Yes, I agree. AVID is all over this. You can see that one of the big prizes is to work on an AVID system for HD and then (if you win again) to get an AVID system. I'd love to see Sony get involved in something like this. The whole "48 Hour Film Project" thing is gaining more in noteriety each year.

Thanks also for the advice, Keith. If I do this, I would get prepared up the ying yang, making sure everything is in perfect working order. I would NOT want to be the link that fails in a project like this. But what happens if my DVD burner goes winky, my monitor speakers blow or my computer crashes? Life is full of risks...

JCG

It'll be a unique experience for sure. Maybe good, maybe not so good but so what? I say, go for it!

We have our own make a movie in 48 hours thing here that we do 3 times a year:

http://www.sidewalkfilm.org/scram.htm

I've participated in each one in one way or another and it is a great experience. However, we typically have smaller crews and outsourcing for editing etc is not really an option. Strangely, some teams make better 'Scramble' movies than the ones they plan out.
It's always fun and I say hell yeah do it!

JCG,

I didn't participate with the 48 Hour Film project's Baltimore stop, but I did attend the screening. As expected, the projects ranged from really bad to really good. The best film used SAG actors and was cut like Fox's 24 and the worst was basically kids with a camcorder acting like cornballs. I think the key to the successful ones was the pre-production planning. I'd say to have a script ready for each of the genres and be ready to roll Friday night when given your prop, genre, and dialogue line. Shoot on Saturday and edit Saturday night into Sunday.

A lot of the films tended to be goofy sketch comedy stuff, a natural fallback when running low on time. The thing that many of them lacked, at least here, was energy. I think the pacing was too slow, almost like a rough cut. So it might be a good idea to keep the cuts shorter than you think, and keep each shot moving, and always going forward. (El Mariachi-style) Oh, and get some kickass music ready to keep it lively.

Last note: The audience picks their three favorite films, so the key is to get them excited. Most of the filmmakers here in Baltimore gave out promotional stuff and wore costumes from the film, just quick marketing stuff to get people to remember their film come voting time.

Good luck!

Jeff

I helped out with one in Washington, DC this past year and will be doing my own in Asheville, NC on July 22 as well. It was great fun. One of the best, albeit stressful weekends I've had in a while. The following week they screened all of the shorts to sold out audiences (500+) using digital projection in a real movie theater. Now that was cool as hell. All of the teams got up at the end and discussed their short briefly and equipment and such. Most people seemed to have some pro experience of some sort. (I'm a Physical Therapist with an expensive hobby). Many shot with the Panasonic DVX 100a 24p camera. Most edited with Final Cut Pro. It was amazing to hear how many of them reported catastrophic problems with FCP during the intense editing. I was the only one I knew for sure that used Vegas 5.0. If I had any advice it would be to prep as much as you can in advance. Find and secure locations and talent. Have a few rough ideas for each of the different genres. Set a tight shooting schedule and stick to it. Some of the shorts were amazing. Some were horrible. Everyone seemed to have fun.

Sounds like a job for DVRack or direct to disk recording in order to cut down on capture time.

I've sat in while a friend edited 3 of our 48 hour Scramble movies on fcp. 2 of the 3 times we had catastrophic problems costing 4-7 hours of lost work (each time, not cumulative). It only happened during the capturing, which my friend insisted on logging and batch capturing even though he had endless hard drive space. Told him that I've never had that kind of problem in Vegas and in just over 2 years Vegas has crashed maybe once if at all. He was pretty amazed.

Thanks very, very much to all who have replied. Your words are both helpful and appreciated. We are putting together the team right now and will do as much as possible (locations, scripts, talent, etc.) in advance of the start time on July 22 at 7 pm. If we can get them, we will use two 24p cameras (and two crews), each shooting different scenes (as character roles permit). I have two systems going in rooms next to each other in case of crash. As soon as one scene is shot, the tape will come to me. My plan for further insurance is to print each scene to tape as soon as I get a rough cut done.

Any other advice?

JCG

I went back to read the rules for the "48 Hour Film Project 2005" to double check those around script writing in advance of the 48 hour period (see above mails). This is what I found. "All creativity must take place during the 48 hour period, including writing the script, rehearsing, costume/set design, shooting, editing and sound design." The only work to begin prior to the 48 hour period is "organizing crew, organizing cast, securing equipment, scouting/securing locations".

For those who have participated in the past, is it general practice to do some script writing in advance anyway? What is the deal? We do not want to take any chances of being disqualified, but we also want to compete on a level playing field. Thanks very much for any advice.

JCG

I just posted to your other thread on this topic -- http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=401744

As a prior contestant myself the rules are simple -- basically no cheating. So don't do any script writing before the shoot. I think the point is to see what can be completely created with 48 Hours.

David Newman
CTO, CineForm

You are allowed to create or obtain music in advance though. We did no script writing in advance last time. I would be very surprised if many teams did not do some kind of scripting in advance, even though this is clearly against the rules. Practice as much of the technical stuff as possible. Know your camera and gear inside out. Practice any piece of software you may use. Check and recheck computer stability. I've been practicing compositing with Commotion, After Effects and Vegas and found that with only a few specific examples, I can do most composing in Vegas easier and faster than with the compositing programs. It is a really great experience and certainly good practice for anyone who wants to do "run and gun" kind of work. Let us know how it turns out for you.