During the weekend of July 17th-19th, 3 different teams that included past and present members of the William and Mary community competed in a 48 hour filmmaking competition. The groups met at the bar restaurant known as The Camel at 7:00pm on Friday July 17th to select a genre. Other elements that were needed to be included were a tomato for a prop, the character Michael or Michelle Dooley, “Green” Expert, and the line of dialogue, “You can ask her yourself.”
The three teams that competed were:
Loose Ends Productions which was led by Ben Heller ’09 and included Jonny Converse ’10. There genre was Romance, and the film was titled Writer’s Block.
Part Time Box which was led by Steven Koernig ’08 and included Zan Gillies ’09, Thomas Baumgardner ’09, Chris Manitius ’09, Allison Schaeffer ’09, Annie Lewis ’09, Cole Grinell ’08, Betsy Finch ’08. Their genre was Super Hero, and the film was titled Captain Greenlight. Viewable below:
Monarch Productions was led by Kevin Heraldo ’04 and included Zach Keifer ’07. Their genre was also Super Hero, and the film was titled Life After Breath. Viewable below:
No Beginner’s Luck for Loose Ends Productions
Both Monarch productions and Part Time Box were veterans of timed filmmaking competitions, but for Loose Ends productions it was their very first experience. And even though the group had trouble completing the film within the time constraints, they were still able to come away with a complete movie. The film is currently still being worked on, as their main goal is to walk away with a polished product. Heller said that the movie they “turned in is watchable, but there’s still plenty of technical flaws that need to be worked out before its Youtubable.”
Ben Heller explained that “the story is something I came up with. I wrote the screenplay with my brother, Seth. We wanted to go more in the Lost In Translation/Garden State direction than the Notebook/Sleepless In Seattle direction with the movie. It’s based loosely on relationships a number of people I know have had, including myself.”
Part of what added to the difficulty of this experience for Heller’s group was that they shot the movie in Richmond, but had to trek an hour East to edit the film in Williamsburg.
On top of the distances traveled, they also ran into difficulty with receiving a Canon HD camera with 35mm adaptor that they had ordered specifically for the competition. They were able to work initially with a backup camera, Sony VX 2100, but were not able to shoot with the Canon until it showed up Saturday at 5pm, which was already 21 hours deep into a 48 hour competition.
More troubles occurred when the film was being put together in Post. Heller explained, “we edited on three computers: two [for] video and one with protools for sound. When we tried to put the pieces together, the machine kept throwing the sound off and messing up the transitions. Which sucked, and ultimately set us back enough that we missed the deadline. Although we were done at 652pm on Sunday, we were in Williamsburg, and didn’t want to risk a speeding ticket.”
Despite all their difficulties, the group were still able to produce a film for their very first competition. Ben summed the experience up by saying that they, “were pretty happy with the final product- it is what it is, a 48 hour movie. The experience is the most important thing and we learned a lot. I feel there are quite a few missing ingredients in our final product, but overall, it is a cohesive story that I felt is well told and well put together.”
A Few Words with Seasoned Filmmaker Kevin Heraldo ’04
The Film Tribe (TFT): How did you find your 2nd 48 hour film project experience?
Kevin Heraldo (KH): To answer the question bluntly: the experience was (and always will be) fun and life-learning. You run through different emotions in 48 hours (content, frustrated, angry, tired, hungry, etc) but the challenge is your ability to persevere. I was blessed to have a crew of 15-20 filmmakers and friends that, despite the gambit of emotions, are able to be critical without being “over the line.” When I say “life-learning”, I mean I always discover new things about myself (and even my film skills) that can be improved upon.
(TFT): Were you happy with the final product?
(KH): Moderately. And I say that because last year’s film Instrument of Choice is a hard film to follow. The more I watch Life After Breath, the better it gets. The film’s response has been warm. On another note, another W&M group headed by Steven Koernig had the same genre (SUPERHERO); coincidentally, we created characters that brought people back to life. I guess that’s a metaphor for W&M alums: we want to rejuvenate life back to people.
(TFT): Do you think you will do it again next year?
(KH): Actually, I’m helping my friend Adam Stackhouse ’04 (1693 Productions, Williamsburg, VA) for the Hampton Roads edition of 48 HFP. Adam in the past competitions has been the primary technical guy in his group, so this will be a relief for him since I will be sharing the duties. We’ve done some film scouting and general prep work for this weekend.
In October, I may take part in the National Film Challenge (sponsored by the same group of 48 HFP). But definitely I will be a part of the 48 HFP Richmond, 2010. TFT
Kevin is also responsible for No Cell Phone Day, which one Best Holiday film in the 2007 National Film Challenge
(L-R) Thomas Baumgardner '09, Steven Koernig '08, Jonny Converse '10, Kevin Heraldo '04, Ben Heller '09 at the start of the competition.
UPDATE: Kevin Heraldo ’04 assisted Adam Stackhouse ’04 in the Hampton Roads 48 Hour film project. Click America the Best to view their submission. Their team 1693 Productions also included: Hannah Ayers ’08, Ben Kennedy ’05, Liz Sykes ’06, Brian Chiglinsky ’08, Roshan Patel ’08, Crystal Adams ’07.
