Blogs about movies 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.

1 comment(s).

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.

Why I will Never Be a Hollywood Movie Producer.

Many moons ago, when production for the Lord of the Rings movies was just beginning, a co-worker told me that a live action Lord of the Rings trilogy was being made, and it would use real actors for all the roles and rely heavily on special effects.

I said that would never work, and that the movies would probably be critical, financial and fan-service failures. Do'h!

Halloween Videos.

Here's a couple of videos to get you into the Halloween spirit. Mwa ha ha ha!

• Halloween Awakening - I guess pumpkins and stop-motion go together.
• Halloween Peep Show - Totally safe for work.
• Jack O' Lantern Kitty - It may be a fake pumpkin, but it's a real kitten.

The Prestige.

The hubby and I watched our rented copy of the last year's The Prestige last night, and it was astonishingly good. Do yourself a favor and rent it up for the weekend. It will be a few hours well spent. I really enjoy a movie that allows me to think, and rewards me for doing so.

Christopher Nolan directs this film in contrast to Ridley Scott's handling of Gladiator; in which Scott beats the audience with the idea that gladiating is like T.V. and yet another opiate for the masses, without developing that idea to a higher stage.

Well, that's it. The Prestige = great.