Star Tribune: A 48-Hour Filming Frenzy

Deborah Caulfield Rybak, Star Tribune – Minneapolis/St.Paul

The tough-faced, denim-clad man stood in Dinkytown Wine & Spirits on Saturday afternoon, mumbling vaguely to himself in front of a Long Island Iced Tea display.  On his head was a pair of pantyhose, one leg dangling over his shoulder, the other trailing down his back.  In his hand, a gun hung loosely at his side.

“Hey, uh, Paul,” a voice called out.  “Let’s not have you walking around with a gun in a liquor store.”

Actor Paul Economon snapped out of his dialogue-rehearsing reverie.  Sheepishly realizing his folly, he quickly tucked the toy gun in his jean jacket pocket.

At Hour 20 of the 48 Hour Film Project, it’s easy to get a little spacey.

Though not all involved guns, scenes like this played out at dozens of venues around the Twin Cities are over the weekend.  Thirty-nine teams, encompassing hundreds of filmmakers, actors and aficionados, blew off sleep and any semblance of a normal life in a 48-hour race to create four-to seven-minute movies from scratch as part of this international filmmaking competition.  The entry judged best in the Twin Cities later this month will hit the film festival circuit, as well as compete with finalists from 30 other cities.  Last year’s local winner, “Stale Mate,” took third place internationally.

It’s not easy – last year only 10 of 23 Twin Cities teams finished.  You won’t find a Steven Spielberg or a Martin Scorsese competing in this cinematic meat grinder.  The 48 Hour Film Project is, however, where you may find their successors.

“A lot of people have movies ideas,” said Bobby Marsden, a producer at Sleepy Eye, a fledging local production company.  “This festival forces you to do what you’ve been talking about.”

RETURN ENGAGEMENT

For Sleepy Eye, which shot in and around Dinkytown WIne & Spirits in Minneapolis on Friday night and most of Saturday, the stakes were high.  Last year, its principals – Marsden, Andrew Hunt and Jason Lausche – had their movie written, filmed and edited, when a computer meltdown made them miss the deadline.

“It was devastating”, said Marsden, moments before the competition started Friday night.  “This year we’re more prepared.”

Marsden sipped a beer at The Independent restaurant in Calhoun Square, where the competition was about to begin.  Each team would pick a genre (comedy, romance, cop/detective and so on) from a hat.

“Ugh, mockumentary, they’re not going to be happy.” Marsden said moments later, then quickly phoned co-directors Hunt and Lausche to give them the news.  Although the genre has made millions for movies such as “Spinal Tap” and “Best in Show”, Marsden felt it didn’t work in a short format.

“Doing those interviews takes time away from the action.”

All teams were also given a character (D. Poe, runway model), a prop (balloon reading “Congratulations”) and a phrase (“Do you have a breath mint”) hat had to be in the final entries.

NO SCRIPT

By 8 p.m. Friday, Sleepy Eye was already shooting, even though they had no script (they planned to start writing that after midnight).

“Whatever can go wrong will!” Hunt said cheerily.  He and Lausche wanted to make use of their very special “prop,” the Paper Monster.  Often seen at concerts of the hippie-rap band WookieFoot, the costume, inhabited by its 6 feet 3 creator, performance artist Sean Doyle, looks like what would happen if Bigfoot were covered in hot glue, then plunged into a paper recycling bin.

Doyle changed into his costume (his dressing room: a space near a trash dumpster) and lumbered onto the set (i.e., the parking lot).

As liquor store patrons screamed and cheered and passing cars honked, Doyle the Paper Monster took several lurching, paper-losing jogs down the street over a nearby bridge.  He rusted so loudly that he couldn’t hear “Cut!” commanded and had to be physically stopped.

Logistics were tough.  Shooting was constantly interrupted by Dinkytown WIne and Spirits’ bustling Friday night business.  Still, the 15 member cast and crew remained infused with a giddy dark humor about the process.  Most of them were participants from the previous year.

“People say ‘You’re killing yourself, that’s suicide!’” said assistant director Ryan Wood, who directed his own film last year.  “Then they say, ‘Can I help?’”

Co-directors Hunt and Lausche spend most of the evening speaking in cinematic shorthand as they created their scriptless scenes.  “Awesome!” the bouncy Hunt enthused after every shot.  Lausche’s most-used phrase: “We’ll figure it out!”

GETTING CRISPY

By Saturday, Hunt was still cheerful, but not bouncing so high.  He, Marsden and Lausche spent the night writing a script, logging — all combined — about 90 minutes of sleep.  A mockumentary had emerged, featuring a liquor store robbery, hostages, humor and, well, the Paper Monster.

“What’s keeping me going?” joked Lausche.  “Fear and caffeine!”

With the big outdoor scenes completed the night before and a storyline in place, the shooting – now inside the store – began to resemble any other movie production: a lot of hurry up and wait as scenes are shot from a number of different angles.

Downstairs in the store’s basement, Sleepy Eye’s secret weapon toiled away.  Tucked among the cases of Miller and Busch Light, a computer screen glowed.  As soon as a tape was filled with footage, it was rushed to Scott Warder, dubbed “the editing troll.” He called the time saving “edit while you shoot” setup “really ingenuous.  We might actually get some sleep this weekend.”

RACE TO THE FINISH

Sunday was spent editing, scoring, color correcting and tweaking the final project, which now had a name: “Paper Hearts”

And at 6:30 p.m. Sunday – Hour 47 – it also had a place among this year’s finalist.  In fact, it was the sixth entry to be turned in.

All finalists’ films will be shown this week at the Riverview Theatre in Minneapolis.  The Twin Cities winner will be announced at the end of the month.

As the rest of the teams arrived back at The Independent, in various stages of sleep deprivation and dishevelment, Marsden, Hunt and Lausche laughed about their turn of events.  “Last year at this time, we were just crying,” Marsden said.

“This year, I think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done,” Hunt said.

Will they do it again?

Hunt was in.

Lausche hesitated.  “I’m thinking, ‘never again,’ but by next week that will change,” he said.

Marsden smiled.  “Next year, I’d like to say, ‘Gee, that would be fun, but we’re busy doing a feature film.’”