The 48 hour film competition is over for another year.
On Friday Lee and I went to the Mt Vic bowling club to collect our elements and genre.
The elements (for every team) were:
Character - Jerry/Gerri Reed, a hypochondriac
Prop - rope
Line of dialogue - "what do you call that?"
Our team, to our great amusement drew Monster or Science Fiction for our genre. There was brief talk of doing a sequel or prequel to Monster Hunter IV, but there was general consensus that it would only really be funny to us.
We did a massive brain storming session with some really fantastic ideas coming out, but it was Jackie's "Destination Earth" idea that everyone really loved. There was some competition from the "two men in a box" idea, but I was pleased we went with the broad comedy.
So, we were making a science fiction film. A travel show for aliens interested in visiting Earth. Two hosts; one an expert, and one learning about Earth. Some stuff about Earth's history (as perceived by aliens) and then a bunch of fun things you can do on Earth.
I was pleased that when talking about casting I said "I'm quite keen to be the host" and everyone said "yes, it should be you". My major tasks for the weekend as planned were to hold onto the kitty* and keep everyone fed. Thankfully we had a wonderfully organised American who was happy to take over those jobs. I'd already done all the shopping for Saturday day as well, and was told it was a good lunch, so I felt satisfied in my performance in that job even so.
Fraser was cast as the other lead, and Giffy was cast as "woman". She got to go on a hot date with alien Fraser.
Saturday's filming. We couldn't have been blessed with better weather. It was sunny, mild and not a breath of wind. This meant there was no wind sound to edit out of our dialogue. We filmed in the cafe at the St James. My first filmed take involved me talking to Fraser and the camera while walking down stairs! This is harder than it sounds, and I think they used a take where I lose my balance a little and have to subtley fling an arm out. Things to remember: lines, walk down stairs without falling over, walk slowly so we get our lines out before we pass the camera, be perky and interesting.
Second location was at the Carter Observatory where I found out that the grounds of the Carter Observatory are really busy with people on a fine, sunny Saturday. Those people enjoy watching weirdos in wigs talking to camera. We ate lunch at the Carter; it was bread rolls, ham, lettuce, spinach, cheese, hummus, rice crackers, mandarins, bananas and cookies. Water, spree lemon and coke for drinks. I had the strange experience all weekend of getting really hungry, eating a few bites and then not wanting any more. I made myself eat anyway.
Third location was Lee's parent's place where we got a lot of hilarious scenes done. We wrapped the principle photography at 7pm on Saturday night; the best we've ever done in a 48 hour situation. And can I just say how impressed I was that we filmed two very key scenes with Giffy in under half an hour? I was convinced it wasn't going to happen but the whole team pulled out the stops and she had a whole five minutes to get ready and go to a wedding. Yay us!
Back to Norm's for dinner (Chinese food. The best ever.) and after a lot of waiting for the tech guys to do important things with the footage and the music and the graphics, and getting very grumpy about having to wait when I really needed to sleep, but we got my voice over work done that night so the graphics guys would have the timing.
We took Steve and Nick B home, I had a bath of relaxation and got about 6 1/2 hours sleep.
Sunday: I got to put in my two cents about the rough cut, record one more line of VO and appear as an extra (sans wig and with my back to the camera) in a "weird things humans do" pick-up. The rest of the day I sat on the couch like a lump and played Civ3. It was awesome. I felt a little guilty that I wasn't doing more, but truthfully there wasn't much I could do. I was on-hand if they needed pick-ups or VOs, but the film at this point was in the very capable hands of the post-production team.
It wouldn't be the 48 hour film competition if there wasn't some anxiety, and sure enough at 5 when we were supposed to be getting a safety cut out of the house and down to the drop off point there was a problem with rendering. Basically the film took way longer to render than it should have and the computers got shut down and restarted and everyone started freaking out.
Upstairs we had been quite complacent up until this point, and the tension really got to us. Fraser, Svend, Celeste and I had no idea what was going on and a bunch of people had gone down to the editing room and not come back up. The time was ticking on and I started to think we weren't going to get it in on time. Thankfully at about 6.10 Andrew (writer, editor, SFX) came up and said "Oh yeah, there's a tape. The safety cut can go in now" and we all breathed again.
Stacey went in with the tape and a second car was organised to take the proper cut in at 6.40. The tape left with Lee driving, Fraser as runner and our camerawoman Extraordinaire Jen with the camera, watching the tape to make sure it worked. They handed it in with time to spare and lo, the rejoicing was loud and excited.
It was really good to see the final film with all the graphic animation integrated and Darren's music blending beautifully with the action and it all looking so good. I have a copy of it on this very laptop and I'm going to watch it in a minute.
A big thanks to everyone who helped out Jenni's Angels in any way. It was really, truly appreciated and I had a blast this year. Not being outside in the rain and the mud made it so much easier!
*of money, not a cat
Previous years' entries about the 48....
2005: It's a wonderful library! Day one
Day two.
Watch the movie on youtube
2006: Monster Hunter IV: Beyond Repair Day one
Day two.
My recipe for energy cookie of which there were plenty this year.
So, after the regional finals we'll maybe stage a mini-festival of the films of all our friends. Those who come to movie night may get to see our one earlier though...be warned! I look like a crazed doll and I am channeling Petra Bagurst.
Also, after the whole competition is over we'll be sticking it up on youtube. I'll let you know when that happens for sure!
PoF: pjs
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Posted by jenni at May 21, 2007 10:12 AM