The team I worked with was the first to submit its entry to Run & Gun 2015, the Vancouver 48-hour film competition. Most people would struggle during a 48-hour film shoot, and I’m not saying we didn’t. So how did we make a decent short film in less than two days total?
Planning. Do anything you’re allowed to do in advance. Think of ideas for when the writing starts. Find locations. Decide what time of day you’ll shoot. Which brings me to:
Shoot at night. The 48 hours began at 7 PM, and we were making a horror film. Still, some teams shot in daylight and got their editing done at night. But if you shoot overnight, the editor has plenty of time to work with the edit and meet up with the director so they can discuss how the film can look good. That’s what my team did, giving me two whole days to edit, so I could make a decent piece of work in a few hours because I’m pretty fast with editing.
Improv, or even a movie with very minimal dialogue, is even better than having your ideas ready. If you go with improv, your cast and your editor will have to be really good. More on that next time.
