Filmmakers are gearing up from all over Adelaide to see who can make the best short film in only 48 hours.
Over one sleepless, Halloween weekend, the 48 Hour Film Project will see teams work together to write, shoot, edit and score a short film. Everything must be done in exactly 48 hours, start to finish. All of the films submitted will be screened at the Palace Nova Eastend Cinema and the winning film will go on to compete at Filmapalooza, the international competition held in the United States. The 48HFP is crazy and sleepless and incredibly fun. It's held in nearly 160 cities worldwide but this will be its first year in Adelaide.
Adelaide producers Kristen Hamill and Naomi Ebert-Smith discovered their mutual love of film on a North Adelaide tennis court last year. “I had just moved to Adelaide from Boston, and knew only a handful of people in town,” explains Kristen. “It was incredibly lucky to have not only met another female filmmaker, but also someone that shared my passion for projects like the 48HFP that bring creative people together.”
Kristen and her team won the 2012 Boston 48 Hour Film Project with their film 'Manna', and went on to compete in the international competition, Filmapalooza 2013, held that year in Hollywood. She was surprised to see only two Australian cities, Melbourne and Brisbane, represented at the competition. “When Kristen told me about the 48 Hour Film Project, I knew it was something we had to bring to Adelaide,” says Naomi. “This competition is a space for both amateur and professional filmmakers to get involved in and connect with one another. It’s also a unique way to showcase our city and its talent to local and international audiences.”Kristen tells us that there are lots of time-centric film competitions out there, but nothing quite like this one. It has such a big international reach, with the top 10 films from Filmapalooza going on to screen at the Cannes Film Festival 2016, Court Métrage. “All of which can provide experiences and opportunities for creatives that were not available previously,” says Naomi.
The 48HRFP attracts all sorts of people, from “film students, professionals, amateurs, animators, writers, improv artists, just about anyone who wants to be creative,” Naomi explains. “Filmmaking is a great medium for storytelling and a good way to reach an audience.”
So how exactly does it work? Each team gets certain restrictions including: a genre, a prop, a line of dialogue and a character that must be included in their film. The ladies describe together, “at the competition kick off, teams will pull one of 14 genres from a hat. They could pull anything from romance to horror. The prop, line of dialogue and character will be the same for each Adelaide team and will also be presented at the kick off. This is how we prevent people from starting to work on their film ahead of time.”
The best advice they can give for budding filmmakers is, “to plan what you can ahead of time (locations, cast and equipment), keep your story simple, make sure your cast and crew are well fed, and to never, ever run out of coffee. Trust us, you’ll need it!”
Here are their Top 10 tips for 48 Hour Film Project Survival:Have a plan
Make sure you have your team worked out and what each person is going to do.And have a back-up plan
Crew or cast might get sick, equipment could malfunction, major plot holes could become evident midway through production. Keep calm and carry on. The show must go on.Avoid having too many cooks in the kitchen
Limit brainstorming to one or two hours with the whole team, then leave it to the director and writer(s) to decide on favourite premise. The writers will complete the script alone with input from the director while the remainder of the team rests up.Don’t let the assigned elements dictate your story
You can always adapt your ideas based on structure, spirit, or specificities of the genre you chose and elements. It’s important to remember to tell the story you want to tell.Location, location, location!
It’s also always a good idea to nail down a few great locations before the competition starts, so that your writer will know what resources are available to the team and they can write around that.Everything will probably take at least twice as long as you think it will
As you are scheduling your 48 hours out, be very lenient with the amount of time you give everything. And for the love of god, have someone start editing as soon as you finish filming the first shots or scene.Make sure you have the help you need
Have production assistants a producer, assistant director, or a line producer. Make sure there is someone to keep the whole team fed, watered and happy. The person who buys coffee is always most appreciated on a film shoot.Have a back-up edit ready early
Doing a test run on an edit may help to understand how best to manage time for rendering and exporting your film.Don’t neglect your ending
A problem for many films is the lack of a satisfying ending. When a movie has a great ending, we're much more willing to forget a bad beginning.Keep it short and simple
Keep your film as short and simple as possible. Most teams err by using the entire seven minutes when they could have told their story in less time.The Adelaide 48 Hour Film Project will be held 30 October - 1 November.
