The Greensboro 48 Hour Film Project

What Happened During Your Weekend?

The Greensboro filmmakers share stories from their wild weekend of filmmaking. (Blogging ended shortly after the filmmaking weekend.)

Last Call

As the producer/writer/director of last year's winning film, "Cadence," I wanted to try something new this year. Dustin Keene (who won in 2007 with "JoBeth") and I were having a few beers when we discussed working together.

Two teams with very different chemistry, styles and approaches, we had to learn how to mesh our strengths and accommodate for our weaknesses. Dustin traditionally works from a completed script to a clear shotlist to an edit that matches the script verbatim; I work more organically, letting the story develop as we "find it." Inevitably, we had a moment or two where we needed to stop and get ourselves together on what we were doing. I cannot thank Dustin enough for his faith in me & director Khang Mai. His support of our evolving story is a huge part of the success of our film.

This was the first 48 Hour Film Project in which I actually slept! In years past, I've gone straight from shooting to editing. However, with our combined team, we were able to edit even as we were shooting. Our editor was able to offer feedback about material he could use in the cut, while we still had the scene set up. Editor Tim LaFollette was brilliant! He had a real grasp of the story and the best performances.

Another distinct advantage of our combined team was that we had access to former team members in another city! I think Dustin is pretty proud of shooting (we think) the first transcontinental 48 Hour Film! The footage from our "B Unit" (only 3 shots) matched beautifully and truly brought a special life to the film.

Thank you to Dustin for putting this truly collaborative experience together for us! Thank you to Khang and Schenley for making such a beautiful film! Thank you to all EIGHT of our writers (counting myself) for creating such a personal story! Thank you to my fellow cast members for bringing life to their characters! Thank you, most of all, to the 48HFP for yet another challenge!

- Dan A. R. Kelly, The Keen Collaboration

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Little B**tard

This is the fifth year in a row I've competed in the 48 and once again, it was a blast. But it was almost not to be.

A virus hit my computer on the Wednesday before the drawing and slowed my programs down to a point where it would have been impossible for me to do much of anything, let alone get my film edited and turned in on time. Fortunately my friend and bad-ass NCSA student Justin Sale, who has competed in 48 the past four years, contacted me on Thursday saying he could help out. "Help out" isn't a strong enough word because our entry this year was a 100% team effort.

After receiving our assigned elements, we brainstormed for a bit and then parted ways, Justin back to his house in GSO and me to mine in Burlington. I started writing a script around 10pm Friday night and had it 90% finished at 5am Saturday morning. We began filming at 1:00 in the afternoon (aka: the absolute hottest point in the day).

Despite each of us sweating off god-only-knows how many pounds, we finished filming the daytime scenes around 9pm Saturday. I took my actors home to Burlington while Justin began uploading and editing what we had on his virus-free computer. We started filming again at 11pm and wrapped it all up at 2am Sunday.

Justin edited through the night while I went home and began composing music, hoping it would fit with the footage we had. Fortunately it did...but then we ran into problems when trying to render to tape. This was 7pm, Sunday. With no time to spare, Justin grabbed his lap-top and we headed to the drop-off. But not being sure of the quickest way there, Justin's dad Ken valiantly led us on our way (I'm fairly certain "Flight of the Valkyries" was playing on his radio)

Nearing the drop-off, we had one street left to turn down...it was closed. We backtracked and swooped around Elm street...but then a train came and our path was blocked again. Without hesitation, Ken instinctively made a move and we subverted the train, helping us get our film in on time.

All in all, it was another hectic but awesome year. Everyone came through when we needed it the most and I was truly humbled at the dedication from my friends and all involved. Like I said, a 100% team effort. Thanks so much, guys. We couldn't have done it without you!

- Slade Blackburn, MEGASLADE

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48 hours of fun.

Over the past few years, our small team of enthusiastic amateurs have been coming out to make films. We've had people in positions of responsibility as first-timers every year, and this year was no exception. Our production design team, our boom operator, our 1st AD, our script supervisor, were all newcomers to their roles ... Emily Moore, our lead actress, had never acted before ... and yet it all came together.

German Valle and I were classmates at the school of the arts. I've been wanting to work with him for some time. We finally made it happen. It was a true joy.

Also, many thanks to Dalton and his crew over at 223 post.

For pictures of our production and a few notes of thanks, go to www.monkeywhale.com and alexmanessphotography.com.

- Harvey Robinson, Monkeywhale Productions

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A Sleepless Whirlwind

This past weekend was one of the most exciting film experiences of my life! I had never worked under these conditions, but I feel blessed to have worked with such a prepared and talented team. We definitely had an efficient production schedule worked out in advance, making sure that everyone slept when they weren't working and editing the film throughout the night. Despite a few bumps along the way, we got the most out of our 48 hours!!

I have to say, I never thought I'd see the day where I would be running around in a little black dress and knee high boots having a climatic "knife" fight on a catwalk at 2:30am, working on no sleep and adrenaline alone! What an exciting rush! (Also, exciting because it was our last scene before wrapping!)

From what I saw in the editing room, our film looks fantastic. I am honored to be part of D & P Productions and I know we're gonna have a stellar screening. :) I hope all of you think so too!

- Ginny Buckner, Dragon & Phoenix Productions

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Rid Yourself of Yourself so that you can be Yourself

Our teams inexperienced showed through in that we had to turn in an unfinished product. Other then that, we feel really good about what we have. Anyone reading this probably already knows how hard it is to make a movie in 48 hours... now we know.
The Blog Title is basically our movie catch phrase, which we would love to put on a movie poster, but we are all sooooo tired.
The best part of the weekend was how well we all worked togeher, especially from a writing standpoint. Having 6 writers was risky, but it paid off... we really feel great about our story.
The worst part was our technical difficulties as we lost 5 hours having to reformat what we filmed, just so that we could get to editing.
I don\\\'t want to give too much away, but we really walk the fine line on this one. I hope at least one of you is amused.

- Sam Schell, Roadgraders Productions

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Volunteers

Wednesday night. almost 48 hours before kick off, I started putting together my team. I was supposed to be a team with my husband and kids. A few friends agreed to help. I found out that my family had to go out of town and started looking at the volunteer site (thanks the Suzan reminding me about it and telling me how to find it.) It was great advice. I found three experienced crew members with equipment. I found 3 actors, one of which came with two very talented parents willing to act... some friends ended up being sick but others jumped in and helped in every way you could imagine. I feel like I had a 48 hour session looking for help before the 48 hour festival started.

- Allison Chabon, LaRyan

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