Greetings! Marcus here…
All throughout May we’ve looked back on our previous efforts in film challenges, but now it’s time to start talking about the future. Today is Friday, May 29, 2015, which means that we are one week away from the next Minneapolis 48 Hour Film Project!
In this post I’ll give you a rundown of the prep we’ve done so far, and introduce you to our excellent collaborators!
The 48 Hour Film Project helpfully identifies the only four types of work that can be done for the film prior to the weekend, which I will shamelessly use as my headings…
Organizing Crew
The first step for all Two Jackets productions is to determine what each of us Jackets will be doing on the production. We’ve decided that Andrew and I will be co-directing-- with Andrew additionally producing, and me writing the script-- and Eric will be our director of photography and camera operator. This gets us all involved directly in the creative process, and will allow us to quickly solve problems together as they arise over the weekend.
With that settled, we started making calls and managed to put together one of the most exciting groups we’ve ever had the pleasure to work with!
Allow me to introduce our team for the 2015 48 Hour Film Project:
Composer – Reed Reimer: We’ve worked with Reed on projects for the past five years, ever since he wrote the fantastic score for our feature debut, Limpwings. Reed’s musical chops are second to none, and we’re thrilled to be collaborating with him again!
Editor – Ben Pimlott: Ben is a fellow Minnesota State University Moorhead alum, and we’re extremely excited to be working with him for the first time on an official Two Jackets shoot. I was always awed by Ben’s work in school, and I personally can’t wait to make something new with him!
Sound – Eric Pagel: After working with Eric on I Stole a Lot of Money! we knew we had found a great collaborator. Eric is a professional sound recordist, and will be mixing our final audio as well. We are super stoked to have Eric back with us for this project!
Assistant Camera – Nicholas Korokidas: Another MSUM alum whom we’re really happy to be working with again. Nick has a great visual eye and will be a wonderful counterpart to Mr. Carlson in our photography department!
Makeup Artist – Anna Giuliano: Anna did the electric make-up in our film, Meanwhile, at the Citadel of Superheroes… and is graciously joining us for another round. Anna is a professional make-up designer, and she’ll make us look good!
Additionally, we have the awesome Dustin Riccio and Chelsey Green joining us as production assistants, Sam Johnson (photographer on Keeping Up with the Cloneses) filming behind-the-scenes footage, and Sally Winther contributing delicious craft services (food)!
Those are the people who are going to make this film possible, and I couldn’t be happier with the group we’ve brought together. It’s going to be a blast!
Organizing Cast
Occasionally, when making a film it is important to have actors as well as crewpeople, and this is one of those times. We’ve brought together two of our favorite past collaborators, and an actor we’ve been dying to work with for years. Without further ado, let me introduce the cast of… well, whatever it is we’re making…
Bill in A Lutefisk Western.
We’re bringing in Battling Bill Dablow for his first 48 Hour Project with Two Jackets since 2012’s Put a Ring on It! Bill is a fantastic actor, and just a great guy to have around. We’re excited to have him talk this year!
Lucas in my senior film, Ecci's Story.
Joining Bill is Battling Lucas Vonasek! I had the pleasure of being in an improv troupe with Luke back in college and having him star in my senior thesis film. However, this will mark the first official Two Jackets production Luke has taken part in. Luke can currently be seen performing live each week with Bearded Men Improv at the Huge Theater in Minneapolis!
MJ, stolen from the Bearded Men website.
Rounding out our cast is newcomer, Battling M. J. Marsh! Andrew, Eric, and I have never worked with M. J. before, but, like so many of our favorite collaborators, he is a hilarious member of the Bearded Men! We’re very excited to get him on camera for the first time!
Securing Equipment
Equipment is slightly less exciting than the awesome cast and crew we’ve pulled together. It is however still very important if one wants to, you know, record anything.
Eric Pagel is generously bringing in his own sound mixer and microphones. He will then be using Pro Tools for sound mixing in post.
We will be shooting the movie on a Canon C100. We chose this camera so that we could shoot with natural lighting as much as possible. This keeps our production nimble, and will help us keep on schedule when filming begins. Nicholas, our assistant camera operator, has generously lent us his camera for the shoot.
The film will be edited using the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, which our editor Ben is, again, generously bringing to the table. I can’t overstate how thankful we are to have these contributions from our collaborators!
Scouting/Securing Locations
Our primary objective when looking for locations is to find a place that can serve as a backdrop for multiple scenes without getting visually dull. In Put a Ring on It, our first Minneapolis 48, we spent too much of the production traveling from location to location, and since then we’ve learned our lesson. All’s Chair in Love and War, and Keeping Up with the Cloneses were both shot in a single location. That helps keep the film moving, and allows us to focus on telling a contained story.
We’re still locking down our final locations for this year, but rest assured, most of the filming will take place in one spot!
Wait, what about scheduling?
In this post I’ve discussed the resources we’ve assembled for our film, but a successful production requires more than just good people and equipment. Next week, I’ll give a rundown of how we’ve scheduled out the weekend to maximize our productive human-hours during the 48 hour period. Until then, I’ll be busy getting as much sleep as humanly possible so that I can remember what that’s like when the weekend gets started.
Marcus