“The Sleeping Plot” by Traces of Nut – Crime Movie Winner of last year’s 48HOURS on Vimeo.
From 7pm tonight until Sunday evening hundreds of film teams will rush around in their quest to film and produce short films within 48 hours.
The competition that attracts experienced film-makers as well as budding students is in its 12th year.
This year it comes with something all teams always desperately want more of – time.
Thanks to daylight saving coming to an end, teams will get an extra hour to get to the finishing line, and when every minute counts, that extra hour might make the difference.
The aspiring film-makers will not only get to see their film on the big screen but stand to win big prizes.
And with Peter Jackson again picking his wildcards for direct entry to the Grand National Final, teams will have an extra incentive to show their skills.
Stuff.co.nz will follow eight teams on their quest to win the competition. They will live tweet the fun they have, the disasters they face and will share all the excitement of their 48 hours of furious film-making.
Make sure to check back over the weekend to see what they’re up to.
But first we have asked them to introduce themselves.
Electric Shoelace @JaimeePoipoi – Invercargill
We are a bunch of friends who met in 2011 at the Southern Institute of Technology in Invercargill, doing a bachelor of digital media.
We’re a group of film-makers and animators who’ve formed a collective called Electric Shoelace Productions to do what we love … make awesome films! We have had experiences on several feature and short films, television shows, music videos and many corporate events. This is our fourth year doing 48Hours and we’ve been lucky to be regional winners in 2012 and regional runner-up in 2013.
Keep an eye out for us, good luck to all the other teams and hope you enjoy our film.
PickleThug @CalvinSang – Auckland
We’ve grown up with the competition since we were 11, so it’s pretty great coming back year after year, watching how ourselves and other teams have progressed.
We’ve been entering since 2006, and managed to get to the city finals a couple of times and pick up a few other awards over the years. I’d like to say we’re pretty dynamic in the different kind of genres we work in – and you have to be for 48Hours. Throw anything at us. Except horror. We don’t want to get that a third time. A bit split on musical – it sounds like it could be fun, but at the same time it’s scary as hell.
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Half Shell @brendonudy – Auckland
The Half Shell team has been together since 2010, making 2014 our fifth straight year entering the competition. In that time we have seen our numbers swell as high as 25, and drop as low as 10, but the core crew has remained.
We’re a mix of passionate industry professionals and amateurs, with a commitment to telling character-driven stories with a high concept element.
For us, 48Hours has never really been about winning awards, but more about competing with your peers and earning recognition for the hard work and perseverance you put in over that one gruelling weekend. At the end of the day, you have to do it for the love, and you absolutely have to have fun doing so.
TWMHT Studios @TWMHTStudios – Wanganui
We are a team who are tougher than a $2 steak and craftier than MacGyver, the following people gorgeously craft TWMHT Studios with their incredibly good looks: Michael Young: Our resident Ginger Ninja who will be gracing your screens with his directing brilliance. Nathan Brown: Our gentle giant who will stop at nothing to achieve crystal-clear audio in the name of audiophiles worldwide. Brad Fisher: Our hair-colour confused cameraman who will go to hell and back to get the perfect shot. Steph Reynolds: Our newly inducted Jafa who may be short in size, but can act like the queen of the world. Tangi Gardiner: Our crazy jiggly-puff actress who can fill any acting role you can imagine.
This is our first time competing in the 48Hours competition, it won’t be our last, bring it on.
Les Cousins Dangereux @garretthulse – Christchurch
We are Les Cousins Dangereux. A group of determined 48ers, about to experience our second festival as a team.
The founding members consist of Garrett, the director, who has a keen eye for sweet-looking cinematography and works (maybe a little too closely) with Alex, the writer, who has been writing and acting for the 48 festival since 2010. Brydon, the musician, making the funky fresh beats, and finally, Chelsea, who plays Momma-Bear and producer, talking anyone who knows how to cook into contributing to the wannabe Kraft table at home base.
Last year, us cousins poured our blood, sweat and tears into creating Bourbon Legends. After a couple of BIG rendering problems, we raced to the finish line, and handed in our masterpiece with 15 minutes to spare. But we soon discovered a few glaring issues had been left in our film; namely a big blue banner saying “ERROR: COULD NOT STABALIZE” plastered over four of our masterful shots, and despite winning audience favourite (many predicting we would be in the city finals), we didn’t make the cut and quietly faded away.
All our work, all that time, all that shaving, was, seemingly for nothing … but this weekend, redemption is coming.
SnowForge @SnowForge – Hamilton
After holding it off several times, it was finally time to compete in the V48 Hour Film competition.
We assembled a team comprised completely of friends. We don’t have professional work experience in the industry but we all share a common goal; to create a short film that we can be proud of.
While we’re all in this to have fun there are also those of us that are in it to win it and second place won’t quite cut it.
There are those of us who wish to pursue a career in film-making and those who just simply like creating audio-visual content. No matter the standpoint we all wanted to do the V48 Hours to challenge ourselves and get our names out there, but most importantly to do what we enjoy, which is making films.
Dear Meryl @smayjay – Wellington
Ahoy! Dear Meryl is a new name in the 48Hours scene, made up of StarNow workmates. Some of our team have participated in the film-making competition before, and others are brand spanking new.
Our team name hails from the office mascot, a deer named Meryl (it’s not real, of course, though that would be kind of awesome).
We’re a pretty multitasking-type bunch of people, and working in the entertainment industry means a few of us have not-so-hidden acting talents.
We’ve been hurriedly doing our researching and preparing as much as we can, and are all pretty excited for the weekend.
Eh Team @iamdanbain – Christchurch
The Eh Team has existed in its current form for the last four years. It is made up of Christchurch based film, theatre and comedy professionals who, once a year, assemble into the Eh Team in order to make a 48 hour film. Then they disband and head back to their various personal projects, never to speak again until the next 48 hours.
We do 48 hours because we love film and stories and weird lo-fi jokes. And it’s good to have a motivator to make something. Historically we’ve done alright so we’re also in it for… uhh… internet fame And certificates. We love certificates.
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