I mention in previous posts (like here and here) about how I worked on the 48 Hour Film Project with a group of people. Well, "Firecracker" is officially up on youtube, and it managed to snag a couple of awards at the event. It's not one hundred percent complete (well, it's complete as far as the 48 hour film competition is concerned). We've written an additional scene for it, and are planning on shootin it in the next couple of weeks.



P.S. I've been a slacker on getting my Ireland photos up online. Hopefully, I'll be able to have that done tomorrow.

So, the screening happened last night for the film I worked on (I wrote about it here and here). I think it went fairly well. I can't say that we had the best film there, but we were definitely in the top. Better than most of the others, but I do think there was one film that was a lot cleaner than ours. Overall, I say we made a decent little film.

I really enjoyed working with the people I worked with, though. And I think we all learned a lot. We did very well considering this was our first attempt at the 48 hour challenge. Next year I think we can do even better.

My friend Jordan and I are already thinking of putting another script together. This time a dark comedy with a zombie. Which should be all kinds of fun.

So, we made it through the film project. We ended up pulling the Holiday Film genre, and we had to include three items: the character Chris Doyle (a drummer), a pin as a prop, and "What just happened? as a line of dialog.

I stayed up with my fellow writers Friday night writing the script. By 5 a.m. there were only two of us left, but the script was "finished." All of use got up early the next morning and were on location by 10 a.m. to start filming. I helped explain our script and where the subtext is supposed to be read into the lines. We spent all day until the sun went down filming in a field (which is why I am very sunburned) and then filmed some night scenes until about 3 a.m. that night.

There were only two minor set backs. Once during the day when a ranger for the park came over asking about permits. We were able to talk our way out of it after paying the fee. And then later that evening there was a minor creative disagreement about how the film should end. We were able to come to a compromise on that one that made everyone happy.

This was the most professional film crew I have ever worked with. These people really knew what they were doing, and knew how to put it all together. I'm very grateful to have been able to work with them.

The film is called "Firecracker" and will be screening at the Camera 12 in downtown San Jose on this Thursday, Aug 21, at 7:30, along with other short films created during this 48 Hour Film Project. Feel free to come by and watch the film (and say, Hi).

American Idol started a whole sub-genre in reality TV. A group of people competing against each other in the hope of making their dream of achieving success come true. For singers it's American Idol, in modeling it's America's Next Top Model, for chefs it's Top Chef on Bravo, for clothing designers it's Project Runway, and coming soon for filmmakers it will be The Lot.

The Lot is being produced by Steven Speilberg and Mark Burnett. After a worldwide search (the hopefuls upload their films to The Lot's webpage), sixteen filmmakers will be chosen to go to Hollywood and be on the show. Each week they will be given a challenge to make a film from a variety of genres, everything from comedy to thriller to drama. They will have one week to go through the process of filmmaking, and at the end of the week the film will be shown to the public who will vote on the films. The person with the least votes will be off the show. The one person left after all of this will receive a one million dollar development deal from DreamWorks.

Sounds like a chow I could get into. No, really. If I had a film that was at all good, I would be submitting it, because I would love to be able to make films. I can do that without the show of course, and will definitely keep working toward that goal, but still. A one million dollar deal would be quite a jump.

So the plan is to watch the show this season, see what it's really like, and then get some films together in the next year to apply next season. It just sounds kind of fun to me.