2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project

Friday, August 1, 2008

2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project

Has it really been two weeks since we got these required elements for the SF48HFP? Well, in two weeks we'll be doing it all over again! The 2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project is right around the corner, and I am in Chief Instigator mode! It Donned On Me will be out and about the weekend of August 15-17 doing our thing. Since I missed this competition last year, I will be in San Jose soaking up the experience (as if I haven't been doing so already with all the other competitions). San Jose will mark our 7th film together as a team. Who woulda thunk it?

From: San Jose Producer
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 11:44 AM
To: San Jose Producer
Subject: Welcome Team Leaders!

Hello San Jose 48HFP Team Leaders!

My name is Vincent Lowe, and together with Brooks Graham, we are your San Jose Producers for the 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP).

Welcome to the 48 Hour Film Project San Jose 2008! This is the first of several e-mails over the next few days that should answer all of your questions for the San Jose Project.

Please ensure that your anti-Spam software or other security settings are set to allow emails from us to get through. We don't want you to miss out on any important information.

Emails to follow:

Rumblefish – Official 48HFP Music Resource
Kickoff, Drop Off and Screening Assignments/Information
New Rules in 2008
Keeping Your Film Short
48HFP Filmmaking Tips

Please take a moment right now to confirm that you've received this email, just so that I know that the email line is open. … just hit reply, type "that's me," or something to that effect, and send.

Also, do you need any spots filled on your team? Check out our "Recruit Team Members" list for San Jose. We have set up a system by which folks can post a short ad on the 48 Hour Film Project website and then you, the team leader, can view the ad and recruit them for your team. If you're looking for team members, this is a good place to do so.
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You will receive a series of these emails because you are a leader of a team, or because your team leader has requested that you be on the list. You can easily be removed at your request. Just send me a note and we'll take care of it immediately.

If you are a team leader and you want a member of your team to receive these emails, it's a good idea to send me a note and have me update the list to include them. I'm happy to do that.

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You'll also receive (less frequent) general interest postings that come to the SJC 48HFP newsletter email. Those may repeat some information from these, we just want to be sure the information gets to you. In particular, it might be good right now to put down the key dates for events that you'll want to consider.

Aug 9 - Music for film - Meet & Greet with live performances by talented local musicians.

Aug 15 - Kickoff 6-7pm

Aug 17 - Dropoff 5-9pm

Aug 20 - Screening Night 1

Aug 21 - Screening Night 2

Sep 4 - Highlights Night and Awards

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Lastly, if you want to be able to get the word out yourself to others in the Bay Area and 48 Hour Film Community, you can join the Yahoo! group that contains team leaders, players, producers, and boosters. This moderated group gives you a place to request support and participation that will make your production a success. The group is membership and message moderated. Volume is low and appropriate.

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Wishing you all the best as you prepare for August 15th! You'll be hearing more from me soon…

Vincent Lowe and Brooks Graham
San Jose Producers
48 Hour Film Project

1 comment:

haikugirl said...: Tony - I often turn to your blog for inspiration (and your haiku synopsis show you sometimes do the same for me!) After seeing your 2 great film projects I have decided to try 48HFP - the Home Game and shoot along with you guys in sympathy in my own town of TO. Even if we don't have a contest like that this year, what better way to dive in (like your sister) and JUST DO IT!

Thanks for always making me smile, sharing your wonderful stories and being a notorious chief instigator!

It Donned on Me that
Tony is a SUPAHSTAH!
-haikugirl loves youxx; August 10, 2008 at 11:15 AM

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It Donned On Me?

For the past few years Evan Donn has been teaching classes in After Effects and Final Cut Pro in the Multimedia department at College Of San Mateo. Every semester there were a couple of students who just wouldn't go home when the class was over, staying after with a seemingly endless stream of questions about every imaginable aspect of video production. Many of them returned semester after semester for whichever class Evan was teaching at the time.

In the spring of 2006 Evan taught a new class called DV Workflow which consisted almost entirely of these "irregulars". DV Workflow became essentially an 'everything but the kitchen sink' type of class covering the entire process of video production with an emphasis on producing video for the web.

As part of DV Workflow every member of the class had to produce an episodic video series for the web. This led to various members teaming up to work on each others' videos as well as providing valuable input on the finished videos during class screenings. When the class ended everyone felt that the working dynamic of the group was worth continuing.

Led by Chief Instigator Tony Nguyen they dubbed themselves 'The Evan Donn School of Film' and began holding quarterly screenings of everyone's current work. In 2006 several members of the group attended one of the 48 Hour Film screenings, and they all walked out with the same thought - we can do that.

From that point on the quarterly screenings took on a new direction as 'challenges' were thrown out with criteria similar to the 48 Hour Film Project. This helped prepare the team members for the challenge of building a short film around a character, prop and line of dialogue.

As the 2007 competition drew closer Mr. Nguyen once again took the lead and signed up the team for the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project. Put on the spot to come up with a team name he considered and rejected many possibilities before the ideal name 'donned' on him...

Despite their history the San Francisco competition was the first time all members of the team had worked together on a single project. Everyone jumped right in and the result was our first short film - 'Urgent Care'.

Despite incredible audience reaction to the film, 'Urgent Care' failed to win either the audience or juried competition for San Francisco. However, the team was selected by competition sponsor Visa as one of ten teams from San Francisco to compete in their national "Life Takes" Invitational against teams from New York and Los Angeles.

With only one film in the can, Evan decided the team needed a little more practice before the Visa competition. Unbeknownst to the team, he signed them up for the nearby San Jose 48 Hour Film Project and announced it at the cast & crew party for 'Urgent Care'. Fortunately everyone jumped at the chance to hone their skills and prove that the success of the first film wasn't just luck. The result of that effort is 'Doggie Style', the second official film from It Donned On Me.

In September the team came together once again to complete another 48 hour film for the Visa "Life Takes" Invitational. In collaboration with members of the a capella group "Flying Without Instruments" they completed the fantasy film "EXIT".

In October, 2007 the team completed their fourth 48 hour project, the National Film Challenge, producing "Retreat", an existential tale of a horse seeking enlightenment. After this they took a break from high-speed filmmaking for the holidays in order to prepare for the 2008 season.

In March 2008 IDOM kicked off the 2008 filmmaking season with the International Documentary Challenge, producing our first non-fiction film, "Stick & Pound". Selected as a finalist in the competition, 'Stick & Pound' screened in Toronto at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival where the team brought home Documentary Challenge awards for Best Cinematography and Best Directing!

After an amazing first year of competition IDOM came full circle, returning for the second time to the 2008 San Francisco 48 Hour Film Challenge and successfully completing our 6th film, "Tail". 'Tail' brought home the award for 'Best Sound Design' as well as being nominated for Best use of Dialoge and Best Cinematography

Just a few weeks later it was once again time for the San Jose 48 Hour Film project. Despite a rough start IDOM pulled together and created 'TwirlyBoy', possibly our strangest film so far.

With seven very different films completed in a years time some would say it's time to take a break, but not IDOM - this is just the beginning as IDOM tackles new projects and goes in new directions in the quest to become the greatest competitive filmmaking team of all time!

Stay Tuned!

Who Is Quang Khoi?

When Quang Khoi and his family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam back in the mid seventies, his mother decided to give all the kids American names. Nobody could pronounce Quang Khoi, so his mother renamed her youngest son Tony. Quang Khoi's mom is a huge movie buff, and her passion for cinema is evident in the fact that she named her children after movie stars. Though it has never been confirmed or denied, word on the street is that her all time favorite movie is Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, and that she named her youngest son after that film's leading man, Anthony Perkins. "Tony" is not so bad, considering that Quang Khoi could have ended up being "Norman Bates Nguyen."

These days, Quang Khoi uses his real name when he is acting in film. When he's behind the camera, he goes by his American name, Tony. Quang Khoi/Tony Nguyen inherited his mother's passion for the movies. He enjoys every aspect of film, from playing character roles on the screen to editing time lines in Final Cut Pro behind the scenes. Mr. Nguyen is very proud to be a part of this year's 48 Hour Film Project. Working with the It Donned On Me team has been such a rewarding experience, and he hopes to continue to work this awesome group of people in future projects.

Blogged Arteries - The Unrendered Files

Friday, August 1, 2008