Me, A Marketeer?

Kudos to Strange Media's "Tracker" for taking the top honors at the Avalon Micro Film Festival. This film took home The Excalibur Best Film Prize. I had the privilege of speaking with the film's creator, Steffan Schultz, after the screening. It's really funny how it's such a small world: it turns out that Evan Donn worked for Steffan a few years ago. There may be a lot of people in the independent film community, but the ones who are truly passionate about this art form are the ones who keep popping up at these events. I guess that's why it came as no surprise to either gentlemen when their paths bisected again. I'm fairly sure that these two will meet again and again.

I have some exciting news. Jeff Crispi has asked me to join Team Avalon as a marketing consultant. All I did was post one write up on Blogged Arteries, but apparently it was enough for the invitation. The Fall edition of AMFF on October 18th is right around the corner and Evan will probably be producing again, so I figured I will be in good company. Also, this will give the opportunity to hone my marketing skills outside of It Donned On Me. We all know what I can and will do for IDOM! Of course, for Avalon, I will tone it down just a tad. In any case, I will be in touch with Mr. Crispi in the next couple of weeks to get the preparations underway. Hope you all can make it to the screening on Saturday, October 18th at Laney College. More details to come.

Who Is Little Debbie Anyway?

Uh-Oh! I got the following message from the San Jose 48 Hour Film Project Producer today:

Your team was awarded the "Most Gratuitous Merchandising Ploy" but the IOC is now challenging the award. It seems that there's some suspicion that the so-called "Ho Ho's" were actually Little Debbies. Should this rumor prove to be true, the Congressional oversight committee may want to collect some testimony.



Who is Little Debbie anyway?

The Judges Have Spoken!

A big thanks to Vincent, Brooks, and Kristin for all their hard work on this year's SJ48HFP. I'd also like to send a special shout out to all the film makers for keeping this art form alive. I love doing what I do, and what I love even more is seeing my peers showcase their blood, sweat, and tears through film. You guys all rock. Congratulations to EyeQ Films for your well deserved awards. I am so glad that I was able to meet you all in person after the screening. I look forward to seeing you all again next year. And now for the winners...

Best Film: The Animals
Producers Choice for Excellence: Dia de los Dead
Best Direction: The Animals
Best Acting: (tie) Jordan Dobbs Rosa [Firecracker] and Abigail Wray Bennett [Firecracker]
Best Cinematography: Attrition
Best Music/Score: Nobody Gets Me
Audience Choice (Group A): High Stakes Hooky
Audience Choice (Group B): The Animals
Best Team Logo: Barkada inc. (The Best Thing)
Best Required Character: The Best Thing
Best Required Line: Firecracker
Best Required Prop: The Animals
Most Gratuitous Marketing Ploy: TwirlyBoy
Community Player Award: Victoria Johnson, Robin Edwards, Evan Donn, and Jason Salazar

Most Gratuitous Merchandising Ploy

I am very happy to announce that TwirlyBoy has walked away with two awards at the San Jose 48 Hour Film Festival. What I love about these two awards is that they are not your standard honors. TwirlyBoy took the prize for "Most Gratuitous Merchandising Ploy," an award in which I believe was given because of the spiky haired twirling sensation's excessive and repetitive demand for Ho Ho's! The other award that TwirlyBoy earned is a special "Community Player Award" for Evan Donn. Kudos to Evan for being a team player to IDOM and a community player to San Jose. CONGRATULATIONS IDOM! In honor of our two awards, below is a TwirlyBoy trailer, courtesy of Rob Carey. Enjoy!

Toni From It Donned On Me

A few weeks ago, I approached one of the film makers of the San Jose 48 Hour Film Project after her screening and let her to know that her film from the prior year made such an impression on me that I bookmarked the YouTube version on my web browser. I also noted that more often then not, I find myself singing the song from her movie. Her film was so memorable that a year later I'm still talking about it! I stopped her after the screening and had a good six to seven minute face to face conversation with her. Fast forward a few weeks, I see this posted on the San Jose 48 Hour Film Project message board:

I spoke with Toni from It Donned On Me this year, and she complimented me on last year's film! She said she had the YouTube link bookmarked in her Web browser. That means more to me than any award! And I still love the line from their entry last year, uttered by the character with the German accent: "I'm starting to like your dogs!"

Do I look a woman? Apparently so! I couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Toni" from It Donned On Me. It's so funny because she remembered our conversation very well, yet I don't think she really knew exactly who she was talking to. I emailed her back and asked if I look like a woman to her. I also added "just for the record, it's Tony with a y. 'Y' as in the 'y' chromosome. In other words, I am male :-) " How funny is that? In any case, if I were a girl, I'd like to look like this:

TwirlyBoy Grows Up

And The Nominees Are...

I am very excited to announce that 'TwirlyBoy' is up for a few SJ48HFP awards! We are nominated for Best Direction, Best Music/Score, Best Cinematography, the Audience Award, and possibly some special awards (hmm... "Most Gratuitious Marketing Ploy" ???)! I'm really looking forward to this event! I won't show up as TwirlyBoy though. I got my faux hawk chopped off last week, and with no Twirly 'do, there will be no TwirlyBoy.

From: sanjose48hfp@gmail.com
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 8:32 PM
To: 48 Hour Film Project Participants
Subject: San Jose 48HFP Awards Ceremony Nominations Announced!


...hello Players and Team. The judges have deliberated. Then they've reconsidered, and then they arm-wrestled to resolve some of the finer points of the craft. At last we have their results. The nominations for awards in each of our major categories are being announced here, and the final winner will be announced on Sunday night at the Highlights Night and Awards Ceremony.

The Event
So first of all, let me tell you that the event will be held at the Media Center in Palo Alto. Here are the complete details:

San Jose 48 Hour Film Project presents...

Highlights Night and Awards Ceremony
Sunday, Sept 7, 7:00pm-9:30pm
Media Center
900 San Antonio Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Admission: $5

At the event, we will show many of the films from this year's crop, a couple of surprise special features, and we'll present the awards along with comments from the judges. This is a great night to "close the loop" on this year's event. See the films one more time, hear what the judges and the audience thought of them, and socialize with the other filmmakers and teams. It will be a grand night.

Nominations
Nominees are listed in alphabetical order, and you should be aware that your film may be up for a special award or another honor that is not listed in the nominations. There are still some surprises to come.

Best Film:
The Animals
Bodbrane, Wizard of Spas
The Best Thing
High Stakes Hooky
Lost and Found

Best Acting:
The Animals - Mark McGrath
Firecracker - Abigail Wray Bennett
Firecracker - Jordan Dobbs Rosa
Attrition - James Davis
Marble Bag - Tom Cokenias

Best Direction:
The Animals
Bodbrane, Wizard of Spas
Lost and Found
Nobody Gets Me
Twirly Boy

Best Music/Score:
The Animals
Firecracker
High Stakes Hooky
Nobody Gets Me
Twirly Boy

Best Cinematography:
The Animals
Attrition
Dia De Los Dead
Firecracker
Twirly Boy

Additional awards do not have nominees, but take a look at these and see if you think your team may have qualified for one of them. Awards will be given for special achievement in several areas. These include:

Most Gratuitous Merchandising Ploy
Best Team Splash Sequence
Best Credits/Titles
Best Marketing Collateral
Community Player Award

All right. There's a lot more to say and we all know that the art is to say just enough. I've probably already gone beyond that limit today.

---v

True Confessions

There's something I really need to get off my chest. This is something that's been eating away at me ever since the TwirlyBoy premiere. I am afraid that I've been lying to everybody, and it's now time to come clean. The truth of the matter is that I did not do my own twirly stunts. I actually had a body double, and her name is Tatiana Ogryzo, world class ribbon twirler from the 90's. We didn't credit her in our film because I didn't wanted anyone to know. Well, it's time to give credit where credit is due. ;-P



Oh, another thing, those weren't Ho Ho's I gave out at the TwirlyBoy screening. They were knock offs. Ho Ho's cost $1.29 for a three pack versus $1 for a box of 12 of Little Debbie's Swiss Rolls. I chose the economical route. They look like Ho Ho's, they taste like Ho Ho's, in my book they are Ho Ho's! Can you imagine TwirlyBoy demanding the Ho Ho knock off? "I WANT MY LITTLE DEBBIE'S SWISS ROLLS!" In any case, if I have offended anyone by being deceitful, I am sorry.

And The Award Goes To...

We are a week away from the Awards Ceremony for the 2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project! Yippee! I am crossing my fingers that TwirlyBoy will garner a hand full of nominations. If I had it my way, this would be the results:



It Donned On Me would twirl away with every award, if I were a judge! An IDOM sweep! Of course, I am a slightly biased. So for the sake of being impartial, I will remove TwirlyBoy from the list and vote for what I feel is the best of the best of 2008. Please note that these are my personal picks and not predictions. If I were to pick the best of 2008, minus TwirlyBoy, they would be the following:

Best Use of Prop
"Lost and Found" - P-Town Pictures (romance)

Best Use of Character
"From Coffee To Drumstick" - Outlaw Media Productions (fantasy)

Best Use of Line of Dialogue
"Marble Bag" - Block Cipher (romance)

Best Costumes
"High Stakes Hookey" - UbseyMovies (period piece)

Best Special Effects
"Bodbrane and the Wizard of Spas" - Beyond Forever Studios (fantasy)

Best Art Direction
"Vagrant Realty" - Turnabout Pictures

Best Sound Design
"The Animals" - EyeQ Films (fable)

Best Musical Score
"Rock Me Kokopelli" - tinyandsmall.com (period piece)

Best Cinematography
"The Animals" - EyeQ Films (fable)

Best Editing
"The Best Thing" - Barkada, Inc. (drama)

Best Writing
"Dia de los Dead" - Vision 6 (holiday)

Best Acting
"Dia de los Dead" - Vision 6 (holiday)

Best Directing
"The Best Thing" - Barkada, Inc. (drama)

Best Film
"Dia de los Dead" - Vision 6 (holiday)

Rock Me Kokopelli

It's been a full week since the first screening of the 2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project. I am a bit antsy because I have to wait another full week (and a day!) for the awards ceremony. TwirlyBoy seemed like it was very well received by the audience, so i'm hoping we get some nominations. The waiting game is always tough, but I will survive. At first I was afraid, I was petrified, but like I said, I will survive. I'm really looking forward to the September 4th awards show.

I think it's time for another IDOM party. It Donned On Me had a productive summer, and it's time to celebrate both "Tail" and "TwirlyBoy." This would also be a good time to screen "Rock Me Kokopelli," the period piece by IDOM renegades Joe Kirsch and Kirk Moore. These two created their own film for the SJ48HFP, which was premiered last week in Group A. I made it out to Cinema 12 last Wednesday night to support them and the other film makers. I don't believe that any other IDOM'ers have not seen their film yet, and I understand that Joe is in the process of doing some tweaks. We'll definitely have to screen "Rock Me Kokopelli at the next IDOM party!

it DONNED on me

Ok, I have a funny little story. There I was sitting on the guacamole green Ikea couch updating Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files when my iPhone beeps. I checked the screen and saw that an email came in from a co-worker. I initially thought it was a work issue and was about to put the iPhone away, but when I saw the subject heading "It Donned On Me," I had to check. I opened up the email, and this is what I saw:

Hey dood. Just checking on this, just in case. Not to sharp-shoot ya or nothin'. You know that the usual expression is written "it dawned on me", yes? I assumed you have a friend named Don or that there's a pun in there with the Godfather or something, but then I thought maybe I better check just to be sure…This is one of those things like when you've got something in your teeth--I wasn't even sure if I should mention it, but then I figured I better mention it. Right. Sorry if this is know-it-all pain-in-the-assery.

Funny! I love that people wonder about our name, because it means that they are talking about us! I emailed the guy back and explained that our director is named Evan Donn, and that It Donned On Me is simply a play on his name. For those who may not know, I was put on the spot last year when I signed us up for the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project. I had less than a minute to come up with a group name. The first moniker that came to mind was "The Crack of Donn." For all you dirty minded peeps out there, I'd like to clarify that the "crack" refers to us taking a crack at this competition! In any case, it dawned on me that this name probably wouldn't go over well with the team, so I had to come up with something else. It then dawned on me that we should be called "IT DONNED ON ME!" The name stuck and the rest is history.

On that note, I'd like to close out this blog by posting the IT DONNED ON ME story, which Evan has updated on the IDOM website. We've only been together as a team a little over a year, but we have accomplished quite a bit!

The ongoing 'It Donned On Me' saga...

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!

Twirly Cast & Crew

Twirly Blooper

You gotta love bloopers. We had our fair share of TwirlyBoy outtakes during the filming of this peculiar road movie. One of my most memorable moments occurred during the scene where TwirlyBoy is talking on the phone while tightening his gluts on the hula chair. A minor hula malfunction occurred, giving Twirly a little scare. Fortunately, the spiky haired ribbon twirler finished the scene without any injury.

More From The SJ48HFP Screening

What I love the 48 Hour Film Project is that I get to meet people who share the same passion for film making as I do. As I gave out Ho Ho's to every audience member in the theater, a familiar face approached me. I had to do a double take, but when I got closer, I recognized who it was: Liz Langston, the co-founder and executive producer of the 48 Hour Film Project! I gushed to her, "It's me! Tony! From It Donned On Me! I met you at the Visa Life Takes Invitationals!" She immediately smiled, gave me a big hug, then turned to her friend and said, "This is Tony. The last time I saw him, he was jumping up and down on stage!" It was definitely a pleasant surprise to see Liz at this event.



I am also glad that I had the opportunity to meet up with Barkada, Inc. I've been a big fan of their work ever since their time travel flick, "Saving The Future From The Past," which they made for the 2007 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project. They followed that one up with the hilarious musical "A Keesh For Hershel." If it weren't for the the 48HFP, I never would have met these guys. Barkada is awesome, and I hope that someday in the near future we could work together.



The awards ceremony for the 2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project is not going to happen for another week and a half. I'm getting excited for that night, and I hope that TwirlyBoy will take home multiple awards. I'll be antsy for the next week and half. Can't wait!

Tony's Picks For The SJ48HFP Audience Awards

I'm still recuperating from last night's screening of TwirlyBoy. My body is actually sore from all that twirling in the theater! It was fun to see all the films from last night as well as from the night before. There are some really good submissions this year.

My personal favorites from the two screenings include "Marble Bag" by Block Cipher, "Vagrant Realty" by Turnabout Pictures, "Dia de los Dead" by Vision 6, "High Stakes Hooky" by UbseyMovies, "The Animals" by EyeQ Films, and "The Best Thing" by Barkada, Inc. All these films had something special. I liked the quirkiness of "Marble Bag, the humor of "Vagrant Realty," the full package of Dia de los Dead," the nostalgia of "High Stakes Hooky," the style of "The Animals," and the production values of "The Best Thing." Kudos to these teams for producing such great films.





Choosing the Audience Award is tough, but for Group A, I would give it to Vision 6's holiday film, "Dia de los Dead," a poignant film about three friends trying to cope with their friend's death. This film was a well packaged piece, complete with excellent writing, great performances, and superb production values. As for Group B, I am going to go out on a limb and vote for "TwirlyBoy." Surprise surprise, eh? I gotta vote for IDOM! However, if TwirlyBoy were not in the running, then I would definitely vote for Barkada, Inc.'s "The Best Thing." For a team who has made their mark making laugh out loud flicks, Barkada really scored with their drama about death. I'm not sure what it is, but both films dealing with death made the biggest impression on me. In any case, both of these films will definitely receive nominations for all the major categories. I hope TwirlyBoy does too!

Group A, Wednesday, August 20, 2008
"The Road Ahead" - Mi Casa Su Casa Productions (road movie)
"Bodbrane and the Wizard of Spas" - Beyond Forever Studios (fantasy)
"Nobody Gets Me" - Midnight Cowbells (horror)
"Marble Bag" - Block Cipher (romance)
"Vagrant Realty" - Turnabout Pictures
"The Curious Augustus Shank" - RadioActive Studios (spy)
"Lost In Translation" - SJ Crew (detective/cop)
"Rock Me Kokopelli" - tinyandsmall.com (period piece)
"Musical Forty-Eight" - Aido Group and Live Collective (musical)
"inheritance" - Blue Ribbon Productions" (drama)
"Attrition" - Short & Sweet (thriller/suspense)
"Dia de los Dead" - Vision 6 (holiday)
"High Stakes Hookey" - UbseyMovies (period piece)

Group B, Thursday, August 21, 2008
"Rocking Dreams" - Fremont Film Forum (musical)
"Late For Practice" - Chula Vista Entertainment (thriller/suspense)
"Lost and Found" - P-Town Pictures (romance)
"Firecracker" - Team Filmzombi (holiday)
"One Step Ahead" - ChaozFilms Productions (film de femme)
"Survived" - CA Tamil Talkies (film de femme)
"St. Angela" - Rising Sun Studios (comedy)
"BamBoozle" - STRIKETEAM (detective/cop)
"Second Chance" - Rebellian Studios (suspense/thriller)
"Death For Rent" - MYF Media Productions (horror)
"From Coffee To Drumstick" - Outlaw Media Productions (fantasy)
"The Animals" - EyeQ Films (fable)
"The Best Thing" - Barkada, Inc. (drama)
"TwirlyBoy" - It Donned On Me (road movie)

TwirlyBoy Screening

What a crazy night. Evan Donn recapped the evening best on the IDOM page:

'TwirlyBoy' closed out last night's screening with a bang, ending a night of great films with the audience both entertained and confused as they asked themselves "what just happened?" To top it all off, IDOM Chief Instigator Tony Nguyen appeared in full TwirlyBoy regalia (including a costume change!) and bribed the audience with free Ho Ho's and some spectacular ribbon twirling. Win or lose, at least we won't be forgotten! There was even some talk of a possible sequel... hmm, "TwirlyBoy 2: Electric Boogaloo" perhaps?

If you couldn't make it out to the screening you can enjoy TwirlyBoy from the comfort of your own home RIGHT NOW!



Indeed, IDOM's Chief Instigator went over the top for this screening. I really wanted everyone to remember 'Twirly Boy', so I brought a Ho Ho for every audience member. I had a total of 250 Ho Hos in my bag, and I gave them all away! Shameless propaganda, I know, but like I said before, I will do anything in my pursuit to get the IDOM logo tattooed in every audience member's brain. I probably looked like a dork twirling around in my thermal undies with the Ed Grimley 'do, but that's perfectly fine because I do believe that I achieved my goal of making a lasting impression on the audience. Like Evan said, "win or lose, at least we won't be forgotten!"



There will forever be a special place in my heart for TwirlyBoy. This has been an incredible experience, perhaps one of the best in my history with It Donned On Me. The reason why is because I missed last year's event due to family obligations, which really bummed me out. I came into this competition wanting to savor every moment, and boy did I ever. I'd like to thank my fellow IDOM'ers for having the faith in me and casting me in this role. I am so there for the TwirlyBoy sequel!

Twirly Pics

TwirlyBoy, The Movie Poster

It's a little after 2am and I am close to passing out. The past few days have been pretty intense and I think it's all catching up with me now. I spent the last couple of hours piecing together the TwirlyBoy poster, and I am happy to say that after a few rough drafts, I completed a movie poster that I am proud of. When production ends, my work begins. As the Chief Instigator, my job is to market all our films, so it is vital for me to get the movie poster, postcards, and blog updates completed in a timely manner.

I take it upon myself to take these extra steps because I am proud of IDOM and I want people to see our work. I strongly feel that doing all this is necessary in order to get our name out there. How many movie studios out there just make a film and hope that it will sell? Marketing is a very important part of the process, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that every film we make will donn on everybody. Someone has to do it! Our work speaks for itself, but a little PR will take it even further.

What Just Happened?!?

I'm still asking myself "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" over the weekend. I'm really not sure how we got to the finish line, but somehow we did. I am happy, tired, excited, and relieved. After having missed the San Jose 48 Hour Film Project last year, I really wanted tomake the most of this year's event. At this time, I need to finish up the "TwirlyBoy" poster so that I can get it to the printer in time for Thursday night's screening. Hence, I will now bring this blog to a halt. Before I make my exit, I will plagiarize Evan Donn. Below is an excerpt from the IDOM website, courtesy of Mr. Donn himself.

What just happened?! That was the required line of dialogue for the 2008 San Jose 48 Hour Film Project, and also a good description of our weekend! It seems we'd become complacent after our last couple projects ('Tail' and 'Stick & Pound') went very smoothly, and we assumed that would always be the case... not this weekend!

Our usual M.O. is to wrap up writing the story/script by midnight Friday so we can get some sleep before an early start on Saturday. This time we didn't wrap up until 2:30 am - and we didn't even have a full story at that point!. Saturday kicked off late with low morale as we all sensed that things weren't going well, but we plunged back into brainstorming mode and finished up the story. This pushed back our shoot start time until early afternoon but it was worth it, as once the story started to come together our enthusiasm returned as well. Our shoot ran late into the evening and our first rough cut wasn't ready until 3:30 - and we still had material to shoot! We kicked back off at 8:30 Sunday morning and wrapped the shoot in a few more hours, leaving us just the afternoon to finish the edit.

Unfortunately this late schedule meant we ran out of time to record an original score (sorry Dante!). We found some good CC-licensed tracks on Jamendo which brought everything together well and wrapped post with just over an hour to spare - just in time in fact, as it took nearly an hour to get to the drop off in San Jose! We made it though, with just 7 minutes to spare - probably our closest drop off so far!

Despite the struggles we pulled off a film we're all proud of - 'TwirlyBoy'. It's a strange name. It's an even stranger film. Strange, but good. And like every other competition we've done so far I don't think there's any way any of us could have envisioned the film we'd end up with before last weekend...

'TwirlyBoy' will premier on Thursday, August 21st at the Group B screening, which takes place at the Camera 12 Cinema in San Jose at 7:30pm. If you're planning to come be sure to buy tickets ahead of time as it's likely to sell out. If you can't make the screening don't worry - we'll post 'TwirlyBoy' here on the site in glorious HD on Thursday night!

TwirlyBoy

Thanks to Matthew Sloan, we have our movie title: TwirlyBoy. I tried to pitch TwirlyBoy Does Not Want To Go To Beijing, but Evan rolled his eyes at me. I guess I'll be ok with the truncated version. Twirly Boy. It really does have a nice ring to it.



9:48am.
Sunday morning. We were about nine hours away from the deadline, and we still had some scenes to shoot. Yikes! This was definitely a crazy jam packed day, but I am always up for the challenge. At about 10am, we all hit the road to shoot those last few scenes. Evan will have to do some color correction because the sun did not come out for us. As I sat in the convertible in my TwirlyBoy suit, all I could think of was getting pulled over by the police. It didn't help that I was standing up on the front passenger seat twirling my ribbons. I kept telling myself that it was Sunday morning and all the cops were probably at IHOP. Fortunately for us, they probably were.

10:30am.
After driving around for about 45 minutes, Evan got the shots that he needed. Matthew was done for weekend, but TwirlyBoy still had one final scene to shoot. I was bummed to see my partner in crime leave, but all good things must come to an end. I had a lot of fun with the dapper British gent this weekend. There was definitely chemistry between us, and I am very excited to see the final product. The two of us really nailed this.



2:31pm.
CRUNCH TIME!! With the clock ticking away, every IDOM'er cranked away towards that finish line. I took the liberty of working on the credits. Evan edited, Rob reviewed and logged the cam 2 footage, Sig and Dinah finished up the paperwork, Mike and Tom hunted down our talent for signatures, and Rick searched for Creative Commons licensed music.

7:23pm.
With only seven minutes to spare, TwirlyBoy crossed the finish line! I think this is the closest we've ever come to elimination. I swear, the ride to San Jose to drop off the final product was a road movie in itself, where the star of the film is the temperamental GPS device! My blood pressure reached dangerous levels during this ride, but none of that mattered once I handed in that envelope. I was happy and relieved that we did it once again. TwirlyBoy is number seven for It Donned On Me, and we keep getting better and better. I can't wait until the screening.