48 Hour Film Project

When TLB is napping, I pretty much live on Facebook. Yes, I know there are chores to be done, but I totally need to see what all my friends are up to RIGHT NOW, because I am absolutely incapable of picking up a phone and actually being in touch with people and having real, functioning relationships.

Anyway, over the weekend I received two separate invitations to one of the Jacksonville screenings of the 48 Hour Film Project. One was from a kid who was in my 8th grade technology class my first year teaching. The other was from a guy I know through the local community theater. To make a long story short, I had no plans that night, my husband would be working late, and my dad was available to watch TLB, so I figured I'd go.

(Notes to self:

1) Next time, don't buy tickets online. It's not like it's going to sell out, so it's not worth buying in advance and paying double your ticket price in online fees.

2) Next time, bring a friend. It would be more interesting having someone to talk to before the screening and at intermission, and it would be a lot safer having someone to walk back to the parking garage with at 10 pm. )

The 48 Hour Film Project itself is a really cool idea. At the kick-off event, which is held on a Friday night at 7 pm, each team is assigned a genre, and all teams are given a list of components that must be included in the film (this year they were: a character named Tony or Tina Daubert, who is a wine connoisseur; a line of dialogue - "I love a good challenge"; and use of a lamp as a prop). The teams then have 48 hours to complete their films (the only work that can be done in advance is essentially assembling the team and procuring the equipment), which they must turn in by 7:30 pm on Sunday.

So yeah, in theory, this is a really cool idea. But remember those video projects people did in high school? You'll be seeing a lot of this all over again. Some of the films weren't that bad. Some were actually edited well. In some of them, the sound didn't completely suck. Some even had legitimate actors. But for the most part, when a film would start, 30 seconds in I'd be waiting for it to turn into porn.

DISCLAIMER: I am, by no means, an authority on porn, but come on. Admit it. You know exactly what I'm talking about. The bad sound. The thin plot. The horrible acting. All some of these films needed were a bed and the "Lay That Pipe" soundtrack music.

As people entered the Florida Theater, they were given ballots to select the "audience favorite" film. Everybody was require to vote for THREE films -- so people could vote for their own films and then two others that they actually liked. At first, I started to automatically check off the two films I'd actually been invited there to view, but then the critic in me convinced me to actually watch the films and select my REAL favorites.

One of the films I chose was a musical. Anybody who knows me is thinking right now "Well, DUH!" but seriously. They had to make a MUSICAL. With music and lyrics and stuff. And it wasn't painful at all, fairly clever and somewhat compelling.

Another film I chose was a comedy. Oh, many of the films were comedic in one way or another (whether or not they were intended to be), but this one was actually in the comedy genre and I enjoyed it. Admittedly, I think "comedy" is probably one of the easiest genres to do, but the director chose a format really suited to the actors and it played out well. The only line that really sounded scripted was the obligatory "I love a good challenge."

The third film I chose WAS actually one of the ones I was invited to see, but I'm not going to say which one. It doesn't really matter, because I left in such a hurry so I could beat the traffic out of the parking garage (ha ha, joke's on me!) that I forgot to turn in my ballot. Sorry guys.