The Post 48HFP Funky Blog

I’m in a funk, and as a writer the best way for me to get over it is to write it out. So here I am. It’s been a while since I stepped on a ranting soapbox, so here I go.

Maybe I’m in a horrible place because I still am not recovered from lack of sleep, or the fact that my right shoulder is in so much pain from being in one position for eight hours while I removed multitudes of clicks, clips, and blips in an audio track. Maybe it’s a combination of everything.

Bottom line is … I failed. I failed as a writer, filmmaker and team leader. Most of all, I failed myself.

It was the second time in my decade and a half of 48 HFP that I woke up the next day asking myself, what was I thinking? I’ll tell you what it was. I was thinking of making my team happy. Trying to please everyone. Truth is you can’t please everyone especially when in a 48 hour film competition.

The last time it happened, our team was heckled and booed in shame. It was then, as well, I didn’t follow my gut.

We made the wrong film that year. We made the wrong film this weekend.

Period. Not that the film this year is bad, it’s not, it’s just not what it should be. And that’s disappointing.

Before ten pm I had written two comedic scripts. Neither idea was met with overwhelming enthusiasm. I understand they probably didn’t think the ideas were funny, but any filmmaker knows, funny doesn’t translate well on paper. It can’t show the shots, or expressions.

If I’m being honest I wasn’t thrilled about ANY idea I came up with, but I am blessed with a  knack that once on set I can make anything funny.

In previous years no one saw the script until I sent it out, nor did they know my ideas. I should have said what I have said in previous years, “This is what we are doing. I understand you don’t like it or feel it, but can you bring the performance, if not … I’ll get someone else.”

Instead, I wrote a third script. A serious theme. I know that’s what they wanted. But newsflash, I do comedy best. Funny books, funny movies. I don’t do serious well. Last year was a fluke.

The story I wrote was good, but it needed more time and attention than a 48 hour shoot can give.

Maybe I should have offered up those other two scripts to another team. They were done before I bet anyone else had written anything.

But okay, we’re doing 'serious'. Everyone was happy. That was sign one.

Sign two … we got a very late start because of traffic and the loud landscapers. It then took 35 minutes to set a camera (Wasn’t mine), and I couldn’t get the first shot I wanted because the area was too narrow for a tripod, actors, the camera man and boom person. The black magic was  far too heavy and big to be handheld.

Right there, when 90 minutes post start time had passed and I hadn’t called ‘action’, I should have scrapped it and did comedy.

Lighten the mood. But we trudged ahead. Each change of scene requiring yet another 35 minute delay to set the camera. Unknown to my team (Now they do) I timed it. Three hours and thirty-four minutes were spent adjusting camera settings.

Ya know … many make fun of my Canons G30s, both of which east cost me over 1200 brand new. But never once have they taken 35 minutes to set up, never once were they too big or heavy to get the craziest shot, and never once did they deliver a bad, blurry or dark shot. If the shot was bad it was on me.

This year though ….Although EVERYONE worked hard, if it hadn’t been for the superior performance of my cast, I probably wouldn’t have submitted the film.

It was plagued with eighty percent useless footage and audio that … hell, I don’t know what happened.

I blame myself for everything technical.

I should have taken the headphones and listened to the audio.  I should have trusted my eyes instead of the camera’s display, I should have double checked and triple checked the camera person after I yelled ‘action’. It’s not the cameraman or the audio person's fault. It was me.

I’m the team leader.

See, that’s issue with it.

A leader is supposed to consider what’s best to represent the team, not always what makes everyone happy.

If the president’s administration convinces to make a decision and it turns out great, then the entire administration is smiled upon. But if the decision turns out bad, everyone blames the president, because ultimately it’s his final decision.

Same goes with team film making.

If I relent to the wishes of a team member and it turns out good, then the team looks brilliant. If I relent and the project falls … no one remembers the team players, they look at the leader and say ‘what was she thinking’

And the cast and crew will watch it and be polite, then say, “well … maybe if this or that …”

Whatever.

Again, let me reiterate, the CAST saved the film. I can watch the film a hundred times, they can watch it a hundred times, it won’t make it any better.

They worked hard and they are given something far less than they expected.

And to be honest, I really don’t want to hear about the mistakes in the film. I wanted them to have something they could be proud of not embarrassed by.

I’m tired, I lost three days or writing and I am pissed at myself for not standing my ground and following my gut and doing what I as a filmmaker do best.

I don’t do this for awards, I do this to entertain. I don’t do this for others to acknowledge me as a filmmaker and say ‘wow, what a brilliant emotional film.’ I wanna hear, “Oh my god, I couldn’t stop laughing.’

That is an award to me and NEVER have I felt this way after turning in a funny movie, production mistakes or not.

Granted I will pick myself up and make another movie. A funny one. We will laugh during production and post. It may not look like Breathe did, but I can promise …. People will smile. They’ll laugh and in this day and age that is so important.

For now, I step off my soapbox, tuck away this year’s 48 as yet, another learning experience, I thought I was done having at this point in my career.

 

Racing with the 48 Hour Film Project

 

My fifteenth year.

This year will mark the Crystal anniversary of my participation in the 48 Hour Film Project. One would have thought I’d given up by now. I thought about it, but 48HFP is as much of a yearly addiction for me as pickle juice, bourbon and HoHos during the National Novel Writing Month.

I remember in 2018, a young cameraman posted he was looking for a team. After a lengthy FB message exchange over days (Him interviewing me BTW), and a few days of him ghosting me, he declined because he wanted to work with a serious team.

Wait. What?

Ironically that ended up being the year we lost all our footage and the 48 became the 24 when we had to do a second movie.

Anyhow … that exchange and, of course, coming up on a milestone, got me to thinking.

I took the 48 HFP very seriously, however, I realized, no one really took me seriously. At least it seemed that way to me.

Why?

Because for 11 out of fourteen years, we made the audience laugh. Then again, it could have something to do with the one year we tried to be serious and dropped the ball. We were literally booed, heckled and publicly humiliated on social media.

It was so bad, I thought of never doing 48 again. Even though the producer shut that sh*t down, the damage was done.

If that sort of behavior is that of ‘serious’ teams, well, then, I’d rather not be serious. That behavior isn’t what 48 is about.

It’s about making the impossible possible, and yes, at the expense of cutting corners.

My mindset has always been I was going to make a movie that people remembered and do something new. I never go into competition with the mindset I’m entering to win. Maybe that’s why I never won ‘Best Film’. But I have won because I finished the project every year.

I was late one time and it wasn’t because the film wasn’t finished, it was because I sat on the Liberty Bridge for 35 minutes because The Dark Knight Production shut it down. For the record, I refused to see that movie … ever. Yeah, I’m still bitter.

So on this eve of my fifteenth, which is just days away, I thought I’d reflect on  a few things and asked myself if I had to name the three biggest mistakes I have made, what would they be? I came up with these.

 

ONE - SKELETON IDEAS

Technically, thinking of things isn’t really rule-breaking, I mean, how do you stop the creative mind from blasting out an occasional, “Dude, if we pull this, we should do …’ But one of the things I have seen teams come up with a skeleton idea. That is an idea that can be molded in any genre and the character/prop/line can be dropped in. (BTW most of us can spot this within 45 seconds of your film) Anyhow in 2008, I was brought on as a writer for a team. The team wanted one writer … cool. But that wasn’t the case. They needed someone to pen the script.

They had multitudes of meetings beforehand to discuss "ideas", things that could fit multiple genres. When the time came, they told me what to write. I brought up the ethic of it, and they didn’t see it as cheating as long as the ‘script wasn’t written’. We didn’t win anything that year. It made sense to me. Anyhow, the problem with these type of ideas is you get so pigeon holed into doing it, you force it to work a genre and the other required elements. Plus, seriously, it really takes away from the fun and in my opinion … is cheating.

ONE B – SKELETON LOCATION

The same can be said for locations. Find several and don’t set your sights on one really cool location. You end up forcing the story to fit the location. The audience sees and feels that.

TOO AMBITIOUS

We all have visions of grandeur when it comes to our films. But when you only have a limited time, that can be a hinder. Look at your idea … is it ambitious. Will it take too much post production time and side work. One year I spent sixteen hours in post in one position doing special effects. We won special effects, but still …. Erg.

 There are some genres you don’t have a choice, like Musical and Science Fiction. They require those extra steps. But keep it simple and remember this advice, it was the best advice I have ever gotten, ‘Write for the shoot and shoot for the edit’.

LEARN YOUR STUFF

It took me until 2012 to learn this, but as a team leader there should be no aspect of filming you don’t know or can’t do. Writing, filming, editing, music … you, as a leader should be able to do any role required. Even if you don’t do it well, you need to know it.  You never know. The editor may walk out, your sound may be crappy and you don’t’ have countless hours trying to find the best royalty free music selection, because let’s face it … music sets the tone.

I learned this the hard way when I discovered our 2011 editor was editing for another team as well and did theirs first. Yes, he finished ours on time but it was unnerving and came down to the last minute. Never again, I said. Even if I had to use Windows Movie Maker, I’d make sure our film was done hours before drop off.

LASTLY … COMEDY

I know I said three, but this isn’t a mistake I made. It’s what I have done right. I have heard way too many people say, ‘Try not to do comedy’. So let me say this, there is nothing wrong with making a funny film. Again, I repeated. NOTHING WRONG WITH FUNNY. Despite what people say.

Comedy doesn’t win? Bull. Over half the winning films I have seen were comedies and did you know a 48HFP comedy won an award at CANNES in 2016. Not to mention, on set and in post you continuously laugh. I have never had a freak out moment or anxiety when filming comedy.

The ability to make people laugh takes as much talent, if not more, as it does to make them cry or think. It’s a craft and an art and to hear the audience laugh is an amazing reward.

After all these years, I learned … that people remember the things that made them laugh.

If you are participating this year, be safe, good luck … and most of all … have fun. It’s not about winning it’s about making a film.