The 48HOURS film competition takes place across New Zealand every year, and is simultaneously one of the best and worst things a person can do to themselves.
I’ve competed in the comp every year since 2011 under the names Two Big Tools and Tomorrow Today (with the exception of 2011, which I genuinely don’t remember), taking home multiple audience favourite awards and the Auckland City Incredibly Strange award. After making six films with my fellow lunatics VictoryFist (Sam Spooner), mckrakenworkshop (Storm McCracken) and our similarly lunatic friends, we’ve probably felt everything there is to feel in this competition – stress, joy, ecstasy and right back down to utter dread. But one thing we never felt was failure, because we’ve never not handed a film in. Which is why I’m writing this tips article today.
So how do you survive this damned weekend, and go from madly rushing out the city starting location to madly rushing back in with a completed film? Here’s what I’ve learned over the years:
Prepare in advance
The whole point of the competition is obviously that you can’t pre-write your script because you lack a genre and the special elements. But you can prepare pretty much everything else. And what Sam, Storm and I have found pretty much every year is that the better you plan all the things that aren’t the film itself, the easier the shoot weekend will go.
Check out this prep list and make sure you’ve ticked all the boxes.
- An HQ: It pays to have an HQ. This is where your whole team will meet when needed, and it’s also where you’ll take care of any prop/costume making, food preparing, and sleeping. It should be convenient to the whole team, and even better, convenient to the city handing-in location. If you can shoot there as well, even better.
- Equipment: What equipment do you have, and do you want? Get everything to your HQ and TEST IT. Test everything. If you intend to use a piece of equipment on the weekend, especially if you aren’t familiar with it, you should know how to use it and feel confident that it works and is CHARGED. Do a little mini-shoot a week or so before the actual weekend. That’ll help with my next point, too…
- Workflow: You need a smooth workflow from start to finish, as any hiccups in process can seriously suck up time (trust me). That includes getting footage from your camera to a computer, from the computer into editing software, and from editing software into a final export (which must then be transferred to USB, put in an envelope, and taken to the hand-in location). It’s all very well shooting in 4K but can you ingest and edit that kind of file? Keep it simple.
- Locations: Here’s one thing you can prep in advance – find a variety of cool shoot locations and ask for filming permission in advance. Even if you don’t end up using half of them, at least they will be ready.
- Actors: Like locations, try to gather a list of actors willing to jump at a moment’s notice to help you out. You don’t need to know what part they will play, but if you have standby actors who would be willing to drive across the city at 8pm Saturday evening, you’ve got a fabulous backup plan in place.
- Backup crew: It also pays to have people on-set or on standby who could fill various pre, production and post roles in case anyone has to drop out unexpectedly.
- Hand-in requirements: Double check all official hand-in requirements and ensure you have all the bits. USB, envelope, whatever, get it in advance. Don’t forget your Online Wrap-Up Form during the shoot, too.
Create a hierarchy
You’re all part of the same team, but there’s a reason that professional film crews have hierarchies. They work. They’re efficient. And when you’re cramming five minutes of film into a single weekend, you need to be as efficient as possible.
In our first year as Two Big Tools, Sam and I filled a lot of different job roles ourselves with the idea that it would be simpler to manage. Well, we were right, but also devastatingly wrong. Because the more roles someone fills, the less sleep they get. And the less sleep someone gets, the less efficient they can work. I won’t lie to you – I puked. Fun times.
Create a hierarchy and gather a good crew of able-bodied people.
So create a hierarchy and gather a good crew of able-bodied (and -minded) people to help you. From our experience, a really solid 48HOURS film crew consists of:
- Producer: Who sorts out the competition requirements and wrangles actors, equipment and anything else required both before and during filming. This person also acts a bit like an assistant director, from a scheduling standpoint.
- Director: Who is not the same person as the producer. The director is in charge of the shoot itself – getting the story filmed. Sam and I co-direct/produce, but in a pinch we fall into just one of the roles and leave the other to do the other, as it’s -you guessed it- way more efficient.
- Lead writer: You can have as many people as you need pitching ideas for the film, but at some point someone has to take charge and write the actual script. That person can then return to the committee with the first draft for discussion, but ultimately this one individual is driving the process.
- Head of Art Department: I recommend ensuring you have someone in charge of props and costumes. That can be as simple as a person who organises buying things from Look Sharp first thing Saturday morning, or as complicated as a person running a fabrication workshop – either way, no matter how big the art team, one person is in charge. It means the director and producer only have to liaise with one person, and that one person is intimately familiar with the script in order to make fast decisions.
- Editor: Directors and producers and random hands can help with camera and lights and god knows what else, but it smoothes things out significantly to have a dedicated editor (who has limited other tasks). This person ingests and organises footage, and starts laying down the rough cut on Saturday while the shoot is ongoing. Even if they go home after picture lock so the director or producer can take charge of sound and FX (like we do in our films), it means you begin Sunday with the film at its most basic completed state. If someone who is filming all day has to come home and start editing Saturday night, they’ll have a much bumpier time.
- Set Mum/Dad: Finally, if you can have no other crew other than the above, make sure you at least have an on-set mum/dad. This person’s focus is the well-being of the crew. He or she will ensure people eat and sleep where possible (a big lunch on Saturday goes a long way), and can tidy HQ as the weekend progresses. This person can also cook breakfast on Sunday morning for all those with a Saturday shoot hangover. From experience, this individual is one of the most important crew members.
Remember to EAT
Don’t get caught up in the stress and panic, especially if your shoot is going too slow. A crew cannot sustain itself on V and snacks alone (we’ve tried). Real meals – especially ones that contain some semblance of vegetables – can make a big difference to your energy levels and overall attitudes.
Keep your brains and bodies sustained and they’ll carry you through the weekend. The only shoot Two Big Tools had where I can honestly say we felt, “This sucks…” was the shoot that had a disorganised lunch.
Causal relationship or just coincidence? Who knows. But methinks it was lunch’s fault.
Remember to SLEEP
Yes. Yes you do have time to sleep. Each and every year except 2012, during which there was the puking incident, we have found time to sleep Friday and Saturday nights.
This is why you have a hierarchy of job roles. When one role is complete, that person sleeps while other people keep working. Then when their role is complete, the people who slept get up and do their next bit.
In each shoot weekend, our key team members fulfil more than one role, but their tasks are dispersed enough in the timeline that we can sleep between jobs.
- Example: I’m usually the scriptwriter, director and sound editor. So, I write the script Friday night, lock it off after consultation with whoever else is on the writing team, then sleep. Saturday morning I get up and start being a director, which for me also includes a number of crew roles (typically camera operating, gaffering, or both). When we wrap shooting Saturday night, I go to sleep while the editor does his or her thang. Then I can get up Sunday morning acceptably rested (I can’t say “well rested”) and do the sound edit. Because editing and sleeping is both done at HQ, I can be woken at any point to discuss the picture edit, and I’ll review it in the morning, too, with the producer.
Then on Sunday night, I die for a while and wake up at some point on Monday…
In conclusion
The 48HOURS film competition is fucking amazing, even if the film you make sucks.
But when people are pushing themselves to their energy limits for no pay, especially if they are just helping you out (as in, it’s not their film but yours), you need to take every step possible to decrease inefficiencies and make everyone’s weekend more fun. Because that’s what it’s all about.
Plan, set hierarchies, and remember to eat and sleep. Good luck!
Got your own survival tips? Let me know in the comments!