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April 21, 2005
Fast Forward Film Festival
for those of you who haven't heard of the fast forward film festival, well, it sounds pretty simple: based on a topic you receive on Friday night, you have to write, cast, shoot, edit, and submit a three minute original film by 5:00 on saturday afternoon.
yeah. totally simple. whatever. Picture Poet Productions took on the challenge, and signed up.
we had three topics: 1) Overall Festival Topic: The Stranger. 2) noun to feature in some way: Cigarettes. 3) Film Team Topic: "Can I Help You?"
lucky for us, we have cigarettes. oh, and Mord (Mord: director, cinematographer, gentlemanfriend) works a mostly-deserted front desk at a dorm. So, with 21 hours to go we had a location, a topic, a prop, and the hope that at least 2 other people would show up to help make a movie.
on the way home, we brainstormed characters, costumes, and conflicts. we called everyone we knew and begged them to show up at the location at 9 am on saturday morning. we plotted the distance from the location to the nearest coffee shops.
I napped, he wrote.
I edited, he smoked.
we napped again, and the next thing we knew, it was 7:30 am and we had a script outline, a checklist of shots (because I'm obsessive-compulsive like that), and a bag full of equipment.
of course, our actors were so late, our donuts were nearly finished and the coffee was freezing cold by the time everyone arrived. and, by everyone, I mean blondie and joe (whose alarm clocks were conveniently and incorrectly set for 9 instead of 8).
no matter, everyone finally got where they needed to be, and between mord's camera-ing expertise and my nagging revised production schedule, and joe and blondie and andrew's incredibly professional improv abilities (so natural! so funny! so awesome!) we managed to get all the footage we needed in 90 minutes. Heck, even Mord had to jump into the fray and I have to say, his sequence is my favorite!
we packed up, gratefully smooched our improv team, and rushed to the editing suite. I was so happy with the performances I was worried we wouldn't be able to choose what to keep and what to take out...
long story short:
mord did an amazing job of piecing everything together into an adorable little romantic comedy - yes, we lost the nude scene and the light saber fight, but it was worth it in the end. for 'art'.
oh, and, since the film was finished at 4:40 and due before 5, I had the awesome experience of hailing a cab, holding it for mord, and begging the driver to drive quickly: "we need to get to Atomix cafe in 20 minutes - drive like the wind!!!" (we JUST made it with not a single second to spare)
the time between the drop off and the screening is a blur, really - a haze of exhaustion and self-congratulation.
It was so great to see all the films on the big screen at Open End Gallery - everyone was so positive and supportive and hilarious and adorable. We didn't place in the top 4 prize-winning spots, but I gotta say, just finishing our short and listening to people's reactions was certainly worth the effort it took to produce the film.
I promise, once it's gone through Mord's perfectionist post-production process, I'll post the full film for everyone to see!
Posted by Heather at April 21, 2005 04:00 PM
Comments
I really am stoked to see your production. I want to see everything that hit the editing room floor too ESPECIALLY the gratuitous violence and nudity. There WAS gratuitous violence and nudity, right???
Posted by: TechTute at April 21, 2005 04:53 PM
Yes there was a extra violence & some gratuitous nudity, but it was all man on man action. So if that's your thing, I willl start the bidding at $50.
Posted by: Mord "Director/Gentlemanfriend" at April 22, 2005 09:18 AM
Eewwww. I'm afraid I'm only very open-minded and liberal when it comes to female action, especially when the ladies are total "foxes"!
Posted by: TechTute at April 22, 2005 12:39 PM