living daylights out of her with his over planned and “philosophical” stylings. I don’t know what was going on there!
Afterwards was a Q&A with the “filmmakers.” Rosemary and I went on up and answered whatever was thrown at us. One person asked about the most memorable moment and hands down it was when Amanda’s bare ass and Virginia where on display in the North End!
As we were packing up to exit the theatre, a gentleman from the Newbury Film Series asked if we would submit our film into their festival this summer. That’s pretty damn cool now isn’t it! Although I think I would like to do a tad bit of tinkering with the film before I send it in. I’ll keep you posted.
If you came to our screening, thank you! If you worked on the film, THANK YOU! If you just read this to kill time between lunch and dinner, thank you as well!

2005 - April 13 - John Kelly's Screening:

John Kelly is a newish friend; his fiancé Jenn works with my Jon. John is a theatre guy at heart and expressed interest in doing the 48 Hour Film Project months back at a dinner party at their house. At the time I was not sure in what capacity I wanted to have help with my own 48HFP so I didn’t go as far as inviting him to join my team. I felt bad but after last year there was a part of me that wanted to just do it solo… guerilla style. Anyhoo, John applied on his own and got accepted to the project. Get it? Got it? Wondrous!
John’s screening was at the Kendall, my first choice as it’s a swanky newer theatre with great sound and comfy seating. We met before hand and John was all decked out in the same outfit his main character wears. Not only that, but somehow he had nice silk-screened shirts made as well. Get him on a street team or something. It was too funny. It was great to see him so excited. As we piled into the theatre, I was nervous and completely had no idea of what to expect. This was a week before mine was to screen so I was curious as to what the other teams came up with. I could relax this night because mine was not showing. Technically, I could be objective and just enjoy but of course I am trying to judge theirs against ours and that just makes a man crazy.
John’s film was hysterical. It was called “The Envelope” and his genre was SPY. His story was simple; a neighbor goes out of town and asks this kid to watch his house while he’s gone. The kid goes bananas, obviously the perfect time for a stakeout. He sets up shop in his car across the street and begins running through his Spy kit. Flashlight, check. Tape recorder, check! Sandwhich, check. On and On and On. It was funny. The guy who starred in it was just beyond genius with his comic timing and foolish antics.
Afterwards I said to my Jon that John’s film was something I never would have done. It was fast, quirky, and slapstick. I wish I could have just come up with something that simple and funny! Oh well, something to improve on.

2005 - Saturday, April 9th – Let’s Get Retarded:

I woke up at 5am to look over our outline and flesh it out a bit so I could send it to our cast/crew/composer by 7am. I had to be in the North End at 8am to meet Rosemary and Brandi. Lukas (imposter), Ben (cop/interviewer), and Amanda (Adult J. Withers) would be there at 9 so we wanted to have a plan of attack on these North End locations. Most opened early so we would hit them first. Our three early cast members were willing to crew as well, so they were an incredible asset to the team. Haul this, move that!

Brandi and I set out to get some establishing shots that could “double” as Italy. We ran into another team filming in the North End as we were getting an exterior café shot. That was pretty funny as they were on their way to pick up a dollie. We so couldn’t be bothered with a dollie shot. No time. Regardless, it was fun to see someone else in our predicament. A moment of recognition of what it takes to do this weekend.

We had Allesandro (J. Withers as a child) and Sharon (“Mother Withers”) scheduled for 3pm so it was go time. We went to a ton of cafes, stores, butchers, bakers, barbers and candlestick makers interviewing true Italians about the mythical J. Withers. Some were better than others, some needed intense coaching, some none. Café Graffit was my favorite. Luigi and this woman there were just incredible. As if they really knew and loved J. Withers. Completely amazing folks. They gave us some of our best footage.

We ended up behind (as usual on a shoot) so we eventually split into 2 teams. Rosemary, Brandi, and Jefferson went and continued the mock interviews while I met Lukas, Ben, Amanda, and Sharon down near an alley in the North End to film the imposter scenes. Amanda wrangled up about 10 high school kids from Rochester, NY to be an audience for Lukas’ arrest and it was go time. Ben bounced Lukas off trash cans, barrels, and eventually slammed him into an iron gate, smooshing his face through the bars as I shot hand-held. It was a blast. Lukas was screaming lines about how he was bigger than “The Corey’s” and how he gave a kidney to a fan. It was hysterical. Great footage!

But the best moment of the day came right after this shot as I hear Amanda laughing and yelling for help. I turn around and the only thing I see is COOCH! She is naked from the waist down trying to cover her girl parts with her hand but she’s laughing so hard nothing is happening. Lil Jenn is like “what the hell!” and I don’t know what’s going on. Lukas, Ben and Sharon are in tears as I reach down and pull up her pants. It was quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve seen in years. The residents of the North End got quite the treat that afternoon. How often does a woman flash her cooch and ass to the masses in that neighborhood? Genius!

I pushed Tallie and Lorraine (American Fan Club Presidents) to 7pm – meeting at my house which cleared us to get the money shot of the day… J. Withers arriving to throngs of fans in a cherry red Ferrari! Allesandro was in a suit looking sly. Mother Withers was in her best Joan Crawford gear and the sun was about to hide from the street. We gathered as many tourists as possible and sent Allesandro around the corner to hop into Guy’s Ferrari. Guy owns a shot in the North End, great guy. We amassed a crowd of at least 50 people. It was incredible! Roll! The Ferrari comes up the street and the crowd starts chanting “J… J… J… J… J…” we drew a bigger crowd with the Ferrari and the screaming. People must have thought it was a real celebrity because they just came running. Picture a 10 year old boy with people screaming for him, girls asking for autographs and giving him flowers. It was a surreal sight for everyone!
Everyone left besides Rosemary, Brandi, Sharon, Allesandro and myself because we had one more restaurateur to interview to get in the can before going back to my house for dinner and a couple shots.

By the time we were leaving Pino’s restaurant, I was nauseous. All I had eaten was an breakfast sandwich and a slice of tiramisu. I was not feeling so hot when we got in the car for the 3 mile ride to my house. Car sickness kicked in and by the time I walked up my steps and into my house I was done.

Jon had made baked ziti and bread for us. We ate and had about an hour before the Fan Club girls would descend on my house. Rest… Must Rest. Brandi went up and laid down. I put my head back and just sat there for a good twenty minutes, relaxing and concentrating on not throwing up. Eventually my tummy and head came back to earth, the doorbell rang and it was time for Round 2 or is it 12?

Again we split up. One team upstairs filming J. and Mother Withers flashback scenes in our bathroom and then outside. The other filming the Fan Club girls. Those two girls were cracking me up. It was a very competitive best friend relationship. Each girl wore a J. Withers shirt that Jon had made. One had a hug photo of J. and it said “I “Heart” J!” the other had a picture of J. and it said “Free J. Withers” as she believed the imposter that was arrested recently was the “real” J. I just let them go, we had a photo album full of pictures and posters. A framed pic on the fireplace mantle was used at one point. They were a blast. Finally we were ready for our final location and our final shoot!

10:30pm we hit Rosemary’s office across from Boston Common. It’s a great space and we were using the modern reception area for the “televised” talk show reveal. Typical 3 camera set-up using only two cameras. It was pretty fast and smooth. Jon created a book with a photo we took earlier in the day. It was the J. Withers tell all sure to be a best seller titled “I’m Not Really Like This” and it had adult female J holding a publicity photo of herself as a boy at age 6. Great cover, great title. We wrapped shooting at 11:30pm and not a minute too soon. I was ready to be done with the day and we were all getting punchy. Jon met us outside with my Mac and he took some of my equipment home as it was now editing time and we were off to Rosemary’s to hunker down and pray for daylight.

2005 - Saturday/Sunday, April 9-10th: Editing to the End...

Editing:
We got to Rosemary’s, I changed into my pajamas, she made some Chai tea and some scrambled eggs. Off we went a digitizing. Just as we were starting, we realized that Brandi didn’t have her firewire and there was not another 4 to 6 pin firewire in the house. Where would you get one at 12:30 in the morning? Nowhere! This meant that only one person could be digitizing which slowed us some. In the meantime, she went back through her footage and really marked the best shots and re-logged everything so that in the morning, it would be a quick batch capture and away we go.

At around 4:30am while I was capturing a Fan Club scene I apparently dozed off. I was shocked away by the shrill screams of the adoring twosome pining away for J. Withers and I realized even though I only have 7 more shots to capture… it was bedtime!

I set my cellphone to wake me at 7 but couldn’t sleep very well because all I could concentrate on was finishing this thing! I heard Rosemary get up early and then Brandi so that she could begin capturing her footage while I was still asleep. I tried to sleep longer but it was really of no use. I was up and ready to go. Today was going to be a long hard day. I made some Chai and began working on one of the laptops. Rosemary made us a fruit blend so the two editors could crank out what needed to be done. As we ate fruit, she began on making sure we had all of our releases in order and all of our production documents in line. Then she got us bagels. Bless that woman for catering our needs on Sunday!

I called Jon and Jenn while Rosemary was out because we were missing some release forms. Just wanted to check and make sure neither of them had them before we searched further. I also called Ryan our composer and made sure he was in line to meet his deadline and see if he had any questions for me. Saturday at like 6am I sent him our story outline and we spoke Saturday afternoon. I knew he was good to go but wanted to make sure he wasn’t having a crisis. I finished my last couple shots and the two of us began a rough cut while Rosemary finished all of the paperwork and final details.

As we cut together the Ferrari sequence, my computer began sputtering. It worked but everything was stilted. Shit! Was it processor problems? Memory problems? Something bigger? We played with it for a few minutes, nothing was working. I decided to dump all of the video on my computer onto some dvd’s and called Jon. He suggested the same. I just needed another opinion outside of the house we were in as of what to do. I wanted to make sure the computer made it through the day because we needed Final Cut Pro to finish this bitch! It took FOREVER to dump all the video I had onto dvds. In the meantime we all took super quick wake-me-up showers and when one wasn’t showering the other was working on another laptop.

Rosemary began translating Italian into English for subtitles while Brandi began working on other scenes. After a good two hours, the computer seemed happy and I was ready to go. Reboot Final Cut, open the project and the computer starts sputtering again. I almost fucking jumped out the window. I wanted to die. Pissed, I deleted the whole cut together scene from the timeline. POW! The computer was fine. What? I put it back in, POW! Computer is not fine. Take it back out. POW! Computer is fine. So let me get this straight. Something within that one clip was causing my whole computer to freeze up on me? I could have just deleted the clip two hours ago and all would have been well? Are you fucking serious? Deadly.

Jon picked up the music from Ryan around 2:30 and was at Rosemary’s around 3pm. He was happy to learn that the editing was back on track! At this time, we knew it was going to be tight but we’d been plugging along non-stop (minus 5 minute shower) since the wee hours no time to stop! For real we worked without a breather or sense of reality… determined! Around 6pm I called Jon because the three of us had come to the realization that with only an hour before the film had to be turned in, there was not a chance in hell we would be done. The first two acts were basically finished and Brandi was frantically finishing the final act and their subtitles the whole time I was refining edits and adding music. It was fucking insane! Controlled and calm but a major whirlwind of hours. Before I knew it, it was 7:30 and we were just adding the final subtitles to the film.

Up to this point, we had left the demon Ferrari clip out of the program but it had to come back in eventually because it was essential to the Rise and Fall of J. Withers, Former Child Star. I plopped it in and the fucker began sputtering. I closed down and went back in vowing to not touch the club, scrub by it in the timeline or even look at it until we were ready to export. And that’s how we got around that damn sequence. Just bypass it and all was well.

Here’s the killer with subtitles. They need to render. Granted the film was not that long (less than 6 minutes) but when its in Italian and most of it is subtitled, it takes some rendering time. Precious time… While it finished rendering and exporting we gathered everything. We were already late but as long as it was turned in by midnight the film would be screened and could be in competition for the Audience Award. That is all we wanted, to SCREEN! Once we had accepted the fact that we were late and we were fine with that, it was just get it there as fast as possible but make it complete!

The car was packed, tapes labeled, documentation completed and in an envelope. We just sat back and watched as we transferred back to MiniDV and then to DVD… it was pretty damn good considering all the problems we had that day! Rosemary called and left a message with the Boston Producer, Ben to ensure we were coming. He was grateful and was in the process of calling the late teams to make sure they were on their way. We told him we were exporting and would be there ASAP! I called Jon, talked to Jefferson (both of whom would be meeting us at Boston Beer Works), and finally we were in the car. I called Ben back to let him know we had left and we were only minutes from the BBW. No answer. At 9:30 we pulled into Fenway and got out! We were finally done with the now 50 Hour Film Project but proud as could be! Exhausted, but excited to have survived yet another year. Hey, where’s Ben?

Yeah, no Ben. How the hell are we going to turn in our films? Rosemary looked around the entire bar/restaurant. There were tons of teams, but no Ben. I left 4 messages in 15 minutes. Finally he calls back around 9:50. He’s now at home in Cambridge, drop the film there. FINE! I kiss Rosemary and Brandi goodbye, shake Jefferson’s hand and off we went to Cambridge. Jon and I drove quickly to Ben’s place in Cambridgeport.

Ring to bell. Ben comes down on the phone with another team. The guys asking way too many questions when I just want to officially turn this film in and head home for some well deserved sleep. Another team shows up at the door. Two of us waiting in the hall, two calls on the phone now! It’s over.

I fell asleep around 11pm and slept like the Pope!

2005 - Friday, April 8th - Planning:

As we walked out of BBW our minds were racing. Rosemary’s friend Jefferson (who’s Italian and speaks it fluently) was on his way to meet us and come back to my house for the story stage and some food that Jon made. We stood outside waiting for Jefferson and running ideas. We decided on the “Mockumentary” style because our required character was “J. Wither – Former Child Star” so it just lent itself well to that formula.

My mind first went to pearl necklace and former child star! The Italian Traci Lords I screamed out. The two WOMEN I was with didn’t feel as enthusiastic. But come on, how incredible would that “pearl necklace” have been? Eventually Rosemary mentioned “Anastasia” and mistaken identity. From there we ended up with a former child star that disappeared while still a child and never resurfaced, being one of the great pop-culture mysteries. Which then led to mistaken identity and impersonation and all the way to J. Withers was a boy, now J. Withers is a girl!

We went back to my house, called the cast. I decided to include everyone. We added Rosemary’s son, Allesando to be the child J. Withers and decided that his adult version would be Amanda, a fun gal we met only a week or two earlier. Gotta love Italian language gender bending! The final version of our story was a mockumenary about what happened to J. Withers… Interviews with all the Italian speaking North Enders who would be reminiscing about J. and his impact on their lives, his celebrity (akin to Shirley Temple), the rise and ultimate mystery surrounding his fall from the spotlight. There would be posters, and pictures from Allesandro’s childhood to plaster around the North End and in the shops we will be doing interviews. There would be an American fan club run by two competitive and clueless best friends. There would be an imposter/junkie arrested in recent years posing as the “real” J. Withers. There would be a final reveal on national television! The real J. Withers was always a girl but her overbearing, attention starved mother thought all the “plum” roles were for boys (ala. The Corey’s and Webster) so she forced J. to dress and act like a boy. Why not!

We had an outline, a plan of action, the locations we would shoot, our actors in place. I was in bed around 2am.

2005 - Friday, April 8th – The Kickoff:

I left work at Noon because god knows I couldn’t concentrate to save my life. I went home, had some lunch, watched “The OC” from the night before and just relaxed. Nothing like some Seth Cohen to make your day peaceful and light! God bless that character.

I was hoping to get some sleep when the phone rang. It was Sharon, one of my actresses from last years 48 Hour Film Project and she was offering her last minute talents if needed. Oh that and if we needed fresh blood, she had her period. Nice! I told her that as far as I was concerned, she was in! Hell, we told almost everyone we auditioned that they were in (you never know who you might need when you pull that genre out of that hat!).

I began getting nervous around 3:30 when I realized that I had not heard from my Co-Producer and our DP (they were together). When I got in touch, they had done a ton of errands getting together a goodie box full of the things most forgotten on a shoot (tape, scissors, extra light bulbs, exactos, band aids…). Plus, they had spent a good portion of the day in the North End getting releases signed by about 9 locations (bakeries, restaurants, butchers, barbers, etc.). They were busy gals and I had just finished watching Seth Cohen catch the “Risky Business” glass egg as it flew through the air! The day was going well. We agreed to meet at the kick-off event which was being held at Boston Beer Works (across from Fenway Park) at 6pm.

I walked over to BBW and met the girls. Also there was my friend John Kelly who entered after I him’d-and-haw’d him out of joining my team. When he expressed interest it was in my “I’ll do this old school style – solo” phase. Regardless, we waited and waited as representatives from the 62 participating teams filed in. Finally Ben Guaraldi, the Boston Producer of the 48HFP pulled out a Red Sox knit hat and began calling teams by Screening Groups (A,B,C,D,E). John was group B and pulled “Spy” as his genre. We were group “D” so we had a while to wait.

Rosemary, Brandi and I discussed the genres in which we would be willing to give up for the “Wild Card Genre.” The Wild Card was going to be a much harder, more specific genre of film that could be chosen if you did not like the genre you originally pulled. Examples were: “Buddy Film, Foreign Film, Historical Fiction…” I figured if we pulled Sci-Fi again, I was all about Wild Card! It couldn’t be worse. Alas, Group D’s turn to draw. Ben calls our team, I head on up and pull out of the Sox hat… “Detective/Cop”

I walk back and we are not jazzed about “Detective/Cop” but it’s doable. They asked who would like to exchange their genre for the Wild Card and the three of us looked at each other and all said “Why Not!” So up to the front I went along with about 6 other teams and Ben opened an envelope…

Wild Card Genre: FOREIGN FILM

Well thank our lucky stars that Rosemary and Brandi spent the day in the North End where everyone speaks Italian. But now what?

Required Character: J. Withers (Former Child Star)
Required Prop: A Pearl Necklace
Required Dialogue: “I’m Not Really Like This”

2005 - Screenings...

Our film screens Tuesday, April 19th at both 7pm and 9:30pm at the historic Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. If you are interested in seeing many of the 63 films, here are the screening dates and times.

Kendall Square Cinema (7 and 9:30pm)
Tuesday, April 12th
Wednesday, April 13th
Thursday, April 14th

Kendall Tickets

Brattle Theatre
Tuesday, April 19th***
Wednesday, April 20th

Brattle Tickets

Last year, each showing sold out about two hours before the showtime so get them early.

2005 - 150 minutes....

....to go before this baby kicks off. The kickoff party is at Boston Beer Works. See you on the other side.

2005 - Score Pt. Deux

We have an official Composer for our 48 Hour Film! His name is Ryan Leach. He went to Berklee and this May gets his degree in Film Scoring. I dont know that thta is the official degree but sounds good to me! Here is his site if you ever need someone!

Ryan Leach

2005 - Score!

I’ve had a pretty excellent response to my ad for a musician to score this puppy. I figured it would not be a problem as we are in the city that houses one of the best music schools in the country (Berklee). I’m excited to listen to their samples and visit their sites. It will be an interesting process in selecting our “composer.” I’ve never had to do that before.

I’m thinking that the “American Idol” approach may be the best way to do this. They submit their demos and I critique with my untrained ear. I will so be the Paula! And by that I mean that I will be taking 18 pills and making out with the man on my left! Hell, I might even sleep with one of the contestants and drive my car blindly through the streets hoping to hit and run! I will keep you posted…

2005 - Got Ass?

Anxiety, is that a crew position?: If it is, I’ve hired this crew and then some. I’m like panic stricken because I still feel like something is missing. Rosemary is an amazing Producer. Brandi, though I’ve yet to meet her seems more than capable and I am sure will prove to be quite the asset to our team. I want a dedicated-no-other-purpose DP and I don’t have that. Of course we can get by but in my heart of hearts I would have some visionary in the wings ready to take us to another level. I also want a Musician to do our score. I’ll post tonight on Craigslist and NEFilms but tomorrow I may have to whore myself over to the crunchy-smoke filled Berklee School of Music to wrangle some affected youth into scoring this fucker. Keeping you posted…

2005 - Castings

Yesterday we had castings. I felt very out of touch with the process. I think I was just so preoccupied with the zillion other things related to the Project that I couldn’t focus on casting; which is sad because I love seeing talent or at times the lack thereof. Just being privy to that pure moment of nailing it or the awesome freakshow of bombing is purpose enough to carry on. But I was off and I feel bad. I hope none of the actors felt put off or neglected. That is one thing I’ve always known I can do. Make actors comfortable and make them trust me enough to hit the perfect place and to know I was not at my game is upsetting. Regardless, we had a heaping helpin’ of fun and I think we will have a good crop of thesps when this thing starts in 5 days. 5 Days… What?

2005 - Virgin...

...Islands to the rescue:
A woman that Rosemary (my producer) knows has decided to join us on our little 48 Hour adventure. She works as a professional videographer/editor down in St. Thomas. Must be nice, right? Hot weather, sandy beaches, the perception of eternal wedded bliss for at least six months until her customers divorce proceedings begin, perfect! Brandi is hopping on a plane, DV in hand and boom-mic in tow and I couldn’t be happier. She sounds like a great creative entity and that is what we need! A driving force, a professional… someone with a tan. It will give us all hope that summer will soon be here. I so cannot worry about summer, I need to worry about surviving another 48 Hours. More to come...

2005 - 1st Posting

Regardless, I was eager to play again. Throw my hat into the ring for another go if you will. A couple months ago I began checking the 48HFP website to see when cities would be announced for the 2005 tour. In early February I noticed that Boston and Philly would be the kick-off cities this year and the first to register. On February 15th registration began and luckily I was one of the first 10 to register, guaranteeing my place in the competition. Way excited.

2004

At the time I knew one person to start the team off, an old chum from Film school that works as an editor. Through her, we were able to network a full group of amazingly talented and way resourceful individuals. There was an Irish lass and her theatre designer beau, a handsome and skilled DP, willing and able PA’s, make-up folk and horses! Who else had horses? NO ONE!
Planning: We had several meetings at Emerson College (because all of us either were alum or grad students there) and it was a central location in the city. The castings went incredibly smooth. Our editor knew an incredible actress named Sharon Speer who just brought so much intensity and depth to a character that she was a must. We also ended up using a Starbucks barista named Shay who was young and vulnerable but with an edge. For the men we had Lukas (I call him Lukaplakia – from “Lucas” starring Corey Haim) who has a rough and tumble brut intensity to his persona but is a teddy bear at heart. The other male in our film was Peter, a Berklee student with an insane sense of humor and twisted smile. A great cast in all; we felt confident with our choices and we were ready for the show.

Kickoff: The kickoff party was held at Boston Beer Works near Fenway Park and about a mile from my house; a good location because I could get our genre and required elements and be home within minutes. Everyone piled into the BBW and awaited Ben Guarldi to start this thing. One by one he called a team name. A member of the team went up and drew the genre they would be making out of a bowl. Now, going into the weekend, I had ideas for almost every genre except Sci-Fi and what do my well lotioned hands pull? SCI-FUCKING-FI! You’ve got to be kidding me. Oh well. Deal. After all the genres were assigned, Ben and a lovely assistant pulled out our three elements. The prop: a garden hose. The character: Spudgy McGonagal – A Pastry Chef. The dialogue: “So what’s the plan this time brainiac?” For real, a pastry chef and that horrible line of dialogue had to be used in our film. What a treat. It was like being the studio making Godfather III and finding out that horse-face can’t act daughter of the director would be cast in a major role… Deal with it!


It begins: The weekend was a fucking blast. Everyone meshed well, no egos, no boundaries. Attitude: Do what you have to do to get this thing done! It was great. The actors were troopers while filming on a farm in the rain and chilly temps (even while being doused with a hose in 45 degree weather). No complaints!
Then we were late by 15 minutes turning in the film on Sunday night. So in our case it was the 48 Hour 15 Minute Film Project. I was bummed, but was not discouraged. We accomplished an amazing thing in those 48 hours. It was complete chaos (mostly organized chaos) and a blur, but we finished a film and it would then be shown twice (to sold out shows) at The Somerville Theatre. What more could you ask for?


The screening: Apparently it was monsoon season in Boston that night as the rains came hard and heavy. Lines formed down the block. There were not enough tickets to go around and people that had worked on films couldn’t get in, it was insane. Two by Two we filed into the theatre to witness the fruits of our 48 Hour copulation. 12 films screened that night. Some were great, some were good, some were eh… We were in the “okay” range if you judged on story. If you were judging style and visual representation we were fucking kick ass! The film looked unreal. Chris, our set designer/lighting guru just rocked the house and it showed. Visually this thing was stunning, the story… not so much. Regardless, it was so cool to see our film on the “big screen” and to know that two sold out shows just saw your work. I felt incredibly empowered and pleased with our group. Some of them did not however feel the same.


Tensions flared as the pressure of seeing your “not perfect” work on screen got to one or two in our group. There seemed to be this blame game happening and a couple team members seemed disgusted with the whole process. I on the other hand thought it was just the bee’s knees. After the films were shown, there was a Q&A with the filmmakers. It was festival style all the way and I thoroughly enjoyed our experience. The films that seemed to do the best were the ones that just rolled with the punches and got together with their buddies to make something doofy. But the 48 Hour Film Project is the perfect forum for doofy! Longer conceptual or dramatic pieces all fell flat. The quick, funny, and wacky films were the crowd pleasers. Food for thought.
My favorite reaction to our film was from my friend Matt: “Honestly Dan, what was that?”