Over the weekend of 12-14 April, I once again took part in the 48 hour film challenge which is part of the annual Sci-Fi-London festival. It's known for helping directors get a first feature launched, including Gareth Edward's 2010 film Monsters (the sequel to which is now in post, and directed by my NFTS friend Tom Green, for whom I edited the short film Brixton 85 while at film school).
Last night were the screenings of the top 20 films out of the 217 submitted at the end of the challenge. We knew going in that we were shortlisted to the top 10 - and therefore our film was being watched by the jury including Danny Boyle, Warwick Davis, Professor Brian Cox, and Neil Marshall.
I'm very pleased to announce that we came 3rd; we're all very happy. Seeing the top 20 all in one go and discussing them afterwards really emphasised how difficult it must have been to judge such a wide range of topics, and how subjective enjoyment of a film really is.
Here's our third-place-winning entry, as directed by the very talented Christoph Keller (with the support of his team, he'd insist I add):
Written, shot and finished in two days.
3rd place at the Sci-Fi London 48hr Film Challenge 2014.
BRIEF
Title - Life External
Dialogue - He signed enlistment papers. He took an oath.
Prop - Dice. We see a character roll two dice.
The winning film was actually an animated film - which was a huge achievement in 48 hours. Very well produced for the time allowed, and quite haunting. "The March":
An animation created for the Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Challenge., telling the story a slave forced to march across the desert of the Planet Tarsus.
Title: THE MARCH
Line: The human emotional response to a robot may become increasingly positive and empathic.
Prop: KEYBOARD_ WE SEE A CHARACTER REPLACE A MISSING KEY ON A KEYBOARD
Science: "Augmented reality becomes so good we neglect reality, when the system to fails, the decay is revealed."
This was also a favourite of mine - which was longlisted to the final 20. "Free Falling", by team Blue Midget:
Made for the Sci-Fi London 48-hr Film Challenge 2014
Team: Blue Midget
Title: Free Falling
Prop: We see a character unwrap some dry food, eats a bit and packs away again
Dialogue: "You just can't fight something like this. Try as you might."
All in all, a great experience with some wonderful people - and it was very nice to see a number of the other films in a cinema.
The Vimeo group is a good collection of films produced for the challenge.