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Las Vegas
Filmmakers Do 48 Hour, ‘All Egos Aside,’ Action-Packed Competition
By Carol Lane Patterson
Wild Child Entertainment
www.wildchildfilm.com
Photos below.
From Friday, August 5th to Sunday,
the 7th, Las Vegas locals, Independent (Indies) filmmakers of all ages and
aptitudes, in 36 teams, conceived, wrote, cast, filmed, and edited their
completely original 'shorts.' The screenings were at The Palms Brenden Theatres
the following Tuesday evening. Watching the groups of filmmakers, their family
and friends, and in-the-know festival-goers, was fascinating. This was an
ebullient crowd aware of the importance of the event for our town. No one
suspected there were that many people in town that would be attracted to be
competitors, or for that matter, viewers of this type of contest.
The 48 Hour Film Project,
(www.48hourfilmproject,) a private corporation in Washington DC, added Las Vegas
to its growing list of cities and Angela Bashier, a local attorney, produced our
city's first local 48 Hour event. What is the 48 Hour Film Project? It is a
clever concept by a corporation promoting independent filmmaking in rowdy,
inspiring and enormously entertaining 'local' events. Begun in Washington, DC,
in 2001, its founders are Mark Ruppert and Liz Langston, DC-based film/video and
theater producers. They have worked together since 1999 producing events, shows
and films. Very engaging and genuinely supportive, they answered questions after
the screening, as they attended this local event. Actually, when asked if all of
the events in the 26 cities already in the 'loop' were as enthusiastic, how
astonishingly positive this event was for Las Vegas? How beneficial their idea
was to the local filmmaking community? They unabashedly answered it happens in
every city they have sponsored. They seem to have created a concept which
actually does find the filmmaker potential in every person who seriously
aspiring to communicate on film. Growing in momentum, the 48 Hour Film Project
is big news in the Indie community. The concepts are their baby, though
imitators are out there, which of course is the highest form of flattery. The
Project will be featured on an A&E program this Tuesday, August 16th.
Angela Bashier is the Producer of
this newest Las Vegas event. Although Best of City awards are given for each
local competition, the real prize is the HD Filmmaker Showdown, in which five of
the winning teams 'do it all over again' in a final competition, apparently to
see if they just got lucky the first time, or if they are consistent producers
of audience pleasing fare. And get this: those winning teams will shoot with the
new Panasonic HD camera and edit on Avid's HD Express; each team gets to keep
the Avid HD Express software and the Avid Mojo Accelerator-the winning team will
keep the camera! Not too shabby. It all happens in January 2006.
The 48 Hour Film Project has an
ingenious premise: stipulate that each team must produce a film which has
several keywords and components, intended to help suggest a story for them to
create. A 2-day time crunching, brain addling, soul crushing push to coalesce as
a filmmaking team, to brainstorm the keywords into concepts for a story, give it
some broad strokes, and start assigning tasks, writing the script, casting the
characters created, and then directing them in front of cameras often borrowed
for the effort. As most filmmakers know that a good deal of the story happens in
edit, this feature is a key element of any team. DP's and lighting crew are
essential. The 48 Hour Film Project forces 'team' into the filmmaking vocabulary
of even the uninitiated novice.
Rules state that all team members
(crew and cast) must be volunteers. Most teams consist of film and video
professionals. The films are short; they must be a minimum of 4 minutes and a
maximum of 7 minutes long. Also, tantamount to the 48 Hour Film Project, the
pre-stipulated key components and phrase are limited but absolutely essential-to
be included in each team's story. Ten to fifteen minutes prior to 'kickoff'
time of 7PM Friday evening, of the 48 hours the team has to perform, these ideas
are given to each team. The concepts, random and unrelated, are non-negotiable.
The 48 Hour Film Project motto: every second counts when you only have 48 hours
to make a film.
For the Las Vegas event, the
stipulations were: firstly, a character with the name V. Kirk, secondly at least
one character had to demonstrate obsessive/ compulsive behavior, and thirdly,
the phrase "we've got to do that all over again" must be incorporated into the
story at least once. Lastly the prop designation for this competition was
'hairspray.' Now if ideas are already popping in your head, let's remember
genre...which each team pulls out of a hat...and if you are not a sci-fi fan and
that's what you pull, you begin to see the problems one encounters from the
get-go. Or imagine writing a Romance, which are just plain difficult to write,
even if you like it, and seemingly impossible if the genre makes you gag.
According to the producers, each
team draws "one of these 12 genres from a hat: Action/Adventure, Comedy,
Detective/cop, Fantasy, Horror, Mockumentary, Musical or Western, Mystery,
Romance, Sci Fi, Spy and Superhero. If you draw Musical or Western, a choice is
allowed of making either a Musical or a Western, or a Musical Western. The film
must be true to the genre selected -- and no trading with other teams!"
Regardless, genres set, the teams were off! Two days, 48 hours later, they
returned with their precious package, a tape for inclusion in the Tuesday night
screening. Then began the 48 hours for Angela, which was a 'wrap' for her at the
after party, where she was
Parris Lane, a local singer and
filmmaker, helped Angela with getting the word out, encouraging teams to
participate, getting sponsors, helping with the Yahoo bulletin Board emails, and
headed up the volunteers at the ticket booth the night of the screenings. She
was elated with how well it went, crediting the filmmaking community with an
amazing call to arms "with all egos aside." And at the appointed hour (6:30
Tuesday) in the extra large #14 auditorium of the gracious Brenden Theatre
facilities inside the Palms, filled to capacity, the lights went down and the
filmmakers began watching their films on the big screen. Separated into three
segments, of 12 films, all 36 had shown by 1:00 AM. Each section was first come,
first up. Originally there was to be 24, but because of the overwhelming
response, the third was added. The first and second segments sold out, with
turn-aways!
Fortunately, Bashier took a leap of
faith and rented #14, one of Brenden's large auditoriums. The screening room was
palpably anxious and exuberant, all at once. Cameras rolled, flashed and
indiscriminately filmed the audience. Team Brenden scoured #14 between each
segment of films, and the next audience flowed into their seats. What an
experience! Some of the films were confusing, badly lit or poorly acted, but on
balance, the largest percentage was of surprising quality, coherence, and
attention to detail. The rawness of the footage added to the sensation of
participating, even as a spectator, in something real and relevant. Some of the
films filtered to the surface as interesting, memorable or in a few cases quite
dazzling, however brief.
Next year Bashier promises a full
weekend screening experience, so watch for it.
Top contenders lists are, of course,
subjective. Here is one subjective list for this competition:
19 Miles to Vegas
(announced online August 13, 2005: winner of the
Audience Award)
Ego
Last Laugh
Last 3 Girls, a Guy and an
Apocalypse
Breakin' Bread
The Spirit of a Hero
Some honorable mentions: the stunt
work in So Close, by no budget no talent productions, HA's musical
segues, by Random Works, the tender moments of a couple in Lost Vegas Love,
who from a homeless environment, fall prey to a brutal cappo type, by BAD DOG
INC, and Marlene Adrian, a local film documentarian, answered a call for help
from Parris Lane, one of Bashier's supporters, and added her considerable
editing skills, her equipment and time to R.C. Productions which created
Gambling With Trust.
19 Miles to Vegas
by Realm Films hit the top of the list for absolute originality. The script
written by "all of them" delivered many clever moments, the actors showing a
great sense of comedic timing. Knowing the premise of this short would in no way
ruin the viewing experience, if or when you get to see it. Three young men,
playing drums, electric guitar and an acoustic guitar (badly) decide to go in a
whole new direction. One suggests that they play 'silence' -"that's it!" and
sells the idea to the other two finally. They begin practicing, getting the MTV
technique down. Resulting gigs catch the eye of a producer, who signs them and
they begin concert tours and studio recordings.
Some of the sequences are quite smart,
complimenting the spoof of music producers and distributors. When a music store
cashier is asked for "the new CD, about silence, you know?" and on a fresh CD
right out of the stack, begins writing the name in magic marker "Silence" -well
you're dead to comedy if you don't catch yourself falling off your seat
laughing. Another satirical scene, again just for the pure sake of laughter has
the sound guy (Jason Beck,) in one of the recording sessions, after a series of
'rifs' of silence, pause in disgust, saying "We gotta do it all over again"
-which met a 48 Hour Film Project stipulation, and caused everyone to laugh out
loud. On it went, with a black kid (Bryan E.) 'spliced' in several times with a
smiling "that shit is tight!," which of course was shouted out by the audience
with kudos while credits ran at the end:
realmfilms@gmail.com; with Shane Valdez (Producer/Director,) Brian Novello (solemn, silent type, as
V.Kirk and the OCD character), Ryan Curtis, (the Chad) acoustic guitar, Justin
LaForge (Big Dave,) electric guitar, and crew Lee Diskin, editor and Dave
Christenson, DP. When asked about his experience, Valdez acknowledged
Christenson's encouragement to participate as key; "This is my first comedy, my
second film," and with another one in production, this is a Director whose star
is rising.
Last Laugh
by Dshoot. Doug Shutte, is a solid performer in the creative cadre of Las Vegas
professionals, with enormously popular and critically acclaimed shorts, One
Dollar Difference, Eleventh Hour and many other great films. Shutte
is an obvious 'shoo-in' for this type of competition. His shorts have screened
locally at CineVegas, and out of state at several other festivals. Last Laugh
is the resulting film of his 48 Hour team's effort, a Western—a genre in which
he excels. Doug Shutte has lead and inspired many a team over the years to trust
him and participate in his productions, directing shorts with pithy, powerful
messages—a great communicator, he never disappoints. Typical of his films, his
locations authentic as possible, he inspires his crew to make a 5AM call on
Sunday morning of the already compressed weekend, to a quaint and unaffected bar
in Pahrump, to get the old time Western feel to his impromptu set. (Pahrump, our
neighbors through the pass to the west are an hour distant.)
Shot primarily on the inside of the
bar, set in the 1880's, a poker game evolves into a contest of wills and
creative cheating, in which the warning to players attempting to leave the game
becomes "one more hand or one less head," issued at gunpoint by the mysterious,
dangerous and handsome poker player, Kirk (portrayed enticingly by Paul Joseph.)
His admonition caught on with the other players, mentioned whenever a new player
on a winning streak would attempt to leave the game with their winnings. There
is some real tongue in cheek moments where the era boundaries and artifacts are
violated-quick witted on such a short timeline, but necessary when the required
prop is a can of hairspray. Shutte slips in the required line "we've gotta do
this all over again" for the film's punch-line ending.
Last 3 Girls, A Guy and An
Apocalypse, is by Big Dance
Productions, Jason Leinwand WeebleRee@aol.com
(Producer/Director/Writer,) and Josh Bell, Producer/Writer (yes, our very own
Josh Bell, local writer) The short script is a rather lighthearted approach to
global annihilation, singularly complex for a piece shot entirely inside one
home--which in Las Vegas is a sparkling fresh approach to avoidance of traffic
gridlock and packing equipment out and about. Big Dance was fortunate to have
such a great set of actors, as they are 'it' in a set like this one. Jason's
photographer friend, Michael Hewitt (Location Producer,) and wife Stella,
(makeup artist,) lent their home as the 'set.'
Inexplicably, a young man, Lawrence
(Cirilo Maldonado,) survives a nuclear holocaust, and then finds three lovely
girls in the basement of this house, which apparently has sufficient food to
make the otherwise dismal future for these cuties one of possible rejuvenation
of the species...except that Adam can't separate out an Eve amongst the three
candidates. The young women (Lori Kay, Theresa Ryan, and Molly Bernard) sleep
together, banishing Lawrence to the couch. Maldonado's facial expressions are
often priceless, attempting to adjust to the mercurial natures of these women
who finally explain to him that women 'who live together, cycle together' as
they bombard him with requests for tampons and hairspray. His response is a non-plused
"sure, I'll go out into the irradiated streets'" to fetch a few items for them
at the corner market. He is very photogenic, with a strong presence in any scene
with him in it.
Molly Bernard, one of the youngest
of our good local talent, is the character given every 48 Hour Film Project
stipulation--a rather efficient and clever bit of scripting. Molly's character
is V. Kirk, never separated from her hairspray, and is the OCD character, with
the line "now we've got to do this all over again." She was charming, another
personality skilled in commanding the camera to stay with her. An engaging
ensemble, performing with above average quality, the four of them will 'survive'
into their next film.
Breaking Bread
by Klown Shoes, is an irreverent peek back in time, to the Last Supper, a
mockumentary that hugely entertains. The character of John, who got the phrase
"we'll have to do it all over again," was hilarious as the solemn primary source
for this documentary of the interactions of the disciples-absolute nonsensical
comedic script with flair.
The Spirit of a Hero
was the most lyrical, sophisticated and stylish of the 36 entries. Athleticism
showcased for its own sake complimented the thoughtful approach to the Superhero
genre assignment. Essentially, the theme was 'what is a superhero to you?.' Some
surprising answers were depicted, such as the pure, clean sequence of a daughter
and mother. Staged more like a documentary, the musings include the notion that
we can best effect change in ourselves when we effect change in someone else's
life. It was a satisfying viewing experience, watching some sterling bits of
footage of Red Rock and the desert, interspersed with interviews, sequences of
super-heroism, and the beautifully choreographed dance, martial arts and
gymnastics footage done under a glaring spotlight, for drama, and for the cool
'ghosting' effects they included for these movements.
Ego,
by Gott Films,
http://www.Gotfilms.com
, netting the most boisterous sponsor applause of the evening) Jeremy Settles,
Producer, DP, Distribution, and by Dreamlight Films
http://www.dreamlight@USA.com
, Alia Bevilaqua, Actor and Baba, Producer/Director/Editor. Gott Films, netting
the most boisterous sponsor applause of the evening, is a familiar fixture
locally. Robert Cochrane (Raveon,) another favorite local, was cast as one of
two musician buddies. He is brilliant with his characterization of a non-era
depression to fifties, type musician who, with his buddy, Howard Royal Grange,
portrayed by BaBa, play rifs on the porch of an old house.
Somewhat down on their luck, these
hapless pals play wherever they can get gigs, hence the road trips. Howard falls
for a female musician/singer, Anna Parks, (Alia Bevilacqua, a star-quality
actress.) The guys bring her along for the ride. With the couple together in the
front or back seats, and Bob, driving, looking put upon, or as a passenger
watching, portrays Raveon with great facial expressions and body language, a
subtle mixture of frustration and boredom with the couple's billing and cooing.
Hummingwood, the young girl in town that knows what everyone is doing,
precociously portrayed by Jinger Siu, totally delivered on the line 'I've got to
do it all over again.' In another appealing scene, Alia sings (rather well) to
Howard as their characters are preparing to go after it in the back seat of a
period-suitable Cadillac. Having never sung in public, Bevilaqua was quite good
as a singer. All three are actors that don't appear to be acting...more of them
on the big screen would be well received.
The DP work was luminous, the film
editing was superlative, having its own tempo-and what turned out to look like
sepia tones sometimes, other scenes in blue undertones, with an overall feeling
of old celluloid footage. Camera angles of Alia, as Anna, at her dressing table
gazing into the mirror, sharing thoughts and well expressed OCD musings, are
gorgeous. Shots in the car, on the porch, in clubs, in the town, the train
station, really changed up the scenes, making this 'short' feel longer, in that
a perception is there of a big screen experience with more story for your time
than most of the other 48 Hour team offerings.
How do you even get a mood like that
in a short piece, filmed in 48 hours? Serendipity for a start. And coincidence.
Bevilacqua not only owns the Anna Parks dress used in this work, she is familiar
with the background of Anna Parks, a strong, turn-of-the-century Las Vegas
woman. Hence the name as homage, as Parks was not a singer. The Parks family has
land adjacent to the family manse where the dilapidated buildings stand, used
for the rural-look location. Baba, who grew up next door, and played in and
around the buildings and vintage cars, gained access to them, lent by the Parks
family. He had done a documentary piece of the Heritage Museum (Boulder City)
which Anna Parks founded, and obtained permission to film the train station and
'town' scenes, a great use of resources, actually. Many of the rival teams
inquired as to where in Las Vegas they found these 'locations,' which certainly
is the mark of a good locations manager-experienced, or up & coming.
Jeremy Settles and BaBa, were on
hand for the question and answer period after the third session. BaBa, last to
speak, closed the session with an anecdote about working with Jeremy, and an
appeal to the local teams to value this camaraderie generated by the 48 Hour
Film Project. He motioned to the teams in the seats-so many-the auditorium still
filled with all the new faces, and asked them to notice how many good filmmakers
there are right here in town. His appeal is to continue in the spirit of the
Project, to achieve a cohesive Las Vegas film community. The beginning of that
possibility "is what Angela just accomplished" with this event, suggesting
everyone should stay open to working so freely with each other and doing
projects here in town-together-without having to think of LA!
That appeal had followed Baba’s
brief anecdote about the initial phases of the working relationship with Jeremy
and how that partnership would work, "do you trust me?” on the shot setups and
Jeremy said "Yes." No small praise, if you know Jeremy. He mentioned that Jeremy
had told him he felt there was not any real sense of community here amongst the
filmmakers. Baba appealed to the filmmakers on hand to nurture a sense of
community in the industry here. If everyone can 'see' each other, get to know
one another, have that feeling of trust, they can be available for future
filming in Las Vegas requiring teams partnering on larger paying projects. He
voiced an observation that many acknowledged throughout the evening, that here
was the filmmaking community, brought together by Angela Bashier, in such a
positive manner, and that yes, everyone might effect change here by continuing
in that spirit.
Considering the high energy in the
auditorium, in the halls and lobby, and at the after-party, it is obvious Las
Vegas has lots, scads, and oodles, of creative filmmakers who are also team
players. Angela and Parris found them and coaxed them all to participate in this
innovative event. One can only be stunned at how this fresh-to-town resident, of
"about a year" in Las Vegas, comes out of the blocks, steadily running to the
finish line, enthusiastically herding the once rag-tag, loosely identified
filmmakers in town to this opportunity to meet and work and compete. She, with
Parris' help, guided them through the chute of this process, with 36 resulting
teams and films, within the parameters of the 48 Hour Film Project. She added
twelve teams to the original 24 planned, due to the overwhelming response. Kudos
to Angela, for doing what so many have attempted in Las Vegas--this level of
camaraderie--let alone having the majority of the filmmakers in Las Vegas come
together in the same event with such a hugely popular energy and productive
outcome. Everyone was literally bouncing off the walls, admittedly punchy from
sleep deprivation; nonetheless elated about what they had all accomplished and
how packed the screenings were (which is gratifying to any filmmaker.)
Welcome to Las Vegas, Angela Bashier...please
consider yourself welcome as an outstanding addition to our town and to the
budding 'possible' version of our local film industry.
Liz Langston & Mark Ruppert, founders of the 48 Four Film Project
Photo by Carol Patterson - Auditorium #14 at the Brenden Theatre inside
the Palms
Photo by Carol Patterson - Angela Bashier, Producer, Las Vegas 48 Hour
Film Project event, Doug Shutte,Producer/Director of Last Laugh team,
Christopher Gillins, lead male in Dead Ringer.
%20&%20Brian%20Novello_sjp.jpg)
Photo by Carol Patterson - 19 Miles to Vegas team: Dave Christanson,
Shane Valdez, Regan Elizabeth Zajac, (VJ,) & Brian Novello
Photo by Carol Patterson - Dshoot crew for Last Laugh, Bobby Rodgers,
Doug Shutte, Dir, Stacey Nicole, and male lead Paul Joseph
The
Producers of Ego, Alia Bevilacqua,
Baba, Robert Cochrane, and Jeremy Settles.
Photo by Baba: Alia Bevilacqua, female lead in Gott/Dreamlight team's Ego.
Photo by Baba: Alia Bevilacqua, Baba, on set between takes of Ego.
Photo by Baba: push shot of young town girl (Jinger Siu,) speaking to
Raveon (Robert Cochrane) in Ego.
Photo by Baba: Era Shot in sepia tones of Alia Bevilacqua as a 'teenaged'
Anna Parks, with Robert Cochrane as Raveon in Ego.
The
Palms Marquee hosting the 48 Hour Film Project, Alia Bevilacqua in the
foreground.
Photo by Mike Hewitt: Cast & Crew of Last 3
Girls, A Guy, And An Apocalypse, is Brandy Bell, (dream sequence,) Molly
Bernard, Stella Hewitt, back row-Jason Leinwand, Roger Eric Tinch, Mike Ertman,
Lori Kay, and Cirilo Maldonado, male lead. |
