48 Hours Review

Title screen from Destination Earth

Stacey wrote this review of the wrapup screenings of the 48 Hour film event for George and Joan (sorry you two, but this week's blog post is gonna be a repeat for you!). It is very comprehensive, and gives a more detailed look at the experience...

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So, I figured I would give you a wrap-up on the '48 Hours' film. I am trying to get Bill to update the blog, but he says he's on to other topics. (Editor's note: apparently not)

A total of 134 teams registered for the competition in Wellington.
97 teams finished their films on time to still be in the running. We were 10 minutes early!!

Our ticket to the Grand Finals screening at Embassy Theatre

After the deadline, there were a series of heats over the next 2 weeks. Each heat was to feature 10-11 films. So, a group of us went for dinner and went to see the films in our heat. Audience members vote for their top 3 films.

Destination Earth's Drone 492 (played by Jenni Sands)
and Drone 893 (Fraser Peat), delivering their clever opening lines

After the first three films, I was feeling pretty cocky because those films were not, IMHO, as good as ours. Then, came a "grindhouse" genre film. It was turned in late, so it was out of contention. But they still showed it. It was really good, and if it had been in contention I think it would have gone to the finals. The next film was an action/drama which featured one of the actors from the short film I worked on. Thanks mostly to his performance, I thought it was extremely compelling. Then, came an entry in the "unnecessary sequel" category--"March of the Sheep." It was pretty funny since it featured humans dressed up in fluffy sheep costumes walking around the country and then into town. Although it was a great concept, I felt it was a bit one-note. Of course, the audience LOVED it.

Drone 893's alien: some great makeup
work by our team

Unfortunately, our film screened right after that one. UGH! If we had only screened earlier. The one thing we noticed is that our film "Destination Earth" was extremely fast-paced. It was definitely paced for the MTV generation. All of the other films had a more leisurely feel to them. I felt that some of our shots could have been held a 'beat' longer to be sure people got the joke. But, it got a good audience reaction and we were extremely pleased. We felt a little cheated since we only got to see 7 films in our heat. Evidently, there were several teams which did not finish their films (the organizers assign the heats during the first registration).

We were happy to hear a week later that we came in 2nd in the audience award in our heat--naturally, the sheep beat us. Damn sheep! >-(

Several of us bought tickets to the finals which were being held at the biggest theatre in town--the one where they had the premiere of "LOTR: Return of the King." Tickets were somewhat pricey. And, we did not know which films had made the finals when we bought tickets. I did not think we would make the finals which is top 12. Unfortunately, I was right and we did not make the cut. Of course, those crappy sheep made it! The evening was kind of chaotic. The theater holds at least 500 people, and they did not reserve seats. And, of course, it was completely sold out. It was a huge mob scene, but Bill and I ended up in the front row where I wanted. We were able to find some of our other team members and say hello.

I have to say that I had really high expectations for the finals after seeing several good films in our heat. But, I was a bit under whelmed. I felt that some of the films had great concepts that went on a bit too long. Or, some started strong, but kind of petered out. Three films in the "grindhouse" genre made the finals. And, in my opinion, none was better than the disqualified film we saw at our heat. There were a few really good films. [Note: every film had to include rope as a prop.]

One film which was quite creative was a pseudo-German instructional film called "World of Rope." I cannot really describe the film other than it was somewhat bizarre and very funny. All the actors had faux-German accents. Another which I thought was clever was in the "unnecessary sequel" category. It was an action film where they showed clips from the "original" film where a buff action star defeated the bad guys, but was killed at the end. In the sequel, he shows up at his house extremely out of shape (a different actor) with a giant scar around his throat. Anyway, he has to battle the brother of the guy he defeated in the first film, etc.

I was feeling a bit ho-hum about the evening. Especially since technical problems caused a 40 minute delay in the middle of the program. But, then the final film screened. It was a musical--shot as a music video. With 3 or 4 different songs and actors who could really sing and a very diverse cast. I turned to Bill when it was over and said "that's the best film of the night." He agreed.

One of the graphics screens for Destination Earth;
Yes, cooties does appear on the disease list

Then, they started announcing the nominations in all the categories. We were EXTREMELY excited to learn that "Destination Earth" was nominated for best makeup and best script! We didn't win--films that made the finals won, but they did show two small clips from our film (including some of Bill's graphics!). That was unexpected and a nice treat.

Stacey's cameo! In this scene, Drone 893 orders
a martini...on the rocks

The "World of Rope" movie was the runner up. But, we were disappointed that the musical did not win. One of the "grindhouse" films won. This was not really a surprsise since it had won many of the key awards such as actor, actress, and cinematography.

Although (as usual) I didn't entirely agree with the opinion of the judges, it was cool that we got some nominations. And, I was especially happy that our script was recognized. I really thought it was sharp. The writing team was amazing. And, the couple who founded the team was so stoked about the nominations because to them it meant that we were probably close to making the finals. Almost all of the nominees were from the 12 films we had seen that night, so it seems to make sense.