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48 Hour Film Project: 2 days to make a career

The 48 Hour Film Project gives aspiring filmmakers a chance to show off their talents - and earn a slot at a major film festival - if they can beat the clock.

By Steve Persall, Times Film Critic
Published June 22, 2007

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A lot of things can happen in 48 hours. Making a movie usually isn't one of them.

Hundreds of Florida filmmakers recently proved it can be done, creating short films from scratch in the 48 Hour Film Project, an international competition sponsored by VISA and Panasonic.

Twenty-three teams took the challenge in Tampa. Only 15 beat the two-day deadline, even with five extra minutes added for traffic. One was chosen by judges including this critic to represent Tampa in the national finals in Washington, D.C.

The grand prize winner from among 52 U.S. cities gets a small fortune in production equipment and a slot at places like the Cannes Film Festival, where the best of 2006 recently played.

Not bad for a weekend adventure with friends, colleagues and maybe strangers itching to make movies on the fly.

"I think we all just wanted to do something bigger than ourselves, " said Viva la VHS team leader Kerri Bermudez, whose cop thriller Unspeakable won the D.C. trip. "We only have 48 hours to do it, so what the heck."

Bermudez spoke for her team and indirectly for the others. One interesting aspect of the teams was the similarity of their experiences.

Nobody knew what genre their movie would be until a Friday night random drawing in Ybor City. By 7:30 p.m. they knew - comedy, cop/detective, road movie, whatever - and immediately began forming story ideas.

Each team was obligated to include local landmarks, designated props (salt and pepper shakers), a line of dialogue ("I don't know what his deal is") and newlyweds named Pete and Megan Van Gibb.

Brainstorming and scripting sessions soon moved to homes or studios, lasting until 5 a.m. or so.

After a couple of hours sleep, or maybe not, shooting began at daybreak for most teams, except those who needed exterior shots during the last throes of Tropical Storm Barry. Most filming was finished by midnight, followed by post-production duties Sunday.

The deadline was 7:30 p.m.

One guy double-parked on Ybor City's Seventh Avenue and raced inside Gaspar's Grotto to deliver his entry with seconds to spare. He jogged past a bench where the Tasteful Cheese team sat, looking glum.

Tasteful Cheese leader Jesse Newman, 20, had prepared his team's minds and bodies for weeks to remain alert for two days. Newman urged exercise, eating wheat bread and skipping coffee and sweets to avoid crashing.

Then that's what his computer did. Team Cheese couldn't dub a copy to enter for judging.

"It's the biggest disaster you could possibly imagine, " Newman said, wearing the same clothes as 48 hours before.

"The film we made would've won, an incredible film that most people would've taken months to do. Once we get all of our cries out of the way, we have this film that we're going to submit to as many festivals as we can."

All went well until . . .

Several teams had hard luck stories to tell.

Team Mongo staged a road rage incident that Clearwater police took seriously. The police were not entertained.

TCI Films needed to trim two minutes from their movie to qualify, but a zealous security guard locked them out of their reserved editing room.

Sometimes the tiniest details mattered.

Everything was falling into place for DP4Life team leader Jason Jeter of Bradenton. He figured out what "film du femme" meant after drawing the genre. He cast his wife, Melinda, in the lead role, and she nailed it.

Their script for Some Things Change called for an auto accident. A friend who owns a body shop loaned them a crashed car. All DP4Life needed was a little smoke for effect.

"We got some smoke bombs but forgot to bring a lighter or matches, " said Jeter, 31.

"So, I'm running from a car's cigarette lighter with the fuses burning, hoping I won't get burned. Then I looked through the view finder and here's all this red and yellow smoke and I'm like, what is this? Luckily, there were three white smoke bombs in the pack and we got the shot."

Maximum exposure

Like many entrants, Jeter makes his living producing video commercials and short films. Making a movie in two days shows everyone what you've got, and what you lack.

"There were strengths that I knew I had, and then some weaknesses I know I can certainly improve upon, " Jeter said. "I can honestly say it was the most demanding, creative project I've ever undertaken. It really drew everything out of me and the crew.

"You can read all the books and take all the classes, but nothing teaches filmmaking like the experience."

Bermudez seconded that notion, although Unspeakable was so polished and arresting that she worried other contestants would think her team cheated. The co-owner of Movie Groovy studios in St. Petersburg served as producer; her husband, Coco, directed.

"I wasn't even sure what Coco was getting, " she said. "That scared me to death because I'm a control freak. When I saw it during post (production), I thought people might think it was too good."

Unspeakable features two detectives simmering about a vague conflict that is gradually revealed in flashbacks. Then it is settled in a burst of violence, capping tension that some feature films only wish they could convey. The movie should acquit itself well in the national competition.

After that, who knows? Bermudez thinks she does.

"We've always wanted to do films, to put ourselves out there, " Bermudez said. "We have concepts all the time, and there are always excuses why it can't be done.

"This taught us you can do a lot in a short amount of time, so you might as well take the risk and go for it. Now that we've got the flavor in our mouth we want to do more."

Steve Persall can be reached at persall@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8365. Read his blog at blogs.tampabay.com/movies.

 

 

Film competition
www.48hourfilm.com
This site tells you everything you need to know about the film competition, which is in its seventh year. Our favorite feature: a place to suggest props, characters, dialogue or genres for future competition.

 

[Last modified June 20, 2007, 19:10:49]

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