The 48 Hour Film Project brings together aspiring filmmakers for a high-stress battle to see who can pull off the best 5-7 minute short film in — what else? — 48 hours. Teams are randomly assigned a genre, prop, character name and line of dialogue on a Friday night, and then have to scramble all weekend to write a script, costume the actors, rehearse, shoot, edit, score and deliver a movie for exhibition by Sunday evening — all basically from scratch.
The Project takes place in dozens of cities around the world, with the Tampa/St. Petersburg victor nabbing a trophy, a screening slot for their movie at Filmapalooza (the annual grand finale event for the contest, held at the Chinese Theaters in Hollywood), and a free copy of script-writing software Movie Magic Screenwriter 6. As a special bonus, 10 of the best films from the 2013 Tour will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival's Short Film Corner in 2014.
The actual filmmaking was completed from July 26-28, and all that's left for the teams is the spectacle of a public screening and the soaking up of fanboy adulation. Screenings will take place on Wed., July 31 and Thurs., Aug 1 at the Muvico Centro Ybor in Ybor City, with Screening A at 7 p.m., July 31, Screening B 7 p.m., Aug.1 and Screening C taking place at 9:30 p.m., Aug. 1. Tickets are $12 per screening and can be purchased here. Don't sleep on getting tickets, as the organizers expect a sellout the day of the show. (Last year's events sold out as well.)
Full disclosure: I participated in this year's 48 Film Project, helping a friend do the music for one of the teams. Though I was only a tiny part of the team (and only met the director and producer once for about 12 minutes), I must admit I can't wait to see how it all came together, not only for our team but for all the other talented filmmakers as well. I will be at the event on Aug. 1 (my team's flick will be shown during Screening B) and look forward to seeing my name up on the screen as my guitar wails on the soundtrack. I hope to see you there …
