The Making of a Film in 24 Hours

It was SUCH an adventure doing the 24 Hour Film Race with the "Brothers of Salsa" Production pals. I'd been looking forward to participating in the race ever since they showed me CTRL+S, the film the entered last year.

We waited around, and then finally received the theme and suprise element from HQ at 10 o'clock on Friday night. The theme was "Second Chances," and the suprise element was that we had to make sure to include blowing bubbles.

Everybody who came got to be a contributor the creative process, which was really the sweetest part of the whole thing. As soon as we received the necessary information, we got our huddle on and started brainstorming somethin ugly. We all threw out different pieces, and slowly started to form them into something we could work.






Folks then took that pool of ideas and worked all throughout the night to turn them into a screenplay. It was to be a comedy, based around a fortune teller who is asked to give people second chances, but in the end recieves a second chance herself.

The script was packed with quick cuts, complex characters, lots of tangents, and hilarious diaolgue. This was going to be a very ambitious undertaking to fit into a 4 minute film, and to complete in less than a day.




Then we went on a 3am location scout-out! Wooo




Once we had settled on a spot, we each collected props, costumes, and supplies from our own personal stashes to dress it up.






We performed an all-night extreme makeover on the set, turning a cluttered apartment into a fortune teller's home and business.









Actors were pretty randomly cast to fill roles at the last minute. Then we studied our lines and characters with only a couple of hours' notice.




We devised all of the costuming for each character.





We underwent hair and make-up transformations. I was aged by 20 years to play the fortune teller.

It was a trip.













We triumphed over sleep deprivation and caffeine crashes. For the most part.




In the morning we started shooting. And re-shooting take after take after take.









And with waaaay too little time left on the clock, and with one editing software catasphrophe after another, it didn't look like there was any way we were going to be able to turn our film in on time. I had already told myself, "Hey, even though we didn't make it into the competition, at least we had a really fun time making a really sweet movie."

I mean, come on, Steve and to import AND watch a day's worth of footage and chop it all up and fit it into a nice, neat, 4 minute package of cinematic fantasticness.

Yeah fuckin right, right?





I was already at home and asleep when I got the victory text - WE DID IT! They finished and delivered the film by 10 o'clock!



The whole thing was amazingly fun to make, and we ended up with a really great short film on our hands. What an honor to have worked with such a ridiculously creative and talented group of people! So lucky to know these very special folks.

Seriously, though, this was probably one of the best uses I've ever made of a Friday night.