Ahoy, Mateys!

Yes, yes, I know I shouldn’t be writing a blog post when I have so many novels to get done. Stop nagging me! Sheesh!

But, I had to talk about this year’s entry into the Asheville 48 Hour Film Project. Every year our team, Team Long Shot, races through a weekend to get a 4-7 minute film made from writing to finished film in only 48 hours. It’s a freakin’ blast!

We braved the wilds of a local park’s public bathroom and made it through the day without contracting Hepatitis Z or Monkey Flubola. I count that as a win.

It all started with us picking our genre from a hat at the kick-off (we got SciFi) then getting our line of dialogue (“It’s your choice. What are you going to do?”), our prop (a bell), and our character (Cedric Peters, gym instructor). These three elements (line, prop, character) have to be used by all teams. It’s the control test to make sure no one shoots footage ahead of time.

Once we had those elements we bopped on over to my place and proceeded to brainstorm ideas. After acquiring a metric hilariton of good ideas to form a solid story foundation, I began writing the screenplay. From brainstorming to finished script was bout three hours. It’s not an easy process, but Team Long Shot doesn’t have an ego in the bunch, so we work fast and efficiently since we leave the drama at the door.

Saturday morning we met at said local park and got to work. There was a slight rain delay, but it didn’t hold us back. We dove right in to get our shots and work on making sure we had enough footage in the can so when it came time to edit, we weren’t short on cut away shots or montage sequences (MONTAGE!).

This year I had a small part. Mainly because I had a summer cold that thrashed my throat, but also because I knew Craig would rock the part of the gym instructor better than I could. And I wasn’t wrong! His delivery was perfect! (Craig’s in the hot pink shorts. Oh, yeah!)

The shoot took about five hours, then there was some food and beer and it was time to edit.

I can’t say enough about Noble Robinette’s directing, cinematography, and editing skills! The guy stayed up all night synching sound to images. He got it all working right then jumped into putting a rough cut together. Then the magic happened!

Why is there a picture of a soiled and stained toilet? It’s part of the magic!

After working all day on the editing, we finally had a finished project. The deadline was 7:30 and we got it turned in with 11 minutes to spare. It’s crazy how much time just flies by when you are focused on making the best film you can. Zoom! Freakin’ gone!

Then we waited for the premiere screening at the local brew and view! We think it went well since there were laughs in the right places and we actually overheard some in the audience whisper that they wanted to see it again because they missed lines from laughing so much. That’s high praise right there!

Now, it hasn’t been all roses and caviar, ya know. There has been serious drama this year and we as local filmmakers had to step up and protect our turf. It was a community pride thing and I am glad other teams were willing to fight the good fight. In the end, it all worked out and the Asheville filmmaking scene was returned to the peace and weirdness we have always known.

We have no idea what awards we’ll get, and won’t find out until July 17th at the Best Of screening, but we are hoping for Audience Award in our group. If we get it (fingers crossed) then that makes three years in a row. While judges determine who gets Best Picture and all that jazz, it’s the audience we play to. In the end the people watching the film have to be the ones to enjoy it, not a three person team looking to nitpick every detail. We aim to make the public happy and hopefully we did so this year.

Which brings me to the film itself! Want to watch? Then click the link below. It is 100% safe for work, so feel free to share with your cubicle neighbor. Team Long Shot worked their butts off to make this film and we encourage others to get out there and do the same. If you have a local competition then look into it. It is so worth the lack of sleep. Get out there and make some movies, yo!

Cheers!