Posts Tagged ‘48 Hour Film Festival’

Remember “Sugarhook,” the short film I co-wrote/co-directed/co-produced with my team Mechanical Cow Productions for this year’s 48 Hour Film Festival? Want to see it on the (relatively larger than in your living room) screen again? For the first time? At a (admittedly small) film festival? Hell, son, your wish is my command. Or, more accurately, Theatre7′s command.

This Wednesday, Sept. 7, at downtown’s favorite (and only) cinema dedicated to 100 percent independent filmmaking, Theatre7 (1406 S. Third St.) will host the first of two nights of the Neon Reverb Film Festival, itself just a slice of the larger Neon Reverb Festival, which used to be just a weekend of rad live music, but is now a week-long celebration of theater, comedy, art, poetry and, yeah, music too. Starting at 7 p.m., the evening of film will include a series of music-themed shorts (including the aforementioned “Sugarhook”) leading up to the feature documentary, “Unauthorized: The Story of Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics.”

This is doubly exciting for me. First, it’s the first non-48 Hour festival in which “Sugarhook” is being screened, even if it is a small, local one. And secondly, I grew up reading “Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics.” The series, published by Revolutionary Comics, published unauthorized biographies of musicians and groups, and drew particular ire (and lawsuits) from such diverse acts as New Kids on the Block and Guns ‘N Roses. I still have (I believe) my copies of the Guns ‘N Roses issue (seventh printing, maybe?) and the Rolling Stones issue. The information I learned from reading the GNR bio helped me win a radio trivia contest once, so yeah, watching a doc about the publisher (and its owner’s murder!) is cool enough, but having my film open for it? Doubly rad.

Anyway, I know it’s kind-of short notice (long weekend and I just confirmed the date today), but if you have $7 and nothing better to do Wednesday night, join me at Theatre7 for some popcorn and rock ‘n’ roll (on DVD). It’ll be a blast.

The crazy thing about finishing up this past weekend’s 48 Hour Film Project — I mean, aside from the whole process — is that after barely meeting the deadline and turning in our film, I couldn’t just relax and celebrate. I had another deadline looming: An article documenting my film making experience for Vegas Seven.

I didn’t plan to do something like this. Arts & Entertainment Editor Cindi Reed saw me post on Twitter about entering the competition, and then asked me if I’d be interested in writing first-person about the experience. I offered to do a journal-style report. Unfortunately, there was no time throughout the weekend to actually keep a journal. So it ended up being something more like a retrospective account. But I think it’s pretty entertaining and indicative of the controlled chaos of the weekend. The art director at Seven made a really nice two-page spread, so if you can’t pick up a free print edition, check out the interactive digital edition.

Our film did have its premiere last night at the Century 16 Suncoast theaters, and it went pretty well. As well, the short film itself is posted online now. That video — along with photos from last night’s festivities and a lot of other content you might enjoy — is on the Mechanical Cow productions page. Like us, won’t you? You’ll thank me later.

Because lord knows I hate sleep and am a glutton for punishment, instead of taking a breather as I have a little downtime between projects, I’ve decided to fill the time by engaging in another creative endeavor. But with this one, I need your help!

I’ve formed a team to create a short film for this year’s 48 Hour Film Project, which kicks off Friday, April 8 and is due Sunday, April 10. Yes. 48 hours. Basically, we get a genre, a line of dialog, a character and a prop at 7 p.m. on Friday and have to turn in a finished film of less than seven minutes by 7 p.m. Sunday.

Our team, Mechanical Cow Productions, consists of two producer/writer/directors (myself and Troy Heard) and one co-director/writer/cinematographer (Daniel Lowber), so we definitely have some crew gaps. We could really use not only someone good with film sound, but someone with access to a sound kit. A decent editor would be nice, too, though one or more of us can probably handle that. As well, I’ll likely be doing the score for the film, given my semi-musical background.

And, of course, we’ll need actors, random gofers, and potential locations. We basically will have half a day to write, a day to shoot, and a day to do post-production (editing, scoring, sound design, effects), so if you are available next weekend and have a desire to be involved in a crazy, fun film-making project that pays nothing (outside of food and drink) but will be a great experience (we hope), drop me a message. Or come to one of the mixers this week listed on the Las Vegas 48 HFP microsite.

Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled for updates on the film’s progress, screenings and other stuff.