It was Friday night. Pulling pieces of paper out of a hat, they received a genre, character, prop and piece of dialogue. Now they had no time to lose. Team Dropper had to put together a short film in just 48 hours.
Such was the hurried energy of this team, and many others around Sonoma County, when the 13th Annual 48-Hour Film Project last weekend put local filmmakers’ talents to the ultimate test. The results are judged and screened this weekend.
Dropper Collective, one of the 15 teams representing Santa Rosa for the first time, includes Santa Rosa Junior College students Javier Martinez, Luc Londe, Chuck Starzenski, Sam Euston, Clay Atchison, Mario Morquecho, Athena Wheaton, Jonathan Morquecho, Miguel Sanchez, Sean Legier and Stephanie Shepherd.
Dropper Collective finished the final editing touches on Sunday. Eight is a drama about a reunion between a father and son after the son has been released from prison. Martinez says the time constraint both helped and hindered the creative process.
“We had to think under pressure. We had to quickly discard ideas that clearly did not work or were not interesting enough. It allowed us to move faster, and we didn’t have to linger too much on one idea,” he says, noting also that “our actors only had a couple of hours to memorize their lines and their characters. That was hard on our actors.”
At the screening, audiences will
look for three recurring elements;
each film must utilize a bandage, a former reality show contestant, and
the line “Hold this. I’ll be right back.” With the project ready for viewing, Martinez says his team now feels more confident about their chances of winning. “We think it turned out really good,” he says, “considering the time constraint and everything, and this being our first time competing in the contest.”
The 48-Hour films and winners are revealed on Friday, Aug. 23, at Summerfield Cinemas. 551 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa. $10. 8pm and 10pm. 707.522.0719.
