168 hr Competition short

[James Burgess]

I SURVIVED the 168 hr film competition

For those not familiar with the 168hr film project competition, it is a faith-based,
worldwide production competition, in which teams make a short film in 168 hrs.
[one week]. After judging, films premiere April 3-4, in Los Angeles.

2009 Jury:
Ralph Winter X-MEN, Producer
Bill Ewing END OF THE SPEAR, Producer
Mark Clayman PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, Exec. Producer
Brian Bird TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, Writer/Co-Producer
Luke Schelhaas LAW & ORDER, Writer/Producer
Gary Hall VP of Post Production at Fox TV
Rick Fry Pastor, Media City Church
Jury will chose winners for over 20 categories of artistic and technical merit.


We shot for 3.5 days and did our post production in 3.5.

We used my RED ONE camera and RED lenses for acquisition and Final Cut Pro
and Logic Pro as our post production utilities. The shoot began on Thursday the
19th at 2PM and delivered the finished film at UPS five minutes before 2PM, the
26th. The start and finish times are established by the competition. MPS Studios,
Dallas, supplied our grip/electric equipment. All cast, crew and equipment were
volunteer/pro bono.

I cut and graded the piece on my 2.5GHz MacBook Pro using 1k proxies.

'still born'
producer chad gundersen
writer/director/producer andrew librizzi
DP/editor james burgess
composer damon criswell


Clips now available for viewing at:
http://vimeo.com/3851322
http://vimeo.com/3794245

 

[James Burgess]

a few more....

 

[Julio Quintana]

Looks great. I assume the soft fx sepia shots represent some sort of flashbacks or dreams?

 

[James Burgess]

You are correct, Julio. The story line is constantly jumping between the present,
past and current, dream-like encounters.

James, the 'obedient' son, has been instructed to dispose of his father's ashes by
flushing them down a toilet. He is haunted by his childhood and the destruction of
his 'home' when his father chooses another woman. He's confused by the appearance
of a young girl in his dreams and while jogging. James' wife is angry when she learns
the delay of their first child was to deny James' father the privlege of being a grandfather
and not to allow James' career to prosper.

There area lot of layers and time shifts that lent themselves to different color grades --
hue and contrast -- to help 'sell' the psychological, emotional and spiritual conflict within
the lead character.

 

[Christopher Grant Harvey]

The pictures looks amazing!!

Congrats.

 

[James Burgess]

This is the second dramatic narrative piece I've shot and entered into competition.
The first, THE WIDOW'S MIGHT, won Best of Festival and $101,000, as well as the Audience Choice Award at SAICFF.

Now still born. has received 11 nominations from the 168 Film Project Competition!
Is it impossible to make a bad film with this camera?


Best Scriptural Integration
Best Film
Best Director
Best Actress (Liz Cardenas)
Best Actor (Todd Terry)
Best Screenplay
Best Cinematorgraphy (James Burgess)
Best Editor (James Burgess, Andrew Librizzi)
Best Sound Design (Damon Criswell, James Burgess, Blake Windham)
Best Original Score (Damon Criswell)
Best Production Design (Barry Phillips)

 

[James Burgess]

There are two segments from the short on vimeo:

http://vimeo.com/3851322
http://vimeo.com/3794245