FIND PEACE AND CREATIVITY IN CHAOS
The 48-Hour Film Festival isn’t just about making a movie—it's about creating something that’s raw, real, and memorable in a time crunch. It's about bringing together a team of people who believe that maybe—just maybe—we can turn sleepless nights and a ticking clock into something truly special.
Here's my take: go into it with passion, flexibility, sense of humor and most important humility! Things will go wrong—props will break, lines will be forgotten, and shots might get missed. But that’s okay. That’s part of the charm of making art in a whirlwind. Stay close to your team, lean on each other’s strengths, and keep the vibe positive, even when it’s 3 a.m. and the coffee’s running low. Some of the best scenes come from unexpected moments, and some of the strongest connections are made when you're all exhausted but still pushing to get the shot.
Team IP Media during film wrap at The Circa Resort and Hotel in Las Vegas NV. BTS courtesy of Alejandro Garcia.
Be proud of every second you capture, every frame you edit, and every little piece of magic you create along the way. Remember, the 48-Hour Film Festival isn’t about perfection—it’s about heart, hustle, and the crazy, chaotic love of storytelling. This is more than a challenge its a crash course on preparation and patience. Do a post-mortem review after the weekend stress wears away and understand how your apprach to narrative or commercial filmmaking can be improved. Learn. The apply these items to your professional (hopefully paid) projects.
5 Pre-production Tips for Team Leads:
ROLE CLARITY & ASSIGNMENTS: Understand your teams strengths and more importantly desires. Just becasue someone is good at a role does not necessarily mean they want to do that. They may be interested in learning a new aspect of the filmmaking process. Creative work better in roles they enjoy, especially when they have loose guidelines. Distribute information to the team systematically. Find one tool that works best Slack, Whatsapp, Email, Text Chat, or Instagram. Things move quickly and information flys left and right. Provide vital bits of information thru a single platform and during the weekend chaos, appoint a single person to be in charge of updating the team. You may have a location change last minute, a need for additional props or extras. Assign this to a single person/role.
CHEMISTRY: Create enviroments for your team to gel and mesh together before the event commences. It saves precious hours, remember you are only given 48 of them! Learn from previous experiences in how your team members like to be directed or work with other creatives. Ask to understand, not impose expectations.
LOCATIONS: Give yourself time to secure good locations. Dont shoot from the hip. Really challenge yourself and reach out to new connections and local businesses. Get Permits!
EQUIPMENT: Secure the equipment you need for the shoot and do a gear check and test before the Friday Kickoff. Reserve rentals in advance, dont wait until the week of. Ensure your editing computer is ready to go and wont crash during the render.
SHOTLIST: Take the time to create a shot list. The time spent on this during script development helps save SO MUCH TIME with editing. Plug and play. Good luck and godspeed.
