The view of downtown from Hanover Street
Behind the Scenes at the 48 Hour Film
Festival
Making a little movie called "Unstrung"
You can check out the movie, Unstrung, by
clicking here. You probably want to do this first.
You can also see my "behind the scenes" video by
clicking here (or
right click + save as). You can do this whenever.
A couple of months ago, I was working on a hotly anticipated gig for my local access station when I got to meet a member of our team named Kevin Parker. I introduced myself and we started chatting. It turned out that he and I are both alumni of Mount Wachusett Community College, as well as fans of similar rock bands. Not too long afterwards, Kevin invited me to help him do a job capturing audio in a most intriguing competition: the 48 Hour Film Festival.
Here was the main gist of the event: Local production companies and improv groups in the Boston area would converge on a Friday night to receive information that they will use to create a short film. This information includes characters, plot elements, props, etc., and the genre is chosen at random. Then, the participants have 48 hours to shoot and edit their movie and submit it. This was the kind of an idea that would certainly have my attention, and the opportunity to go into Boston and see it done by the pros was something I couldn't pass up. So I marked April 9th down on my calendar and got myself ready.
The view of downtown from Hanover Street
We got to the North End around 10 am, right about when the director, Mike Kuell, had asked that we show up. We ran upstairs and I got to meet Mike, as well as the crew and the actors. JetPak's crew consisted of first DP Jason Carter, second DP Tim Coughlan, producer Jenn Cobb, and production assistant Tim Whitney. The actors, out of Improv Asylum, were Rachel Bitney, Maria Clampa, Chet Harding, Norm Laviolette, and Jimmy Owens. Mike had already put together a pretty neat idea for a story when we arrived. Based on the information he'd received the night before, the film was required to feature a character named Jay Withers, a former child star. Also required were a string of pearls and someone saying the line "I'm not really like this." Our team had drawn the mystery genre. Sound like fun? I know I thought so.
After everyone got their gear put together, we started shooting. Kevin and the Tims headed up to the roof of the building. The Tims were assembling the establishing overhead shot of Hanover Street, where the film's characters would all be walking at the beginning. I hit the street with Jason, Jen, and Mike. You can see my point of view in the behind the scenes video for a moment.
Kevin's boom mic extended over the street for
ambient sounds
A shot of the guys on the roof from the other side
of the street
One thing about shooting a movie, especially on a tight schedule, is that you've got to get your shots in when you can. We started out with the very first shots of the movie, but we took the time to grab some shots of Norm running away with the string of pearls and of Chet and Rachel giving chase. Jason set the camera up in front of the Improv Asylum theater's door, and they took turns running out and in over the camera. When Norm ran out with the pearls in his hand, there was a guy walking by who stopped dead in his tracks not knowing what to do. That's when he saw me holding the unused tripod and an extra boom mic and breathed a pretty big sigh of relief. "Whoa, I'm glad you guys were making a movie," he said as he went by us, "that scared the shit out of me!"
Jay (left) looking for the right cinematic angles
with Jen
Mike and Jen are the first people I've ever met
who knew exactly what my Panasonic 4-in-1 camera was
After the shooting on Hanover Street was done, we crossed the street and shot a scene between Jimmy, who was playing the former child star, and Maria, the mark on his little 'snatch-and-grab' job he was planning. It was a tough scene to shoot because it was a little before noon and there were tons of people moving around. The novelty of seeing people make a movie on the street never loses its shine, either, so most of them proceeded to gawk and basically linger while you pray they're not in the shot. Mike handled everything really well, though. After all, this was for fun. After dealing with a guy in a kilt and various onlookers with cell phones, we turned into the alley behind the theater.
Tim, Tim, and Kevin prep one of the cameras
for the alley scenes
Mike and Jen demonstrate Jimmy and Maria's
blocking for the alley scene
The players take a moment while Kevin gets room
tone and Jason white balances
The alley was going to be used for a couple of shots, but primarily to shoot a chase scene. Setup here was tricky because of tons of different sounds that were emanating from all different spots, such as air conditioning units and vehicles on the street. Since we had a few shots composing this one chase, every time we changed positions there was a new sound coming from somewhere we didn't' have before. Eventually, the solution in the finished product would be music dubbed over some of the shots. Another problem I thought would arise from this locale would be light. We spent about an hour in here, and being about noon or so, you could see a major change in the angles of light from the sun. Once again, it's hardly noticeable in the finished product.
After the chase scene was finished, we also shot Norm running up the stairs you see in the above picture with the pearls, trying to get off the street. We tried a few different angles and then tried to get sounds of his feet on the steps and jingling pearls, basically creating a Foley stage on the spot. The finished product once again had music dubbed in, but it's understandable from the rest of the room tone we were getting. One more shot of Chet on the phone with Jimmy by a parked Caddy was grabbed quickly, but apparently someone told us that it wasn't a good idea to do so. When someone tells you something is a bad idea in the North End, you listen.
After the alley, we broke for lunch from across the street. It was about time, I had only had coffee and a Gatorade at this point, so I was starving. After a salad and some pasta, the crew set up some more chasing shots in the halls in back of the Improv Asylum stage. While all that was going on, I got coffee for everyone, being a PA and all. I figured this was coming anyway, so I did it all without hesitation. The coffee was good, too.
After this, we put together the scene where the necklace is stolen and the double-cross takes place. There was a whole lot of back-and-forth here, as questions of lighting and camera positions caused a lot of changes in blocking and where Kevin and I would be getting the sound from. It was tricky, but we pulled it off. I have to admit, though, holding a boom mic might seem easy, but you try doing it after seven or eight takes. The final result of the scene is pretty spiffy, although I'm sure I could see my arm drift into the frame at one point...
As the sun was setting, everyone headed across the street, back to the roof Tim, Tim, and Kevin started the day on. I wasn't needed on the roof, so I skipped the rather harrowing combination of ladders that were necessary to scale to get up there. Should I even be in this business if I have a problem with ladders? After this, the very final shot of the movie was done with Maria and Jimmy getting into Kevin's car and pretending to drive to France or something. Then it was time for a couple of beers and that, as they say, was that for the day's shoot. The ride home with Kevin was great, too. He had lots of great stories about his life in the business, including hanging out at Saturday Night Live with Mike Tillotson and closing a hotel bar with Tim Meadows at the 2004 RNC.
Trying to look concerned at the alley
Overall, shooting for the 48 Hour Film Festival was one of the most exciting days of my life. I finally got to see the process as it happened, and I knew more than I ever thought that I did. It's gotten me more excited about what I want to do than ever before. The people that I worked with couldn't have been more fun and professional, either. That's why I hope you can check out these links and give them some support:
So that's all for this NP1 exclusive. Hope you enjoyed the movie, the article, and the behind the scenes video! Stay fresh!