Midlo Movie Madness!

Imagine you decided to make an independent short film. You come up with plans to write the script, direct, film, act, edit and add sound. How long would you like to get it done? One month? Perhaps two?

Well, how about 48 hours from start to finish?

That’s the task that was set this past weekend for 37 area filmmakers involved in the 48 Hour Film Project.

The rules of the contest are simple. On Friday evening, the teams take turns drawing a film genre from a hat. The genres can range anywhere from Holiday Films to Musical/Western to Horror. The teams are then directed as to the one prop, character and line of dialogue that must be used somewhere in the film. The film also has to include at least one scene of a Richmond landmark. Other than that, as with every independent film, the teams are pretty much free to do anything they want. The films will then be screened at the Byrd Theater on August 4, with the city winner moving on to the international competition.

Midlothian resident Ellie St. John is an actor, but instead of entering the competition, she took on the task of producing the entire event for the Richmond area.

“I had heard of the 48 Hour Film Project because it’s huge in D.C.; that’s actually where it got started,” St. John said. “They were looking to expand into some new cities and basically they just posted an ad that they were looking to bring the 48 to Richmond and they were looking for a Richmond producer. I said, ‘Oh well, it sounds like fun and really something to get to know the film community.’”

The teams had to overcome every obstacle to get the project done by the 48-hour deadline. “If they have bad weather, they have to deal with it,” St. John said before filming began. “If there’s traffic, turning it in, the films cannot even be one second late. They need to plan for traffic and any other contingencies that people need to plan for. I can’t bend the rules.”

Tim Brown, who works in Midlothian, took the lead of Team Punch-Face. Brown was one of the more experienced filmmakers who entered the contest. “As far as filmmaking, I’ve been involved with several short films,” he said. “But mostly I am a videographer by trade. I have my own videography business and I’ve been producing corporate videos, music videos, several local commercials. That’s been the bulk of my work over the past five or so years.”

By Friday afternoon, Brown had assembled a team of 17 people to work on the project. “I’ve contacted someone to be art director. I have some production assistants. I have someone who’s going to be running the second unit of my production team. I have acquired a director who has some experience directing short films, who was also a graduate of a film program in Florida. Also, we have a few writers who are involved with the program as well.”

One of Brown’s principal actors was Midlothian’s Ken Moretti who has performed on stage throughout the Richmond area and in feature films such as this summer’s release “Evan Almighty.”

Moretti said from an acting perspective, the 48-hour deadline was not unlike other projects he has been involved with. He said often there is little time for the actors to learn lines prior to filming.

Because Brown did not know what genre of film he would be shooting, there were limits to how much work he could do advance. Brown concentrated creating a detailed itinerary and locating film settings. “Getting locations secured has been the main challenge throughout the process so far,” he said. “I’ve gone to several locations and taken photos. Just brainstorming different ideas on what would be an appropriate location for a particular genre. Then, whatever we get we might have a suitable location for that particular topic.”

FRIDAY

6:40 p.m. In front of the 37 other teams gathered at The Camel in downtown Richmond, Team Punch-Face director Benny Oliveri draws Film de Femme as his team’s genre. A majority of the crowd groans at the selection of the category that was created by the 48 Hour Film Project.

Brown’s reaction was different. “We are very pleased with what we picked,” he said. “With the genre that we picked it pretty much encompasses all of the genres available. So we can model the story to almost all of the genres as long as we have a strong female character. We’re feeling pretty good about it.”

The team also learns that the designated prop is a pencil, the specified character is a historian named Cliff or Claudia Foust, and the line of dialogue that must be used is: ‘I was thinking the same thing.’

The teams are also told that the completed film must be back at The Camel by 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. There will be no exceptions to the deadline.

7:15 p.m. Brown’s writers and producers arrived at ‘Base Camp Punch’ for writing and pre-production.

SATURDAY

2 a.m. Scripts are emailed to all members of the cast and crew.

10 a.m. Cast and crew arrive outside the Hanover Tavern. The selected set for the project is the Barksdale Theater.

10:30 a.m. Shooting is scheduled to begin. However, doors to the Hanover Tavern are still locked. “That’s the nature of the business,” Moretti said. “It’s always hurry up and wait.”

11 a.m. The Hanover Tavern is opened. Cast and crew rush to set up the equipment. The lighting set-up becomes complicated because the scene takes place in the seats of the theater. All lighting in the theater projects towards the stage.

11:30 a.m. After evaluating the setting, making minor changes and getting the lighting correct, actual shooting begins on “Even Folly.”

1 p.m. Shooting at The Hanover Tavern is completed. “We shot right up to the end of our allotted time,” Moretti said.

SUNDAY

2 a.m. After hours of ingesting footage into their computers, editing begins on the film.

1 p.m. Moretti’s role as Cliff Foust completed shooting on Saturday, but he waits for a call in case scenes need to be re-shot. “We may have been lucky; the 48 Hour Film festival for the on-camera talent was only 24 hours.”

From what Moretti could see, he believes the film will be good. “It went very well,” he said. “Creatively, I thought everybody did a very good job. I feel comfortable with the result.”

But would Moretti undergo such a scramble again? “I would certainly do it again because it’s good exposure,” he said.

6:30 p.m. At The Camel, Ellie St. John gets a phone call from a team traveling from Washington D.C. Because of heavy traffic, they tell her they do not believe they will beat the deadline even though they left at 4:30 p.m.

7:09 p.m. Team Punch-Face has yet to arrive at The Camel. Of the 37 teams entered into the contest, only 11 have delivered their completed films.

7:20 p.m. Carrying an open laptop, Brown rushes inside The Camel followed by, Oliveri. However, instead of getting in line to return their film, the pair sits in the nearest booth. They are waiting for the completed film to burn to a DVD.

7:26 p.m. The progress bar on Brown’s laptop is moving much slower than the hands on the clock. The plight of the filmmakers becomes known inside the club and they soon have become the center of attention. A film crew hovers over their shoulders to see if they will beat the deadline.

7:29 p.m. The DVD still has not completed burning and St. John begins the countdown of the final seconds to the deadline.

7:30 p.m. The deadline passes and Brown smacks the table in frustration. Punch-Face is one of six teams that did not beat the deadline. “The DVD messed up,” Oliveri said. “If it had burned we would have had it on time.”

7:31 p.m. St. John comes to the table to offer consolation. “You’re still in the screening and you’re still eligible for audience choice award,” she said. “All is not lost.”

Brown takes the failure well. “It was an excellent experience,” he said. “Basically, it was due to scheduling problems. It was time constraints more than anything. Working with new people, finding out people’s working habits, that sort of thing.”

Brown said that, though he enjoyed the experience, he was not completely happy with the finished product. “It’s a bitter-sweet ending,” he said.

“There’s positive and negatives,” Oliveri said.

“We accomplished a lot in a very short period of time,” Brown said. “I believe personally that there was opportunity for us to do better.” Brown said he plans on doing the contest again.

Though Brown said he and Oliveri got about four hours sleep each night, it was probably more than they needed.

With all films turned it, it is time for St. John’s work to really begin. “I have less than a week to get all of the films mastered onto DVD and then get the screening set up.”

For its first run in Richmond, the 48 Hour Film Project seemed to be a success. St. John said that normally 10 percent of the teams do not meet the scheduled deadline. Only six of the 37 teams did not meet the deadline; about four teams didn’t make it at all.

All films in the 48 Hour Film Project will be screened at Byrd Theater, located at 2908 West Cary St., on Aug. 4, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Team Punch-Face’s ‘Even Folly’ will be among the films screened with Group C, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Admission is $6.

For more details and movie times about the 48 Hour Film Project, visit http://www.48hourfilm.com/richmond/.

Link to the Western Chesterfield Exchange, YourWCExchange.com site 48 Hour Film Project story