48 Hours of Insanity (and Filmmaking)

48 Hour Film
(courtesy 48hourfilm.com)

It's that time again folks, 48 Hour Film Project time. Every year around the middle of May, the young and old, the new and seasoned, the crazy and crazier make their way around Seattle to write, shoot, edit, score, and hand off their own film, all within 48 hours. Seattle holds its project this weekend so don't be alarmed to see locals running around, video camera in hand, frantically attempting to get that perfect shot.

Each team of as little as one person has exactly 48 hours--from 7 p.m. Friday to 7:30 p.m. Sunday--to complete a film. It has to be at least four but no more than seven minutes, not including the credits. All creativity has to take place within that 48-hour period, with no stock footage or pre-written dialogue or storyline.

The real challenge comes with the required elements. Each one must be created in a specified genre and include a character, prop, and line of dialogue provided at the beginning of the 48-hour period. These elements vary by teams, so you never know what you'll get. You can take a look at past national entries for an idea of what insanity they've gotten themselves into.

Team Gefilte Fish Eye, Tel Aviv (courtesy stillindie.com)

The 48 Hour Film Project isn't just a Seattle event. It was begun in Washington D.C. in 2001 by Mark Ruppert and Liz Langston and has grown exponentially since then. 

According to the national 48 Hour site, "in 2009 nearly 40,000 filmmakers made 3,000 films in 76 cities." And this year it's even bigger with 88 cities participating in over 20 countries. Different cities produce the competition at different times of the year, but they all follow the same simple rules. 

Krk Nordenstrom has headed up the event in Seattle since its inception in 2005. Apparently participation is a little lower this year, but he hopes that will turn around closer to the actual event.

For those of you interested in taking part, you can still register. The cutoff is at 10 a.m. this Friday May 14, the start date of the competition. All you really need is a video camera, some kind of editing software, and the drive to make it through 48 hours of filmmaking. Having participated in the competition a couple times, I can honestly say there's never a dull moment.

For those of you interested in seeing the end results of this madcap weekend, you don't have to participate to get tickets to the screenings. There are four groups of participating teams and each has their own screening time at the Harvard Exit on May 18 or 19. Non-participants are highly encouraged to attend; local film needs more fans.