What motivates you to get something done? Maybe it's money: finish the job at hand, and you get compensated for it. For some, it's recognition: never underestimate the power of an "attaboy" to drive people to complete something. Then there's fear: the consequence of not getting it done pushes a lot of people across the finish line. But for many, myself included, perhaps the most compelling motivator is a deadline.
That's the driver behind the 48 Hour Film Project. Since starting out in 2001, the program has expanded to 130 cities and involved nearly 400,000 people. Filmmaking teams gather for a kickoff event, and are given the 3 elements they have to include in their movie: a character, a prop and a line of dialogue. Each then draws a genre from a hat: horror, sci fi, etc. They then have just 48 hours to conceptualize, script, shoot and finish a 4 to 7 minute movie.
When you think about it, it seems counterintuitive. Filmmakers are generally obsessive types, fussing over creative details far beyond what audiences see or care about. Stanley Kubrick, Wes Anderson and Akira Kurosawa are legendary for their attention to the details in their movies. Michael Cimino shot more than 1.3 million feet of film totaling nearly 220 hours of footage for "Heaven's Gate," pushing the movie millions of dollars overbudget. Forget 48 hours: he was five days behind schedule by the sixth day of shooting.
Yet some thrive on tight deadlines, and it can actually be a powerful creative stimulus. Take Guy Olivieri. Guy is an actor, writer and filmmaker. While he is working on more traditional projects, like a TV pilot and other scripts, he has been participating in the 48 Hour Project for with his partners at Giant Cookie Films for 4 years, and in fact has won the New York division two of those years. Still, considering the lack of financial reward and the limited accolades that can be gained, why put himself through this particular meat grinder? "Well, the best advice I've ever gotten as a filmmaker (and maybe as a human) is ‘Finish.' Having things you want to make, and never finishing them because they're not perfect is my absolute least favorite feeling. With this project, it just has to get done. So, it gets done. With the unexpected requirements, I find myself pushed into corners I didn't know I could find stories in. We, as a group, find ourselves with technical issues: we just have to address them and shoot. And then in a few days, it's done. Love it or hate it, it's done."
To some that might sound more like a forced march than a fun and creative exercise. Guy sees it differently, as on the job training for him and his filmmaking partners. "It keeps us sharp. None of us went to film school. We're mostly actors who have decided to start making things for ourselves because no one was casting us in mainstream showbiz. So this is like film school. And like school, the pressure is low. If we mess it up, eh, so what? It's only one lost weekend."
As to this year's lost weekend, Guy and his pals pulled the genre "Family Film." Added to that were the other requirements for those competing in New York. The prop that had to be included was a dog leash. There had to be a character named John or Joan who was an architect. And the script had to include the line "Life is all about a relationships." How did Giant Cookie do? Judges are reviewing the entries, so they'll have to wait to see if they win and are invited to the global finals in Rotterdam next year.
If you're a filmmaker (or a musician or a painter or even a column writer) you look for opportunities to ply your trade, pay and payoff be dammed. Guy again: "Creative people are just dying to work - myself included. One thing that I notice about this project is that I'm always really nervous to ask people to do it, because there's no pay, the hours are awful, and (for the actors) there's a chance we might not use you at all. But no one ever says no. Bottom line is I love giving people a chance to do what they want to do. Again, myself included."
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford hasn't missed the deadline for this column in 24 years. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
That's the driver behind the 48 Hour Film Project. Since starting out in 2001, the program has expanded to 130 cities and involved nearly 400,000 people. Filmmaking teams gather for a kickoff event, and are given the 3 elements they have to include in their movie: a character, a prop and a line of dialogue. Each then draws a genre from a hat: horror, sci fi, etc. They then have just 48 hours to conceptualize, script, shoot and finish a 4 to 7 minute movie.
When you think about it, it seems counterintuitive. Filmmakers are generally obsessive types, fussing over creative details far beyond what audiences see or care about. Stanley Kubrick, Wes Anderson and Akira Kurosawa are legendary for their attention to the details in their movies. Michael Cimino shot more than 1.3 million feet of film totaling nearly 220 hours of footage for "Heaven's Gate," pushing the movie millions of dollars overbudget. Forget 48 hours: he was five days behind schedule by the sixth day of shooting.
Yet some thrive on tight deadlines, and it can actually be a powerful creative stimulus. Take Guy Olivieri. Guy is an actor, writer and filmmaker. While he is working on more traditional projects, like a TV pilot and other scripts, he has been participating in the 48 Hour Project for with his partners at Giant Cookie Films for 4 years, and in fact has won the New York division two of those years. Still, considering the lack of financial reward and the limited accolades that can be gained, why put himself through this particular meat grinder? "Well, the best advice I've ever gotten as a filmmaker (and maybe as a human) is ‘Finish.' Having things you want to make, and never finishing them because they're not perfect is my absolute least favorite feeling. With this project, it just has to get done. So, it gets done. With the unexpected requirements, I find myself pushed into corners I didn't know I could find stories in. We, as a group, find ourselves with technical issues: we just have to address them and shoot. And then in a few days, it's done. Love it or hate it, it's done."
To some that might sound more like a forced march than a fun and creative exercise. Guy sees it differently, as on the job training for him and his filmmaking partners. "It keeps us sharp. None of us went to film school. We're mostly actors who have decided to start making things for ourselves because no one was casting us in mainstream showbiz. So this is like film school. And like school, the pressure is low. If we mess it up, eh, so what? It's only one lost weekend."
As to this year's lost weekend, Guy and his pals pulled the genre "Family Film." Added to that were the other requirements for those competing in New York. The prop that had to be included was a dog leash. There had to be a character named John or Joan who was an architect. And the script had to include the line "Life is all about a relationships." How did Giant Cookie do? Judges are reviewing the entries, so they'll have to wait to see if they win and are invited to the global finals in Rotterdam next year.
If you're a filmmaker (or a musician or a painter or even a column writer) you look for opportunities to ply your trade, pay and payoff be dammed. Guy again: "Creative people are just dying to work - myself included. One thing that I notice about this project is that I'm always really nervous to ask people to do it, because there's no pay, the hours are awful, and (for the actors) there's a chance we might not use you at all. But no one ever says no. Bottom line is I love giving people a chance to do what they want to do. Again, myself included."
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford hasn't missed the deadline for this column in 24 years. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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