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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

4K Challenge - 72hr RED Film Competition

Strange, but serious question...

Can we submit more than one film entry?
We have two camera crews and two scripts with the same locations, we may just be able to make it happen. Of course, that would possibly split votes between entries, making it harder for us to win. ;)
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Strange, but serious question...

Can we submit more than one film entry?
We have two camera crews and two scripts with the same locations, we may just be able to make it happen. Of course, that would possibly split votes between entries, making it harder for us to win. ;)
Click to expand...

I say, why not? Go for it. Just understand that only one script will win a prize since the two teams did not separately register.
Can't wait to see what you guys come up with!
 
Dominique Grenier said:
hahem.... maybe I'm just too tired, but I can't seem to find how to upload the movie on www.vuze.com.

Not that we're ready, but I'd like to know before hand...
Click to expand...

1. Download the Vuze app from www.Vuze.com and install for Mac or PC.
2. Create an account, and confirm via email.
3. Launch the app and click on the publish menu option.
4. Continue to follow the easy to follow publishing procedure.

It's really very simple. Good luck with your movie!
 
mikeburton said:
I say, why not? Go for it. Just understand that only one script will win a prize since the two teams did not separately register.
Can't wait to see what you guys come up with!
Click to expand...

Well... Best laid plans and all that... Long story short, we had some setbacks with locations and most of our actors no-showed. So, after not starting to shoot our first location until after 6:00PM on friday, wrapping that location at midnight, grabbing a full night's sleep, starting our second location at 11:00AM the next morning, final location at 3:30PM, wrap there at 5:00... The 5 minute maximum seems like a lofty goal at this point. Is it alright if we just turn in a PSA or something?

Any consolation prize for biggest flop? :biggrin:

Script: Yep, we had two of those, picked the more challenging one.
DoP: Handled by committee
Gaffer: Community effort
Cast: The crew
Crew: The cast
Directed by: Alan Smithee
Sound technician: WTF? He didn't show up either...
Boom operator: we had a couple of those, damn good ones too.
DIT: Who wants to offload that card?
AC: Sure, you can plug in over there...

Total budget: $18 for an automated parking attendant and a couple bottles of water.

Total run time: 2 minutes, if we're lucky.

And I'd do it all again. It was a lot of fun. I don't do narrative cinema, but once every year or two. And no budget, no talent short films are always a blast. All I can say is that we should've tried to make a comedy from the start... Because that's what we're going to have by the time the edit is finished.

Or maybe it's a horror film...
535_1232270464.jpg


Or maybe something else entirely...
535_1232270503.jpg


These are not final color graded... In fact they're not graded at all and I'm not sure I'm going to. That's Mr. Smithee's call and I think he just quit.
 
Wow Jeff! Sounds like you guys were tested in every way imaginable. Don't worry about length Jeff. It doesn't have to be 5 minutes long, just up to 5 minutes. Turn in whatever you have tomorrow morning, take a deep breath and enjoy what you were able to accomplish. This entire competition was about having fun and pushing ourselves as filmmakers, storytellers and at the end of the day actually making a film.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with! Any other stories anyone wants to tell about their experience so far?
 
Well, ours went well I guess, turns out to be a 16 hours day (coupled with our 4 hours nights of the last 3 days, baby at home, we we're pretty tired at the end). I think we went with a bit too much ambitious script, hopefully things will fall in place and it will be understandable. That is my biggest fear, really. What's worst than doing a movie, with a punch, that just fell flat, and nobody gets it. Even worst if its supposed to be funny and nobody laugh. Oh well. Actually I'm not really concerned about the competition, since I was doing it just for fun in the first place. I'm more worried to pay justice to the hard work and the long hours that everybody put in this movie. Anyway, we'll see tomorrow.

Also, we had a couple issues with our RED that got me worried, but I think we didn't loose anything worthwhile.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Well... Best laid plans and all that... Long story short, we had some setbacks with locations and most of our actors no-showed. So, after not starting to shoot our first location until after 6:00PM on friday, wrapping that location at midnight, grabbing a full night's sleep, starting our second location at 11:00AM the next morning, final location at 3:30PM, wrap there at 5:00... The 5 minute maximum seems like a lofty goal at this point. Is it alright if we just turn in a PSA or something?
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that Jeff. So, you went from two locations, two crews and two scripts to almost nothing? That's really too bad. I really hate it when people are not true to their word (is that the expression?), and let you down. That is not even unprofessional, this is not respectful.

On our side, we were really lucky, people actually *asked* to work on this project. Not because of me or the script, but because of the RED. To my knowledge, it was the first narrative shoot in our city done by a local crew. And we have a culture here of doing voluntary work on project like this, both on the crew and cast side. For most, this is the only way of getting experience, and since we're not many, once there's paid jobs, people usually remember you. Also, a local rental house agreed to rent us equipement for free, so that helped a lot.

Overall, we managed to get this all for $100, including insurance and food (food is the biggest part, actually).

Alright, back to work, that thing is still not edited. And I have to make subtitles too. Oh well...
 
Hahaa... It wasn't that bad, Dominique. When we actually showed up at the first location, there was a scheduling issue that kept us from getting in there for setting up for a couple hours. We sorted out many issues in that down-time, as in who was playing what role because some of the girls we had scheduled to come in were all washing their hair or something.

Sound tech was a different story. I had one scheduled way back, he canceled early, I found another, he canceled last monday. Other camera crew was going to bring a guy, he couldn't make it.

Biggest issues were location issues, so we made terribly inefficient use of our time for the first two days. We shot scenes in a bar yesterday afternoon, right in the middle of the general public crowd. Surprisingly, the dialogue is useable.

I can't fault anyone who showed up. Everyone did their job and many other jobs as needed. Everyone who participated was amazing. Looking back on it, our script was probably too complex, given the circumstances. It's coming together in the editing, but my biggest fear is that it's going to be a little hard to keep it completely coherent. We may have to shoot a pickup shot or two today and we have a piece of voice-over dialogue that may need to be re-recorded. The battery in the mixer we did have died while recording those V.O. scenes, so they're really quiet with a little hiss.

The whole experience has been a blast so far... Our key grip was cast as a creepy homeless guy. Like I posted above, the other day. He was a hoot.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes.... But I'm nominating our film for the Cat-Ass-Trophy award.

Or maybe I'm just full of crap and we're going to blow all of you out of the water... :whistling:
 
Dominique Grenier said:
Sorry to hear that Jeff. So, you went from two locations, two crews and two scripts to almost nothing?
Click to expand...

Almost nothing?? I spent almost two hours packing my portion of the gear. We had a sick amount of gear...

The story is tight, the production personnel was highly collaborative and generous to a fault. Props to our steadicam operator, especially, he's humble, lovable, talented, and one of my favorite people to have on a set. And thanks to my former production assistant, who moved to NYC but just came along to spend a day of his vacation hanging out on a set with us, doing his usual awesome job as a grip and a boom operator. One of the best parts of our production was having the chance to work on a production together again. And hanging out, punching on punching bags together, while we waited on footage downloads. I miss him.

I think there is a certain wisdom to shooting one complex script well instead of trying to do two half-baked.

Every production has its issues - I thought ours went quite smoothly for a voluntary production between three separate groups who had never worked together. Our main issues were with scheduling locations and some bad AA batteries. Not bad at all, really.

I only hope the edit can live up to the production side of the project, ahem, that will be on Jeff! And Mr. Smithee...

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
 
Justin Kirchhoff said:
Hey Mike,

I know the limit is 5 minutes, but we decided to do something longer. We know we'll be disqualified because of the length, but in the end we think it'll tell a better story.
Click to expand...

EDIT: Justin and team, please keep your story to a 5 minute minimum with one minute of Credits if you wish to qualify for the prizes. Those are the rules of the competition. If you wish to tell your story longer than what the rules specify your team will be disqualified.

That said, good luck and either way i look forward to your movie!
 
Meryem Ersoz said:
Almost nothing?? I spent almost two hours packing my portion of the gear. We had a sick amount of gear...
Click to expand...

Hey, I didn't mean to be disrespectful to anybody, I was just reacting to the fact that Jeff was joking about turning in a PSA. Cheers...
 
with less than 12 hours away for the upload.. the crew here in sf wishes everyone good luck and good vibes..

what a fantastic experience to create such art with such art. No matter what, we all made a film that followed criteria in a few days.. thanks to the red team, sponsors and judges, for this event.

we're currently chopping and about to color grade and work on sound.. this challenge has taught me a lot and has instilled a great sense of community and positivity toward my path in cinema.

the clock is ticking and the heart is beating and the frames flicker..

cheers
.isiah. and crew
 
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