...And I'm not talking about just any schedule. I'm talking about a seventy-two hour countdown to write, shoot and edit a short film. It's exciting, frustrating and exhausting. But on a practical level, it's a way for young filmmakers to push themselves to "create," and for seasoned filmmakers to hone their skills.
For my team of workaholics, it was a whirlwind. To best understand what I mean, allow me walk you through our process. We got the theme at 5pm (PST) on Friday, and began writing the script, putting together a prop and costume list, and for our DP to make a shot list. Now, the theme is important because it keeps all the competitors on the same creative starting point. This year's theme was THE COLOR OF MY HAIR.
Two and a half hours of sleep later, we were on our way to the location to begin our only day of principal photography. This brings us to Saturday. Before shooting, we had to build the set (we literally built a table and a coat rack), and start doing hair and make-up. We shot everything in the same building, which helped keep the schedule moving and minimized company moves. We finished filming late Saturday night and began editing at 2:30am on Sunday. This was the case until Monday morning around 10am when we were picture locked. And if you're wondering if we slept, we didn't. Our DP and editor Samia Zaidi was a trooper and a saint. Once we had finished editing, we uploaded the film to Vimeo and got our hard copy and forms in the mail before the 5pm deadline.
I spent half an hour at the FedEx in a zombie-like daze trying to figure out how to mail the package. Yeah, it got bad near the end; probably because we were very ambitious with a high-concept idea. Luckily, it paid off. We made it, and we're better for it. It wouldn't have been possible without Jamie Miller, Christina Jun, Matt Mendoza, Samia Zaidi, Vivi Thai and Gabe Andrade on my team. Nor without Lisandro Novillo and Marcus Lovingood who allowed me to use their equipment. Thanks guys!
And I can't divulge too much about the short without risking disqualification... but as you can see from the pictures we were heavily influenced by film noir.
Here are some behind the scene photos of Case File 69.
For my team of workaholics, it was a whirlwind. To best understand what I mean, allow me walk you through our process. We got the theme at 5pm (PST) on Friday, and began writing the script, putting together a prop and costume list, and for our DP to make a shot list. Now, the theme is important because it keeps all the competitors on the same creative starting point. This year's theme was THE COLOR OF MY HAIR.
Two and a half hours of sleep later, we were on our way to the location to begin our only day of principal photography. This brings us to Saturday. Before shooting, we had to build the set (we literally built a table and a coat rack), and start doing hair and make-up. We shot everything in the same building, which helped keep the schedule moving and minimized company moves. We finished filming late Saturday night and began editing at 2:30am on Sunday. This was the case until Monday morning around 10am when we were picture locked. And if you're wondering if we slept, we didn't. Our DP and editor Samia Zaidi was a trooper and a saint. Once we had finished editing, we uploaded the film to Vimeo and got our hard copy and forms in the mail before the 5pm deadline.
I spent half an hour at the FedEx in a zombie-like daze trying to figure out how to mail the package. Yeah, it got bad near the end; probably because we were very ambitious with a high-concept idea. Luckily, it paid off. We made it, and we're better for it. It wouldn't have been possible without Jamie Miller, Christina Jun, Matt Mendoza, Samia Zaidi, Vivi Thai and Gabe Andrade on my team. Nor without Lisandro Novillo and Marcus Lovingood who allowed me to use their equipment. Thanks guys!
And I can't divulge too much about the short without risking disqualification... but as you can see from the pictures we were heavily influenced by film noir.
Here are some behind the scene photos of Case File 69.