24 Hour Film Race

I shot my first film! A week ago I participated in the 24 Hour Film Race. I was part of the Dream Reality Films team as director of photography. The rules of the race are simple and a challenge, make a three-minute film in 24 hours. At 10:00pm Friday April 29th we were told our theme was identity theft, the required prop was noodles and the required action was stretching. Aaron Toy lead our team, and I did whatever he told me to do. It was a crazy few hours shooting in the rain and then bright sunshine. It also marked the first time I shot video with the 5D while running, so glad I didn’t trip.

Shooting a narrative was much less nerve-racking than shooting a documentary. I never worried that I wasn’t going to get enough action or emotion to make a story. Never fretted about one shot being out of focus, simply did a second take. The pressure came from the clock, after getting the criteria we met to brainstorm ideas, after a few hours of sleep we started shooting at 8:00am. The shoot got a little long in the tooth and Aaron had to start editing while we were still shooting. At 4:30 all shooting was done, Aaron and Dietr Poppen took over the editing and music composing. With about five minutes to spare the film was complete and uploaded. We finished the race on time.

Ten films in Minneapolis were completed on time this year and will be screened Thursday at the St. Anthony Main theatre starting at 7:00pm, my first premiere! The film, Double Standard, is only three minutes long, but in my head it’s so much more. Big thanks to Aaron Toy for directing and pushing us all along, and to the rest of the crew Dietr Poppen, Sam Poppen, Lisa Musselman, Ryan Lane, Andrew Lawrie, and Mike Krause.