The 48-hour Film Project: what say PFC?
Here’s another idea I suggested to oz, and he suggested I post it here and check out reader reactions.
2001 marked the debut year of the 48-Hour Film Project, “a crazy idea to try to make a film in 48 hours” brought up by Mark Ruppert and his filmmaking partner Liz Langston. Basically, the producers at the 48hr Film Project have a huge meeting on a friday evening around 7pm. In attendance are numerous teams which consists of filmmakers, actors, music dirs etc. Each team is assigned a genre, and they basically have to come up with a script WITH that genre in mind, cast it, shoot it, edit it, compose the music accordingly etc.. basically MAKE A FILM.. in ONLY 48hrs. From scratch to finish. And submit it by 7pm on sunday at the filmfest office. There are further catches to this…
- the film cannot exceed a certain length including credits (usually 7mins)
- a certain prop, character name, location, line etc must be used. Further details here.
Here is the rules page with more details.
[Image courtesy: www.48hourfilm.com]
My idea? With 2007 heading our way, how about we conjure up a PFC team in a certain city? Preferably the city where the most PFC members already exist. For the past 3yrs I’ve wanted to do this, but have either been busy around that time or haven’t had the right people/resources around me. But I have a good feeling we could put together a PFC team and give the veterans a run for their money. Yes, money. I do believe there are cash prizes, AND the winning teams’ movies get showcased at the national level, and get even more exposure, including distribution. More details on prizes here.
Furthermore, if anyone here has already participated in this, please provide your insights and experiences. I personally love the idea of traveling to another city (currently based in Washington DC) to make a film over a weekend in 48hrs and get a chance to actually work with PFC members.
With all the creative minds that make up PFC, this would be a hell of a way to kick off a PFC production. Worst case scenario, we have fun the entire weekend making a movie together, and put it up right here on PFC 
What say PFC?
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Lets pool in talent and resources. I offer free of cost writing and direction, everybody start laying down their part in the film if interested.
The first vote is from OM…He is all in.
Errr..i guess i was second..Hey..as we have a huge “base” in India..lets make two teams from PFC…PFC-India, and PFC-Rest Of the World…what say?
great thought, striker.
even I am willing to pool in 3-4 scripts that I have ready with me, you guys can pick any that you like. these are basically meant for 10-15 mins short films.
being in bangalore, thats the only way i can contribute.
and anyways, PFC is our common ‘adda’, so it never really makes me feel like we are so far!
OM, great suggestion. unfortunately, currently, the 48HFP has not been established in india. here are the list of cities they would like to expand to:
http://www.48hourfilm.com/comingsoon/
i highly suggest mumbai, being a filmmaking giant, take part in this. this would require someone from mumbai taking charge as a producer and bring this competition to india. if we can get a PFC team together in LA or NY (or whichever city has the most PFC members), we can get PFC members in india to provide creative input every step of the way thru phone calls or webcam-conferences in the scripting/pre-production stage. this would be difficult to handle in the production stage however (alternatives?)
tushar, unfortunately pre-written scripts don’t qualify. the script would have to be written on the very day that the team is assigned the genre. it’s a 48-hr film in every sense.. even writing it. that’s part of the excitement
but like i said earlier, you can definitely come in on the creative end thru conference calls or webcam chats. heck, if you feel like flying out here to join the team, all the more power to you! 
>-
from those who have participated, i’ve heard it’s quite the adrenaline rush.. they stay up the entire night on friday writing the script and trying to find locations. the next morning, they start shooting, sometimes thru the night on saturday, and spend sat nite/sunday morning/afternoon editing it. you literally have to find your cast/crew at the last minute, if you don’t have some on your team already. and this project, from what i’ve heard, usually ends up making coffee your best friend @-)
Hmm…Interesting idea… but are you guys aware of a similar programme which has taken place in India, and being curated by none other than Dev Benegal (English August). Believe me, its fun and challeging too to make a film within 24 hrs. You can check out their website at http://www.24×7makingmovies.com . U can get some more ideas frm there.
I’ve gathered some prizes from them; like a Panasonic DVX100 minidv cam.
striker, ya i just went through the rules page of the compett. we ll sure be there thru whatever legally allowed way we can
or as they say, hamaari duaaen tumhaare saath hain!
wow, the whole concept sounds so cool, and should also help in makin a great team thru all those ‘jaagrans’. heck! even if the end product is not great, u r bound to have a great team out of the experience \:d/
I’m definitely up for it if done in Los Angeles. I am a producer and editor, so I can take care of line-producing and post production. I have access to a professional grade edit facility, and sound libraries for post sound. This is my adda, so anything you need, you will get. Provided of course, that the script is phenomenal.
ali, thx for pointing that out.. yes, forgot to mention that. had in fact met with sopan muller about it earlier this year. for filmmakers in mumbai, also check out www.tropicfilm.com
- Excellent – Let me keep tabs on the comments section for this post and I’ll bring all the pieces in together to plan something out with all of you…
vijay, you can help with the script too.. therein lies the beauty of this project :D nobody is restricted to just one role..
of course i’ll provide my acting talents [or lack thereof
)] since i’m primarily an actor, but having served as a lightboy, production assistant, cameraman, asst. director, gaffer, and writer, i’m willing to help in each and every department that requires it. i love almost all aspects of filmmaking (i suck at make-up, so i’ll stay away from that).
count me in for LA (and NY) too. just gotta keep a lookout for their 2007 dates (may be in june sometime).. oz and i will start up a list with the names we get.
i hope you guys do end up taking a part in this event cos it does sound interesting.
i think, only PFC members in America will be able to be a part of the team; it’s not feasible for people living in India or other part of world to participate…
so you ‘umricans’ do not leave it late.. get working!
aayushmaan bhava!
pardes mein des ka naam rosan karenge babua!
I’m happy to volunteer in NY. Sounds like a great idea. Ideally I’d like to help with the idea generation/writing and the directing. I’d happily assist Suparn
I also have FCP which we can use to capture/edit etc.
all the best to guys who are americans !!! :((
do let me know if any help is needed….
@ Kartik..send in a few of your awesome scripts that you have written and they sitting in your drawer…they are fantastic…send them over else…:-t
Count me in. I am late to the party, but I do line production, PA, etc. I will be glad to be part of the crew, and more than glad to travel to New York if that works for the best. I love New York!!!!
OM .. wld love to do that …
sadly .. the problem is that u have to do the scripting too… in the 48 hours. In other words prewritten scripts are not acceptable …
Right striker ????
yup, u got it kartik.. no prewritten scripts qualify for the 48HFP
All the PFC members in India…
Could we arrange something like this in India…I am sure we can plan to make a short film together.
I am willing to come to any part of city for this…lets plan out…I am sure we can do it.
And make something we can be proud of.
The 2007 Tour dates will be announced in February. For ppl in CA, we have 48hr project coming to LA, SFO, San Diego and Vegas. We can take part in all of ‘em.
awesome saurabh.. thx for the info.. i myself am planning to come for the LA contest if we can get a team together..