THE 48 HOUR FILM
PROJECT
By Nan Avant
The
48 Hour Film Project, www.48hourfilm.com,
is an International competition held in major cities throughout the world. This
past July,
The
competition has strict guidelines for creating the films. The time frame is
literally 48 Hours from start to finish. Films must be 4-7 minutes in length
and each film must include certain criteria outlined in the guidelines. Films are judged by a selected panel and are
screened publicly a few days after the competition. . The audience participates
in nominating films for the “Best of” City Awards and at the end of the
competition year, a Grand Prize of $7500, from Visa, is awarded to the “Best
Film”. In May a selection of “The Best
of 2006” was shown at the Cannes Film Festival Short
Film Corner.
In preparation for the weekend challenge, teams are allowed to
organize the crew, find a shoot location, select the cast and secure equipment.
The creative process can only begin at the start of the 48 hours. This includes, script writing, production,
music composing, costume design, props and editing.
This year 36 teams competed in the Seattle 48 Hour competition.
Our team, headed by Director Prezmek Pardyak, had producers, a crew, actors,
writers and caterers which totaled 35 members.
Our five member script writing team was composed of award winning
producer/writer Meredith Binder, http://www.pawky.com/featured/rent_s_due, award winning writer, Barbara Lindsay Selig http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/AuthorBio.php?titlelink=10308, Bill Selig, Ian Stone and Prezemek Pardyak.
A
film location was secured at an artist’s building called “The Foundary” This
building is used for sculptors who create bronze casts and follow the “lost
wax” process of sculpting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_wax
. The uniqueness of this building is unmatched and was an ideal setting for the
film.
I
made my preparations for the weekend by making sure my studio (computers,
sequencing software, music software, piano, etc.) were in perfect working order. I then
cleared my schedule for a marathon weekend of composing!
At the start of the competition, directors from each team pick a “genre”
out of a hat. Some of the genres include western, comedy, drama and romance. The
criteria to be included in the film, such as a prop, a sentence and a name, is
also provided at this time.
The writing team worked through the
night and by 6 am on Saturday they had a script. I was emailed the script at 6:30 am and began
working on music.
Everyone was on location by 8am to
start rehearsing. I arrived about 1:30 in the afternoon and spent some time
talking with the actors and getting a feel for the set. Prezemek and I talked
about more details on the music and I headed back to my studio to continue
working.
By 10:30 pm a Main Theme was
composed, orchestrated and ready for the Director’s approval. Back at The Foundary they were filming and
were approximately one third of the way through. I was very impressed with the
Director’s attention to detail and by the support and enthusiasm of his cast
and crew. At 12:30 am Prezemek called
for a break and was able to spend a few minutes with me going over the Main
Theme.
On Sunday, I was in contact
throughout the day with the Director, supplying him with new music as he needed
it. Prezemek and the editor, Thomas Oliver, worked on the editing and color
right up to the last minute.
At 7:15 pm a driver was waiting for
Prezemek in a running car, he jumped in and they sped through town to the drop
off location.
Our film, “The Last to Remember”,
was a second runner up in an “Audience Award” Photos from the set can be viewed
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ventchdable/sets/72157600993123560
The film will be submitted into film
festivals this year. On my web site, http://www.nanavant.com
you can listen to the Main Theme for “The Last to Remember” and find updates on
the film’s progress.
Everyone
involved with the production of our film gave their All to make it a success
and I am amazed at the quality of work that took place in 48 hours!
www.nanavant.com