Blogs about 48-hour-film-project from Pew Pew Laser Blog

Mythplaced - A Brainful Production.

Whew, what a busy weekend. It was 48 Hour Film Project time in Seattle again - where teams compete to write, film, edit and deliver a short film in only 48 hours. This time the husband was co-Producer, and I was Production Manager again.

I started working on on Friday morning as I dropped the husband off at work. I went shopping for some cupcake ingredients, and then picked up some pizza from Papa Murphy's. Did you know that Papa Murphy's doesn't open until 11am? (Same for the state liquor store, incidentally.)

Cupcake making was a long process; the recipe was very fidgety. This year I used "Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling" and a chocolate buttercream frosting recipe from the May / June 2010 Cook's Illustrated. It was a lot of work, but I was pleased with how the cupcakes turned out.

At 7pm on Friday night, co-Producer Tom called in the required elements (Genre: Fantasy; Prop: Orange; Character: Van or Vanessa Saskia; Dialog: "I can't believe you said that.") and Writer Brandon got to writing. Other crew started streaming in and we all started pitching ideas. By 8 we had a rough idea of the characters, so a delegation went to Goodwill to shop for costumes. By 11pm we'd prepared costumes and props, completed an equipment check, locked the location and start time, and cast most of the critical roles. At midnight, the remaining crew headed out for sleep and a few of us did a script reading. At 1am, it was time for bed.

I was worried that having the whole crew around while the script was being written wouldn't work well. But it proved a great way to propose new gags and test them for laughs. It also put the whole crew on the same page as far as what kind of movie we were making.

Filming started at 6am at our favorite location in SoDo, so the husband and I were up at 5 to load the car with the gear and grab some breakfast. We had a log fo script to shoot, so the crew got to work. In the middle of the day, I did a lunch run to Costco with one of our cast. Primary shooting finished at 5pm, and the still-needed cast and crew headed back to HQ.

At 7pm, we looked at each other and said "It's 7pm Saturday - we're half way done." We were already into post-production, so we were doing great. We grabbed some grub and I got some releases. I headed out at about 9pm, and slept the best 12 hours I've ever slept. The husband and most of post-production crew worked a few hours more; and I know that our editor worked through the night.

The husband headed back in at 8am on Sunday, and I followed a few hours later. While all sorts of editing, title making and sound mixing happened, I checked and finalized the paperwork, and grabbed some sandwiches for the crew. Around 4pm I discovered that I'd left something very important back at the house - the special envelope in which the film had to be turned in! Fortunately, this wasn't much of a problem since our house was only 20 minutes away from the office, tops.

By the time I got back Sunday afternoon, it was high time to get something, just a back up copy, ready to hand in by the very firm due time of 7:30. The audio was still getting sweetened and I was getting worried as we ticked over into 6:00. At 6:10 I sent the husband to pace upstairs in the audio room. At 6:25 the audio was delivered and the movie was rendering. I hated to leave, but I had to head back home to open the house for the wrap party which started at 7.

At home I tidied up, and put out what food and cupcakes remained. Near 7:00, I got a dreadful text message from the husband saying that disaster was imminent - the film was not yet on its way to the delivery point. This is the worst part of the project for me - waiting to know if our 2 days of solid work will be turned in our all for naught, but knowing that my asking about it will only slow things down. At 7:15 I got the call that the film was now on it's way from Fremont to SoDo - usually a 30 minute trip. Not too much later, we got the call that the film had been turned in on time. Hooray!

We did have to cut the scene with my favorite line in it: "She's protected under the Aquatic-Americans with Disabilities Act". I'll just have to see if I can do something about that.

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2010 48 Hour Film Project.

I'm participating in the Seattle 48 Hour Film Project again this year. I've got a brand new cupcake recipe, and a big stack of paperwork. We begin shooting in just over a week!

We are accepting donations so that we can feed and caffeinate the crew. They've told me that they cannot live on cupcakes alone. Click here if you're into that sort of thing.

You can check out a version of our film last year: Escape.

Fudgy Chocolate Frosting.

Here's the recipe I used for frosting the cupcakes I made for the our work for the 48 Hour Film Project. It's a tasty frosting, but very gooey and sticky. Consider yourself warned.

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• dash of salt
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all of the above ingredients over low heat until combined. Then heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, and then cool for 30 minutes.

This recipe is originally from Betty Crocker's Big Red Cookbook. Betty and company are kind enough to provide nutritional information:

• Serving Size: About 1 1/2 tablespoons
• Calories: 125 (Calories from Fat: 25)
• Fat: 3g (Saturated fat: 2g)
• Cholesterol: 10mg
• Sodium: 65mg
• Carbohydrate: 24g (Dietary Fiber: 1g)
• Protein: 1g

For Art.

On Friday, as soon as I got home from work, I got started on the cupcakes for the 48 Hour Film Project. I tried a new frosting recipe - a fudgy concoction of butter, cocoa powder and powdered sugar with a bit of karo syrup and vanilla. It was tasty, but very gooey and sticky. I really need a sturdy frosting that will put up with travel and hot sun. Does anyone have a recipe they can share?

On Friday night, we got the specs for our film - a Film de Fem featuring Kristy Brown (occupation: illustrator), with a tie as a prop, and the line "Wrong, guess again.". I finished off the cupcakes while the script was written, and the husband went to a planning meeting. Once finished, we threw together some props and went to bed at about 1am.

Saturday was a long long day. We were up at 6:45am and on set (an office in SoDo) by a hair after 8. The husband got started on the credits, I finished paperwork and directed production assistants. I had good success at shopping / prop procurement on the day.

• Vodka Bottle: The script called for a nearly empty vodka bottle. Instead of buying something (not that there was budget for that), I drove down to to Georgetown and looked for bars. I found one and went around to the garbage and recycling in back. Right at the top of the recycling bin were empty Jack Daniels and Jagermeister bottles - score. I plucked those out and brought them back to the set. PA Eli cleaned them out, and filled them with a very convincing-looking ice tea.
• Tie: At 10am, Costumer Erika and I headed out to Goodwill for a necktie; something black and punky. The tie was just as easy to find as the bottles. Goodwill had their entire stock of ties right up front for Father's Day. We scored a suitable one, and went back to set.
• Hair Product: At 2pm, makeup guy Richard needed hair gel, hair spray, and hair rubber bands, so out I went again. Georgetown Pharmacy was the closest pharmacy to our location. It was very charming and old-fashioned; it would make a great location in which to shoot a period piece. Unfortunately, their stock was old fashioned too - they only had 3 hairsprays (all of them suspicious), and no gel. I drove out of Greorgetown and found a 76 Mart - they had some hair spray, but nothing else. I drove towards downtown and found a quickie-mart - they had some hairspray, and do-rags, but no hair rubber bands. Sigh. I went back to to the set to deliver the hair gel and spray, figuring that the hair rubber bands could be got later. On set, the husband had some hair rubber bands, so it was taken care of.

At noon, we broke for lunch. I and a lot of the crew got some burgers from Burger Madness - delicious and hearty.

I and some other folks, including the husband, were recruited as extras. I learned two things about acting: weary comfy shoes, and choose a lightweight prop.

At 4 we headed to the second location: a recently built house (an investment property) in Pacific - about 40 minutes away from Seattle. That shoot was tough - it felt very long, and I think everyone was getting exhausted. The husband left early to get some food, and start editing in a comfortable environment. We finished the shooting at about 10:00pm, and I got home at about 11:00. I ate some dinner and the husband, and later the producer, worked on more editing. I took a shower and got to bed at about 1am.

The husband got to bed quite a bit later, and he got up sometime in the morning to dash off to Adobe work on the film. I slept in, and am now preparing for the wrap party.

I think the film will be on YouTube in about a week; I'll post a link when it's available.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

I'm going to be quite busy over the next 30 days. Tomorrow night we've got another home Sounders game; vs. DC United. On Thursday I've got my 3rd of 4 glassblowing classes. I'm really enjoying glassblowing; I think about doing it all the time. I'll be signing up for the Intermediate class as soon as I can.

This weekend we're doing the Seattle 48 Hour Film Project. I've got to start the cupcakes on Friday when I get home from work, and I'm also going to be the Production Manager. The husband will be editing on Sunday.

Next week I've got a doctor's appointment - my primary care physician says that one of my moles is suspicious. I've also got the last glass blowing class that Thursday.

After that, we go to Hawaii for nearly 2 weeks. Yay! We've got just a few outings planned in Hawaii - but we're focusing on having a relaxing vacation.

Shortly after we return, the folks-in-law are coming to visit. And on that weekend, we've got another Sounders game; in fact it's Sounders games every Saturday for 3 weeks. On the first Saturday, I'm also hoping to get into the glass blowing studio to make another Ballard Artwalk piece.

Whew; very busy indeed. The blog will be a bit neglected. I'll fill it up with some canned posts, but consider yourself warned.

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