48HFP-Day 3, Sunday

8:00 Woke-up with renewed spirits and continued editing
12:00 Jared came over and viewed the footage so far
12:30 Considered dumping all of the sound and dialogue and covering the whole thing with music
12:45 Took lunch break and ate leftover Pizza from Friday
1:00 Decide it wouldn’t help, went back to editing
1:15 Jamie showed up and we shot the final sequence (actually one of the first in the movie)
2:00 Back to editing
3:00 Laid down the music tracks graciously provided by Niro and Secondhand Stories
3:30 Realized the music is far superior than the movie I was making
3:35 Started hoping the bands don’t regret allowing me to use their music
4:00 Realized I hadn’t put in any of the credits or title screens
4:45 Realized I didn’t have a name for the movie, settled on Jasper Fly
5:00 My goal of leaving for Greensboro by 5:00 went unrealized
5:30 Left to meet members of the team I had forgotten to get release forms from
5:50 Had to stop and fill the car up with gas
6:00 Left Southern Pines with exactly 1hour 30minutes to turn in film on time
7:15 Parked car
7:20 Turned in film
7:23 Passed by another filmmaker with laptop in his hand. He was burning the DVD as he walked in.
7:24 Realized I had an extra 5 minutes I could have used on my film that it desperately needed.
7:30 There is always next year.

48HFP-Day 2, Saturday

5:30 Woke-up and finished six page script
6:30 Finished getting gear ready for the day
7:45 Made last minute calls to crew to bring props, equipment, etc.
8:00 Arrived on location
8:15 Went to car dealer ship to pick up car we were supposed to use to sit in front of our location. Salesman that was supposed to be there was not, so we did without the car.
8:30 Went to around town looking for bubble wrap that was the required prop for the movie. Finally had to go to wal-mart.
8:45 Arrived back at location to find out power was out in the house we were shooting in.
9:00 Three of the eight cast and crew had not shown up yet.
9:20 Began to film first scene
9:21 Realized we did not have professional actors
9:22 Realized I was not a professional director so I fit perfectly with the actors.
9:35 One more actor show up. Still missing two
10:30 Finished shooting first scene (outdoors) Power came back on in the house.
10:35 I had to change into shirt and tie to play the "butler"
10:40 Realized I am a worse at acting than directing
11:00 Used a wheelchair for "cool" dolly shot
11:30 Other two actors finally show up
11:45 Use work lights from Wal-mart as professional lighting
11:50 Lights work well other than the fact that they are about 1000 degrees too hot.
12:00 Something smells like its burning so we have to turn the lights off for a while and change their positions.
1:00 We break for lunch
2:00 Cast has to change for next scene
2:30 We shoot cool hot dog scene
2:35 Glad we didn't shoot the whole film outside because it's like 101 degrees outside
3:00 We shoot football and golf montage shots
3:30 We begin shooting final walking scene
3:45 During dramatic "Jasper Fly" speech dog starts barking
3:50 During same speech Ferron uses the words "grows" and "lives" 500 times.
4:00 We final finish the scene after "several" takes. None of which were the same
4:30 Finished primary shooting for the day
4:30 At my house I began to download footage
5:30 Ferron, Jordan, and Jared showed up for "Interview" sequence
7:00 Began rough edit
7:30 Realized how tough it is to edit when the dialogue from any two takes from the same scene is always different.
8:00 Seriously thought about not submitting film in the competition
8:30 Decided everyone had worked too hard to not submit the film
9:00 Relapsed into thoughts of not submitting the film and pretending it never happened
9:30 Decided it wasn't that bad, I could make it work
10:00 Felt it was hopeless
11:00 Put my nose to the grindstone and decided to make the best of it
1:00am Went to bed exhausted and somewhat depressed

48HFP - Day 1, Friday

4:00pm Left for Greensboro with Jordan and Jared
5:20 Arrived at location for kick-off meeting
5:21 Jared spilled Mountain Dew on his shorts making a "urine like" stain on his crouch
5:30 Checked in
5:45 Realized we looked too normal to compete against everyone else that was there
5:50 Approached by random woman who said we needed professional actors, a PA, and a professional sound guy if we wanted to win. (Turns out she was right)
6:15 Guy approached Jordan and asked him what his job was on the team. He answered, "I'm the headphone guy."
6:30 Saw a guy in a kilt for no reason
6:31 Approached by a magician who likes camping, fishing, and paintball and wanted to be in our movie.
6:40 Starting drawing for Genres
6:43 Mused how I would like to pull drama, action, or comedy for our genre
6:45 Remembered that Holiday Film is also an eligible genre as I read the slip I drew from the hat
6:46 While stepping off stage the magician who likes paintball handed me his card, again
7:00 We left.
7:01 Saw magician trying to jump curb on moped
7:05 Began to try to figure out what else could a holiday film be besides a Christmas film
8:30 Picked up Pizza for team (Papa Johns)
9:00 Met the remainder of the team at my house
9:01 Explained to each team that we had drawn Holiday Film as our genre and watched their
blank expressions
9:30 Jordan came up with and idea about a inflatable killer whale as a story idea
9:30 + 2 seconds Idea rejected (but later revisited)
10:00 As we settled on a story idea, the ending takes a weird turn
10:05 Ferron declares he is not wearing a dress
10:06 We drop the story line that involves Ferron wearing a dress
10:20 Without any further prodding from the rest of the team, Ferron announces he will wear a dress
11:00 Most of the team leaves so the writers can finish the story
11:30 The rest of the team leaves to work on the story on their own
1:00am I finish writing about 3 pages of script
2:30am Received a call from Jose, who has emailed me two pages of dialogue to use
2:45 Went back to sleep

Almost...There.....

It's 11:30, I just got back from Greensboro where I viewed the winning films of the past two 48 Film Projects. I have get up at 5:00am and drive for 10 hours tomorrow to meet with two of my biggest clients. Needless to say, they are important meetings. I bring this up because this is the only thing preventing me from focusing 100% on the 48 hour film project. My "real" job yet again is getting in my way. We have a total of 7 people including myself, so we will be working with a skeleton crew. But, for me at least, I feel better having a small group than having extra people standing around with nothing to do. For most of the crew this will be their first experience with acting, filming, etc. Though I do have a couple that have little college film class experience, and two that are writers. Also I've gotten the support of two bands, Niro and Secondhand Stories, thanks to an old friend. All in all, regardless of the genre we receive I think we will have a good time. We have received permission to film at some really cool locations including a historic home with beautiful grounds. Well I have to get some sleep so I can pay for my camera equipment. Thanks everyone for you support.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 4 out of 5

Rated: PG-13

Cast:
Johnny Depp Jack Sparrow, Orlando Bloom Will Turner, Keira Knightley Elizabeth Swann, Jack Davenport Norrington, Bill Nighy Davy Jones

Director: Gore Verbinski

I think I can sum this one up pretty easy: If you enjoyed the first one you will enjoy this newest installment. Same action and adventure. Same comic wit. Same fascinating supernatural villains. Same Jack Sparrow. In fact the only reason I wouldn't give this a 5 out of 5 is because it is mostly the same as the first. That's not a bad thing necessarily it's just when we saw the first Pirates we had never seen the mesmerizing Jack Sparrow before. We had never seen a ship of eternal undead pirates. It was all so new so different. So this time there was no way to recreate that same sense of uncharted territory. There are a couple of spots in the movie that are down right silly but, if you can sit tight long enough and suspend your disbelief long enough I think you'll enjoy the ride.

Warning! Spoiler!
A little bit of warning, if you think you are going to see a story that stands on its own and ends at the credits, think again. What you are actually watching is a 2 1/2 hour long set up for the third installment. That's right this movie ends with nothing resolved and now we must wait another year to see kids dressed up in pirate gear at the midnight showing to find out what happens next.

Superman Returns 3 out of 5

Rated: PG-13

Directed by Bryan Singer

Cast: Brandon RouthClark Kent/Superman,
Kate BosworthLois Lane, Kevin Spacey Lex Luthor, James MarsdenRichard White(Cyclops from X-men)


Ok, essentially I was disappointed. The original Superman was iconic. Both the film itself and the character Christopher Reeve embodied were perfect in there depiction of Superman. So to compete with this American icon is like leaping over a tall building in a single bound. (Pun intended) There were certain things about the movie I did like. I think Brandon Routh played Superman to the "T". If you liked Christopher Reeve's portrayal of Clark Kent then I think you will like Brandon's as well, as he seems to pick up exactly where Reeve left off. I was very disappointed in Lois Lane. She is supposed to be a tenacious, Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist. But, she comes off as a bland, heartbroken little girl. It's hard to believe she ever accomplished anything in her life much less become a super successful reporter.

Kevin Spacey was Just O.K. as Lex. Nothing to brag about. I think this was poor writing and poor directing more than anything. In the original Superman, Lex was a genius surrounded by idiots. Giving the menacing Lex an almost comical air on screen. For some reason Singer continues with this silly representation of one of the most dangerous super villains of all time. This man is a genius, someone who consistently goes head to head with the most powerful man in the world. Yet, we hardly feel that he is better than Moe from the three Stooges.

Finally, though I like the story that ran throughout Superman Returns, the climatic battle in the end was disappointing. Not because I thought it should should have been bigger or more dramatic, but just the opposite. It was too big. I don't want to give away anything but, the final catastrophe that Superman must face is so big, that while it is unfolding I found myself thinking, "there is no conceivable way that Superman can stop this." But, by ignoring any sense of rules that the director has tried to create in this ficticious world, he does indeed save the day.

Well to sum it all up, the movie wasn't that bad, it just wasn't that good either. And for a character as big as Superman, that's a real shame. I really liked the story in this one and I loved just about everything about Superman himself. Visually it was great. There are some really great scenes toward the beginning of the movie that show Superman's powers and their limits (but those limits are totally ignored at the end).
So, tell me what you think.

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