This is late, but as a general rule it’s under a week old and I still consider it still relevant. Anyway it’s not like I’ve had a choice; barring a much needed fourteen hour sleep last night, I haven’t really had the opportunity to type up my scrawl of notes.

This time last week I was half drunk and in the middle of transforming myself into a Vietnamese hooker. It was part the military themed party I was throwing for my best mate that punctuated the Film Dash event. Film Dash being a 48 hour filmmaking challenge which me Rill and Pete entered.

I’ve got to say at this point that the Film Dash didn’t, to me, feel like that much of difference to my schedule of meal dashes, work dashes, and sleep dashes that seem to make up my life at the moment. The event itself blindsided me – I knew it was coming soonish, and I knew that as my girlfriend’s chief problem solver/nervous breakdown consultant I inevitably would be assisting.

So Film Dash only really began for me on Friday, I was enjoying cold beer and comics in the bath when the bliss was shredded by Rill bustling into the bathroom*. Now either she was talking to quickly or I was listening to slowly because I didn’t really catch what she said. It was something like;
“iwenttothethingandgottheassignmentimetlaodsofpeoplebutthenhadtostandupandtalktoloadsofpeoplebutitwascoolpetescomingroundinanhourimnotsurewhatweshoulddo”. It seemed the stress that normally takes a few weeks to accumulate had come at the same pace of the challenge. It’s worth noting here that perhaps I’m not being totally fair to Rill, she’s not the massive stress case I have so far painted her as. Rill is an extremely talented film maker and editor who happens to have very high standards, this sometimes causes her to obsess slightly with whatever project she works on.

So using the same soothing voice I would use on a violent and scared guinea pig I calmly to her that everything was ok and we will sort something out when Pete arrives. And sort something out we did, after a few abandoned ideas and thematic discussions we arrange plot, mood and more importantly the tight schedule, which in it self was pretty standard; Fri – planning, Sat – shooting, Sun morn – pick up shots, Sun afternoon – editing. Well pretty standard with the addition of Sat night – Fancy dress party, getting plastered. And as painful as that sounds that’s what we did.

I’m quite proud of how easily the team worked together. The allocation of responsibility went like this;

Rill – Director, script writer, camera unit one, special effects, editing
Pete – Camera unit two, script writer, special effects, Thingamagoop wrangler, soundtrack
Me – Well not much really, I suppose all the inbetween bits, I kinda just mediated between Rill’s and Pete’s different aesthetics with one eye on the overall narrative, and being the guy that gave definite yes’s and no’s they were both being too polite.

Despite myself I had a lot of fun and am very proud of the resulting film. 48 hours is enough time to make something you’re happy with, without being too precious with your ideas. The time limit is a great leveler making the competition both accessible and competitive for experienced production companies, experimentalists and rank amateurs alike. Plus I think a lot of creativity comes from problem solving and the negotiation between ideals and reality. Which was certainly the case for us.

So without further adooing heres the film

*I never lock the door when having the bath because;
1. being drunk and nude in front of your mates is hilarious
2. I like to drink in the bath so I leave it open so people can pop in and check I haven’t passed out and drown or “done a Morrison”