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Tonight I spent the night at Piper Down for the 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) talent show with my friends AJ, Chris, and Kim- all great people. The last 3 years I have worked with a group of friends and we have produced films as both Chimps Can't Swim and a group called URL as part of the project.
What is the 48HFP? It's a film project where you get together on Friday night, choose a genre, and get assigned a character, prop, and line of dialog and then have to write, film, and edit a short film in just 48 Hours- there are somewhere between 40-50 teams and they do it all over the world. I have the most amazing memories from the past years, so many stories! Like the time I spent 2 hours (of the 48 hours!!) locked on a balcony without my phone, keys, or shoes with one of the editors. The first year we shot a horror film about a woman that drowns a plumber in a crawl space, the next year was a film about a group of FBI detectives running surveillance on some criminals that get a big surprise, and last year we shot a film about a couple who comes home on their wedding night only to discover the husband's gay lover waiting for them on the patio with a gun and some questions. Jerry Springer!
Every year something goes wrong, we can never seem to pull things together at the end with the editing and sound. This year I will be out of town and our team (as it has existed in the past) is not participating, although some of the members might. AJ summed it up by saying that we are good at what we do, it is just the wrong setting for us. We are too focused on the perfect product that getting something done in 48 hours makes the whole thing fall apart!
While I am bummer, I might do it again in the future and I am still going to go to the screenings this year and see what the other teams put together. There is everything from horrible, to cheesy, to hilarious, to dramatic, to downright amazing. One of my personal favorite teams is the husband and wife that own one of my favorite diners here in town, Blue Plate.
Oh, and this video? It is one of my old friends who has worked with us on films in the past, Ben Brinton (on guitar), with the guy who won first (on a didgeridoo) in tonight's talent show. They did an encore jam session together at the request of the crowd after they won. Fantastic! Ben is the most talented person I have ever met, his music and comedy are magical, and he is pretty hot too- just look at that mustache! His head shot is just his mustache.
