Delray Beach team completes film in 48 hours

Aug. 7, 2008 - PRLog -- (written by JOHN THOMASON | Forum Publishing Group, August 6, 2008)
The film shoot is about an hour behind schedule, and the sound of a crying baby has just spoiled another take. On most film productions, this would be no big deal. But when you have to write, film and edit a short movie in 48 hours, every minute counts.

The location is Kevro's Art Bar in downtown Delray Beach, the time is around 3 p.m. Saturday and the team is Extreme Delray, a group of filmmakers participating in their third 48 Hour Film Project. In the annual touring competition, aspiring and established film crews have just two days to complete a movie, with teams vying for cash, equipment and distribution deals. Extreme Delray, which otherwise specializes in extreme sports photography and video, is one of 40-plus teams in South Florida.

"We like to be done [shooting] by 6 or 7," said actor and sound man Jan Van der Baan. "We like to be optimistic about it."

But this was before the group's elaborate set-up in Kevro's took nearly two hours before the first call of "Action!" The equipment is slick and professional and naturally takes a long time to prep. A monstrous jib crane is assembled and wheeled onto the back patio of Kevro's, and camera track spans the length of the bar for an ambitious dolly shot.

"We're definitely biting off more than we can chew," said producer/director Tom Leeman, who also acts in a supporting role.

Time isn't the only restriction the team faces; it's also a slave to the genre it drew. Last Friday, the team pulled its genre out of a drawing and wound up with "holiday film." The filmmakers were also given a character name (Honey Pies), a line of dialogue ("Some people like it that way"), a prop (sunglasses) and a character's profession (artist).

From the time of the drawing Friday night, the clock began ticking and the creative juices began flowing.

"[The restrictions] are to prove you made it over the weekend, but they also show how cleverly you can incorporate them into the film," Leeman said. "It's a difficult exercise in imagination. By throwing in these elements, it forces you to create something different."

The holiday film is one of the most difficult genres to shoot on a shoestring and a deadline, given the amount of sets, decorations and costumes needed to recreate major holidays such as Christmas, Halloween or Thanksgiving. So the group settled on Valentine's Day.

Then came the story, a modern-day Cinderella tale about a beautiful girl, her uncaring and promiscuous boyfriend and the sweet, awkward guy who has to win her heart. It begins in Kevro's, where bumbling nice guy Teddy (Van der Baan) approaches the gorgeous and seemingly unaccompanied Honey Pies (Melodie Veverka), not realizing her Cro-Magnon boyfriend Eric (Bryan Power) is chatting on his cell phone with another lover on the back patio.

Eric returns, clobbers Teddy, grabs the protesting Honey Pies and takes off. Fortunately for Teddy, Honey Pies leaves her sunglasses on the table, and the required prop becomes his only key to finding her.

The actors typically memorize their lines right before they say them. Some of the most memorable lines are ad-libbed, and ideas are frequently tweaked and revised on set. "You kind of have to wing it," said actress Rachel Galvin, who is also acting in a feature with the team, a low-budget superhero movie tentatively titled "Caped Crusaders." "It's a little different than I'm used to."

"The project evolves as the day progresses," Leeman said. "You've got to be flexible and adaptable as the day goes on. You can't be a dictator on set."

The team itself has evolved significantly in the three years it has participated in the competition. For its 2006 entry, "Holiday Surprise," Leeman admits the filmmakers had to learn how to work the camera and edit the video. Last year's horror entry "Killer Deal" scored Cinematography and Audience awards, despite hot shooting conditions in an abandoned house that were less than ideal.

"This one's going to be better. It's a year later, and we have a more honed crew," said editor Corey Dwyer, who moonlights as a guitarist in local Grateful Dead cover band Crazy Fingers. "At least we're shooting indoors. It's so hot outside, we'd all be dead."
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"My Honey Valentine" screened at the Byron Carlyle Theatre, 500 71st St., Miami Beach on Wednesday, August 6.
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