Ever wondered how long it takes to make a film? The answer is very variable, with most features taking between two and ten weeks to shoot, plus a long time in pre- and post-production. Short films can be made much more quickly, but even then, 48 hours is pushing it. But this is exactly what the 48 Hour Film project requires participants to do - and they don't even get to pick the genre!
With short films being shot in Hanoi, Melbourne and Toronto last weekend, the project came to Glasgow for the first time earlier in the month. Eye For Film's Jennie Kermode, Stuart Crawford and Donald Munro were among those taking part (in team Blue String Soup, named after the favourite food of the Clangers). It was an ill-fated team which lost both its editor and its sound technician, along with much of the equipment that had been promised to it, after its original producer inadvertently found herself in Belgium, but fortunately other filmmaking friends rallied round so that it was still possible to compete.
Participants in the 48 Hour Film Project register some time before but in order to make sure there's no advance preparation (apart from assembling the team), details are not revealed until the last minute. We drew a genre - detective/cop - from among 13. Teams feeling hopeless about their first choice could opt for a 'wild card' instead, but some of the options on that list were so tricky that we had promised each other beforehand we wouldn't touch it. We were reasonably happy with our selection - the challenge was to find a tight plot that hadn't already been covered in a TV crime programme.
In addition to the genre we were told to include a particular character (a cleaner called Norman or Norma McKenzie), a prop (a ring) and a line of dialogue ("Do I know you?"). From my perspective as scriptwriter (and stand-in producer) this was actually easier than being given a blank slate. The next couple of hours were spent bouncing ideas around before I went to work, and I had finished my script by 2am. In the meantime, suitable actors had been identified and confirmed, and the outside broadcast unit had been prepared as well as possible. I caught three hours' sleep before making sure they were ready to go, and they started filming shortly after dawn.
Because this was the first time the 48 Hour Film Project had visited Glasgow, we were asked to include a city landmark. We chose to use the long tunnel across the motorway to the SECC arena, as it is both distinctive and futuristic (which suited our plot, about a police officer whose memory of a traumatic incident is cleaned away). As it happened, another team started filming in the nearby car park just after we left. They were making a comedy called Late Nights, one of our favourites from the eventual selection.
We started preparation for the main indoor scenes at nine, before the OB unit got back. We were lucky to have an experienced set designer and props guy, Gordon Bavaird, available to help, and a back room we could convert. A double bed turned on one end served as a lighting rig, whilst old computer parts helped us build a striking looking machine whose compoenents few would recognise today. I sat in the hallway with actresses Lianna Clark and Katie Brown, who memorised lines and got to know each other over coffee and cigarettes. None of us had met before and I was glad that we were all able to make that connection (though this is ultimately part of a director's job) that enabled things to seem natural and comfortable as we worked together. It did help that we had a mascot in the form of house rabbit Murphy, who charmed everybody and managed not to chew anything important.
As cinematographer, Stuart really had his work cut out for him in small spaces with limited equipment. He had to work extremely quickly in the cafe scenes that came next, as our location was only available for a very short time. In the circumstances it probably wasn't the best time to be working with a small child, but young Connor was wonderful and gave us exactly what we needed on cue. Strictly speaking, nobody in the project is allowed to be paid, but I'll admit that we bribed him with a slice of pizza.
We had one more location to follow, where things went relatively smoothly, and then Stuart ran off on his own to get us a shot of a building with which we could open. Captured just as the sun was going down, it's a stunning piece and really sets the viewer up for a more polished film! We were lucky with our actors all round - Josy Shewell Brockway was necessarily blank in the leading role but Kirsty Hacking was a real find, the emotional centre of the film. Donald turned in a good physical performance and he was probably the one who suffered most for his art, getting kicked repeatedly during the course of the fight scenes. He was stiff and bruised for several days afterwards.
I was pleased to wrap by the end of the first day. 15% of participants in the project never submit films, and a common reason is that they assume they can film for two days, then edit at the last minute. In my experience that's not how editing works. Plus there needs to be time for rendering the finished product, and time has to be allowed for computer screw-ups. This is all the more important when working with an inexperienced editor. Stuart had done a little such work before but not much, so he was struggling, especially after coming off such a long shift doing other work. Still, because we had left that extra time, he was able to do a reasonable job.
The biggest problem for us was sound - our recorder was equipped for indoor work but not for shooting outside in 20mph winds, nor in a cafe by the side of a motorway. We had recorded the sound again but didn't have time to dub it into the edit. This left some scenes sounding very rough. We also had very little time to patch in music, so it only appeared at the start of the film, although Donald had composed much more.
Stuart wanted to do more polishing before we quit, but I wouldn't let him. Given that he had to run to submit the film, and did so with only nine minutes to spare, I'm confident that I made the right decision. One poor participant ran several miles from the south side of the city but was disqualified because he was one minute late.
The films were screened at the Glasgow Film Theatre over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week. Ours was in the final screening and we felt, overall, that it went down pretty well, getting a few cheers from people we didn't know despite being the grimmest piece on show (I was pleased we had captured that mood but it is much easier to charm an audience with comedy). Awards were handed out last night. We didn't win anything - the awards were shared between a handful of teams much better equipped than us - but we were pleased, in the circumstances, to have managed to turn in something people liked. We'll be polishing up the film and putting it on DVD with some of our other (more traditionally produced) short work.
What the project showed is that there is a huge amount of enthusiasm for filmmaking among both amateurs and professionals in an era when the process has never been more accessible. Overall I was impressed by the level of talent on display. Most films were strong in some areas and weak in others - some looked as if they'd been shot on phones by drunk people, yet had impressive central ideas and hit emotional notes well. Watching it, I found myself talent spotting, identifying writers I wanted to poach from one project, actors from another, and so on. The hope is that a lot of people will have been doing this and it will improve access for emerging talent in the industry.
The 48 Hour Film Project now takes place in several cities across the UK (and internationally). If this sounds like fun to you, why not get involved? Even if you've never made a film before, you may surprise yourself, and there's nothing like going in at the deep end!
You can view the trailer for Clean Slate here and find out more about it on Facebook.
