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Filmmakers find creativity in a hurry
[June 07, 2009]

Filmmakers find creativity in a hurry


Jun 07, 2009 (Houston Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Jason Hoffman had just one request as he prepared for his acting role in Katy Saturday afternoon.

"Please guys, take the batteries out of the Taser," he said.

Take some 18- to 20-year-olds, give them a silly movie premise and ply them with coffee. Then tell them they have 48 hours to make a decent film. Here's a guarantee: Someone will have a ridiculous idea, such as shocking Hoffman with a Taser on film.



Eventually the filmmakers decided to just pretend to shock him, although Hoffman had to scream loudly and fall down with a painful-sounding thud.

The effort was all for team Vowel Productions' entry in this weekend's 48 Hour Film Project.


The annual international event attracted more than 40 local teams of filmmakers to create short movies within the span of 48 hours in the hope of winning prizes and the chance to be screened at major film festivals.

Participants draw their genre at random -- Hoffman's team picked "stoner/martial arts" on Friday -- and then rapidly make a movie that they have to turn in by today.

Luckily the Vowel Productions team of about 11 has been participating in the contest since high school, so it operates more or less like a well-oiled machine.

Handing out duties Here's how it worked for them: As soon as the team drew its genre, Kyle Vaughan and Gary Avinger started working on a script. They decided on a slightly bizarre story about two pot-smokers on a quest to find a CD that unites them when they're high. Simultaneously, other team members were buying props and looking for locations where they could shoot.

Eric Brisson and Ben Chai were coming up with music to go along with the movie.

Hardly anyone slept Friday night.

By Saturday afternoon, the team was frantically shooting video at a place called the Computer Clinic in Katy. The story was that the two potheads were trying to convince Hoffman to help them find the CD when he somehow ended up being Tased.

"We don't have a lot of time guys," said Vaughan, who was shooting the scene with a handheld video camera.

Finally the scene wrapped up and team members started debating how to find a long stretch of road for the next shooting location.

Saturday night, the team members said they would start editing the film as quickly as possible in hopes of submitting it by today's deadline.

As of Saturday, the team still had a long way to go, Avinger said.

"But it always gets done," he said.

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