David Brown makes films, videos and other multimedia presentations at his company, DB Studios in Monroe. It’s a job he enjoys, he said, but the day-to-day routine can be numbing.
“When you do it for a living you kind of lose some of the luster that was the whole reason you did it in the first place,” Brown said. “I wanted it to be fun again.”
So last year he joined a team signing up for the 48 Hour Film Project, a worldwide filmmaking competition in which teams have to write, shoot, edit, score and complete a short film in just two days.
“It was a great time, hanging out with people, making a movie,” he said. “It’s a mess for 48 hours, but so much fun.” He liked the Boston-based competition so much he did it again, at the New Haven-based event a few weeks later, competing against 33 other teams.
Brown’s team, Good Natured Dogs, wound up winning third place in New Haven, for its movie “The Good Detective,” about a little girl who wants to help catch a bad guy.
The 48-Hour Film Project is coming back to New Haven, the weekend of July 25 to 27. Teams from throughout Connecticut, or from anywhere, are eligible to compete in the New Haven event.
According to www.48hourfilm.com, 63 local events, including the one in New Haven, will be held nationwide this year, and 73 more in other countries. The winners of each local event in the United States will meet in Hollywood next year. The best from that group will see their films screened in Cannes at next year’s film festival, alongside foreign winners.
Patricia Clark is producer of 48 Hour Film Project New Haven branch. Clark, who works in the City of New Haven human resources department and produces independent feature films on the side, said that the project motivates and energizes filmmakers.
“Sometimes you get too many Indians and not enough chiefs to make something come to fruition. Everybody has ideas and they talk, talk, talk, but they don’t do,” she said. “It’s a good thing to have a tight time frame. … It puts the film into a production mode and gets it done.”
Any team that wants to participate can fill out admission forms at http://www.48hourfilm.com/en/newhaven/. Until June 30, early-bird admission price is $140 per team, regardless of the number of team members. “They can have two members or they can have 60, it doesn’t matter,” Clark said. For two weeks after June 30, it is $160. After that until the weekend of the event, it is $175.
After filmmakers sign up on the website, one representative of each team must show up at about 5 or 6 p.m. on July 25 at the Outer Space, 295 Treadwell St. in Hamden. Each team representative will draw a film genre out of a hat: comedy, dark comedy, drama, film noir, film de femme (movie with a strong female character), fish out of water, horror, road movie, romance, sci fi, silent, thriller-suspense, time travel or free-choice musical or Western.
Those who don’t like their genres can choose a wild card genre: animal, chase-escape, family, inspirational, monster-creature feature, period piece or spoof parody. “If you don’t like that genre you get, you can’t go back and say ‘I want my old genre back.’ You have to have that genre,” Clark said.
After the genres are assigned, each team leader is given a specific character, a specific line of dialogue and a prop they must use in their film. At 7 p.m. all are set free to make their films, and must return at 7 p.m. Sunday to the Outer Space to turn in their movie.
The following weekend, July 30 and 31, the films will be screened at two or three open-to-the-public events – depending on the number of participating teams – at Criterion Cinemas in New Haven. Films that are turned in on Sunday night past the 7 p.m. deadline will be shown at the event but are not eligible for awards except the Audience Award.
Then, on Aug. 27, 10 to 12 of the best films will be shown at the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport and awards will be handed out.
“It’s great to see a film up on the big screen, not a little screen in a bar, but a real movie theater,” Clark said. “That’s exciting for a filmmaker.”
Brown says one of the best things about the event is the chance to meet new people on a filmmaking team. “Everybody does things in different ways,” he said. “You’re learning from other people who know more than you.”
Information and application forms at here.
