Sunday, October 8, 2006
Want to try the challenge? Even if you have little experience? Even if it means skipping work that Monday because you're so . . . bloody . . . tired? Even if you'd probably end up with a soundless, nonsensical quasi-comedy that makes "Bio-Dome" look like "Vertigo"?
There's still room. As of press time, 180 teams from around the world had signed up for the NFC, leaving space for 70 more. Jump onto http://www.filmchallenge.com , read the rules, complete the online form by Oct. 20 and pay the flat fee of $125.
At 7 p.m. local time on Oct. 20, a Friday, organizers will fire off e-mails to assign teams a genre, a character, a prop and a line of dialogue that must appear in the film. The competition will be underway through that Monday, when films -- sent in on DVD, VHS or miniDV -- must be postmarked.
Peter Mattson, Bobby Koeth III, Anne Brown and Bob Payne offer tips to survive the 72-hour sprint:
Get inspired. See the 2005 winners for free at http://www.filmchallenge.com , surf the catalogues at http://www.48hourfilm.com or buy DVDs from Factory 515, an independent media distribution company based in Silver Spring. "The Best of 48 Hour Film Project 2005" and "National Film Challenge 2003" are available for $20 each at http://www.factory515.com .
Cast a net. Most everyone wants to be in pictures, so it shouldn't be hard to rustle up a crew. Send e-mails to friends or post on Craigslist, which worked for Koeth. "It's a great way to find people," he says. "One guy showed up the first night, and then he worked with us all three days." Or try the solo approach espoused by Mattson, who makes one-man short films and posts them on his Web site, http://www.taquetfilm.com .
Secure the hardware . If your team has the dough but not the equipment, rent a camera package from places such as Bexel in Herndon ( http://www.bexel.com ) or Video Equipment Rentals in Lanham ( http://www.verrents.com ). These packages are pricey ($500 to $1,000) and require a hefty security deposit ($5,000 in Bexel's case). If that sounds a little steep, try asking around. "That's the great thing about the digital revolution now," Mattson says. "Your neighbor probably has a video camera. It's like borrowing sugar."
Woo for food. Feeding a crew for a weekend can be the biggest expense, but Brown says many restaurants surprisingly are willing to donate a meal or two in exchange for a mention in the credits.
Divvy the load. "It's really hard for everyone to have their own artistic vision of a movie and in 72 hours then be like, 'Oh, let's have all these visions collide,' " Koeth says. "Have some sort of delegation of power. Have people know what their roles are."
Befriend the index card. Write scene ideas on cards, and create a flexible storyboard that can be shuffled and tweaked as problems arise. It'll help anchor the story as the weekend whirls, since the writing starts when the competition does.
Keep it simple , location-wise. "We have been fairly ambitious in the past," Payne says, "and using multiple locations creates a lot of logistics." Plus, releases are necessary for private locations, and public spaces (such as National Park Service grounds) can be a hassle, Brown says, though Metro has been agreeable in the past. If you want to shoot on rail cars or in stations, call Metro public relations coordinator Taryn McNeil in advance at 202-962-1219. But you must avoid cords, tripods and anything that's against the rules. "No running up the escalator the wrong way, no playing dead on the tracks," McNeil says.
Check your footage. Before leaving a location, eyeball the scene on camera to make sure sound was recorded and there were no glaring gaffes.
Finish shooting Saturday. This allows time to transfer the footage to your computer, which may take a while. "Just deal with the fact you missed a scene," Payne says. "Try to fix it in the edit. We've done that by introducing voice-over elements and rolling text on the screen when we had to tie the story together."
OTHER QUICKIE COMPETITIONS
March: The International Documentary Challenge. 120 hours (that's five days).
http://www.documentarychallenge.org .
May: D.C.'s 48 Hour Film Project. Um, 48 hours. http://www.48hourfilm.com .
August: The Filmerica Challenge. 72 hours. http://www.filmerica.com .
-- D.Z.
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