MotherReader

We made a movie.

We worked hard on it, and I like it. A lot.

Thank you.

(The “thank you” serves not only as a reference to the content of yesterday’s post, in which I showed my appreciation for the cast and crew, but also as a preemptive thanks to those of you who will take the seven minutes to watch the movie. After all, it’s not like I’m expecting you to read a whole book or anything.)

With it being so easy to make and post anything on YouTube, it’s become even harder to explain why making a seven-minute film in forty-eight hours is such a challenge. But if you’re interested, here is a bit of a view into the movie-making process, which we follow in abbreviated format on these weekend ventures.

Even on the heels of our stressful weeks of family medical issues, we couldn’t give up the notion of having Tohubohu participate in the 48 Hour Film Project. And while we did have a more difficult time writing, filming, and editing our film, the results were worth it. But let’s start at the beginning...

When Bill went to the kick-off party and drew “horror” as our genre, he was thrilled by the challenge it presented. When he told me as I was driving back from Virginia Beach, I was less so. I knew it would be very hard to capture the tension of a decent horror movie in seven minutes, and had no ideas to even contribute. (As opposed to last year, when the concept presented itself in a dream.) I believe that my exact words were, “Good luck with that,” as I continued to make my way back home.

After Bill’s initial brainstorming session with our writer, Robin Brande, she took on the idea — totally out of her comfort zone — and developed it into a first-draft script. The two of them continued to work throughout the night to capture the right tone, feature our great actors, and incorporate the required elements. (Prop: a horn; Character: Marco or Muffin Gabbowitz, a person who works with animals; Line of dialogue: “Do you think you can do that again?”) I, um... went to bed.

Working until 6:00 a.m. on Saturday morning left us very little in the way of prep time for the day’s filming. Fortunately, Bill had visited the locations earlier, and did have a good idea of where the scenes would take place. Also having worked on the script so much, he knew what he wanted from the actors. What we were missing was a clear sense of the filming schedule, along with the rested brain capacity to develop one as the day went on. Or to remember little details, like bringing one’s daughter back from the set.

But this is where building a spectacular team comes in, because all of our cast and crew truly stepped up. It’s safe to say that we would not have a film if they had not all been so proactive, so competent, so passionate about their jobs. When I forgot to start the actors running lines, they did it themselves. When I didn’t have dinner plans set, our host came to me with the suggestion of a cookout, which he set up and arranged. When I prepared my weary mind to clear the set of our filming improvements, I was told that it was already done. When Bill realized that an actor wasn’t there, a crew member filled in. When Bill left our daughter at the other house, a kind actor brought her back to our staging ground.

I can’t possibly credit all of the work done to make this film look spectacular, but I’ll try to hit on a few things to give you a sense of the movie-making aspect. Lee and Meredith had scouted out locations in the quaint Del Ray part of Alexandria, and allowed us to use their house not only for filming but as our base of operations for the whole long, long day. They also arranged for us to use another house — one that I fell in love with — for other scenes. Both places gave the movie texture with the interesting look of the rooms. Check the odd angles in the kid’s room and the central 1890s fireplace in the group scene.

One important thing that makes a movie look like a movie and not a YouTube video is lighting. It’s easier to understand how involved the process is when you know that the crew taped black covering behind the windows to make the filming look like it took place at night. And then set up enough lighting to be able to see the actors, while still retaining the mood. Both the kid’s bedroom scene and the group discussion scene were filmed in the middle of the day.

Set dressing makes it all believable. The kid’s room was only a bare bed, but the addition of a childlike quilt and pillowcase, stuffed animals, and a trombone gave it a realistic look. Keeping the filming tight left the rest of the undecorated room out of the shot. Sometimes the sets are in what isn’t shown. Seeing the room behind “Karen” in her confrontation with “Daniel” would have been distracting in a scene that was all about building tension. Throw in some lighting choices, film angles, and color correction in editing and you have one intense scene.

And speaking of that scene, I checked lines with the actors Jennifer and Nick as they ran through it and boy, was I impressed. They ran lines, sure, but they also talked about where they were as characters for the scene. Nick asked questions about his character’s emotional state. Was he defiant? Regretful? Apologetic? Unhinged? How would each of those artistic choices affect the scene? I watched him and Jennifer go through all of these adaptations, and the final version is amazing.

And I have to mention Jennifer being so into the last scene that when she didn’t hear the director’s call to cut, she continued with such emotional intensity that the crew thought that she had crossed over personally to some dark place in her own experience. Now that’s acting!

There are so many other things that went into making this movie. We had two people working on the horror makeup, and one patient teen actor who not only sat through it, but then stayed in the makeup all day until we could film her scene in front of a green screen. (Which we decided was the better option than putting her in the scenes as originally intended.) We had editors putting the film together as we finished each scene, so that Bill could work from a well-done rough cut instead of from scratch. Tracking the film takes along the way makes the editor’s job possible, and keeping the boom mike close to the action but not in the shot is a skill that is hard to explain. Even the simple notion of making conversation in actors’ downtime went a long way toward making everyone feel comfortable.

In our longest day of filming yet, we wrapped up at 1:30 a.m. Bill went into the office to go over the preliminary edit and then came back to the house for a few hours of sleep. On Sunday he headed back downtown to finish editing the film and add sound effects, music, and credits. Oh, and play with sound levels and color correction and technical film kind of stuff. I worked from home, selecting the musical tracks, suggesting edits for time, and generally checking in on Bill’s support system.

The extensive edits needed to bring it down to the required time limit took over too much of the day on Sunday, making a final, unexpectedly lengthy file transfer enough to cause us miss the deadline for submission by five minutes. Really a shame. But we’re proud of the film and of our team, and can’t wait to do it again.

Last night we had our screening at the AFI Silver Theatre, and now you can see it too at Tohubohu Productions. I hope you enjoy it.

By the way, if this sounds like something you might be interested in, the 48 Hour Film Project takes place in cities all over the world, and many groups need to fill positions in the weeks and days leading up to the competition. On the website, you can indicate your interest in joining a team, and there are often meet-and-greet events to help fill positions. Also, Tohubohu Productions is interested in filming shorts on a less grueling schedule, and we’d love to see some scripts to consider.

Lately, I seem to have writer’s block. For my blog. Pathetic. Add that to the whole getting-back-to-normal thing going on at home, where I try to make up for days of not being around and a weekend of movie-making, and I find myself drifting. I want to get back on track here, but I’m not feeling it. I’m thinking I’ll do some catch-up stuff now and really kick off next week. Sound good?

I’ve set the date for the 48 Hour Book Challenge as the weekend of June 4th and will put up the official sign-up post with rules on Monday. I’m way behind in trolling prize package items, so if you could help me out by donating signed books, crafty ventures, illustrator sketches, reading paraphernalia, etc., I’d really appreciate it. You can email me at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com.

I’m planning on going to Book Expo America and the Book Blogger Convention, but have made no plans as to my transportation or accommodations. That was my April project, but my mind was elsewhere. I’d love to know who is going from the KidLitosphere, so let’s see some comments below.

Tonight our latest short film screens at 7:00 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. We drew “horror” as our genre, and had quite a time writing it with Robin Brande and filming it with our stellar cast and crew. And actually editing it was a challenge too, as we needed to keep the movie under seven minutes and yet leave enough time to build tension. I’m hoping to join the Tohubohu team tonight, but I have some logistics to work through. Tomorrow I’ll write about the making of the film and hopefully be able to share a link to it.

I don’t have any more updates on my mom, other than that she would seem to the outside observer to be doing extremely well. It’s only by being with her that I see the huge gaps in her cognitive processing. And I don’t know how much better they are going to get or when or even how. Plus there are still medical issues ahead. For now though, my brother has taken some leave to cover her care, so I have a bit of a reprieve.

I’ve barely been able to keep up with KidLitosphere happenings, but I did note the latest uproar over how fake-nice women book bloggers are — which Liz is covering most splendidly at Tea Cozy. My first reaction was that writing without research on YA/KidLit or book blogging is usually a New York Times thing, so I wonder if they’ll be contracting out to The Huffington Post. Honestly that article alone would have been enough online excitement for weeks, but then we got one from The Horn Book that suggests “if you love children’s literature, you cannot kill animals just because they taste good on a bun.” I’m here to say that actually you can and I’m curious where I’ll find full-out argument with the thesis — which I am so not up to. But for now you can comment on the topic at Read Roger.

Hey, look at that. My writer’s block is over.

I haven’t been that engaged online lately, so I feel like I’m getting back up to speed anyway and then there’s all this stuff going on. So let’s knock this out in one post, shall we?

Over at Booklights, Jen is talking about Drop Everything and Read Day (known as D.E.A.R. Day) held every year on April 12th in honor of Beverly Cleary’s birthday. Makes me want to put off the housecleaning today and pick up a book. But to be fair, pretty much everything makes me want to put off the housecleaning and pick up a book.

Today also begins National Library Week, which is bittersweet this year. Personally, because I was laid off from my own library job that I loved and now miss. But more broadly, because all over the country libraries and their staff are on the budget chopping block. Very sad. Let’s hope our love of libraries can help government officials see their value.

Fortunately, we have great news coming in from Chasing Ray about the Operation TBD wish lists: “Neil Gaiman tweeted about them on Friday and sent our visitor number into the stratosphere which was very very cool. Over 300 books have been bought thus far which gets us close to the halfway point.” Keep those contributions coming!

Over at Fuse#8, THE NUMBER ONE CHILDREN’S NOVEL IS…

Celebration of National Poetry Month continues with the schedule posted at KidLitosphere Central. I know that I’ve seen some wonderful features so far, and I’m looking forward to more. If anyone is taking requests, I’d like a poem about allergies to commemorate this record-breaking pollen count. Thanks.

Hey, I’ve got a speaking gig on Wednesday for SCBWI Mid-Atlantic talking to published authors and illustrators about KidLit blogging. I’d love to see you there. Yes, you.

Save the Date for the 48 Hour Book Challenge on the weekend of June 4–6. More information will be coming, along with a sign-up page and prizes, so stay tuned. Oh, and if you have prizes you’d be willing to donate, let me know at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.

Speaking of all-weekend events leads me to announce Tohubohu’s next participation in the 48 Hour Film Project on the weekend of April 30th. We’ve engaged the fabulous Robin Brande as our writer (Hooray!), and have a great team of actors and crew ready to go. Now all we need is the genre, and required character, prop, and line of dialogue to make a seven-minute film. Easy, peasy.

We can also finally release access to our last movie, done as part of the International Shootout. For that competition we were given a simple theme: The End of the World. We went for a family drama, featuring our two daughters along with other fine actors. The visuals at the end always get to me, and well, the singing there is my younger daughter and me. Check out “Uncertainty Principle.” Hope you like it!

Last night’s movie screening of “Please Forward” was fantastic! The audience loved the film, laughing in all the right places and giving us a ton of applause. We were last on the schedule, which was an honor in and of itself. A lot of the cast and crew come out with their friends and family to see the movie. I was late getting there because I was ironing on the transfers for the T-shirts, but it did mean that we could all wear them when the screening finished. Bill got the most comments on the film, especially since he addressed the audience with the other directors, but everyone who was wearing the T-shirt heard something great. We ran out of time to make flyers directing people to the Chain Mail International company website, where you can see a preview of the film and read the (fake) corporate history. I guess that venture will be just for us and our online friends.

Anyway, the important news today is that now the whole movie is up at Tohubohu Productions. Both of my kids have roles, and I’m in it as an employee at the company party. And as I’ve mentioned, the script was written by our own Robin Brande. Take the eight minutes to watch it and remember that we wrote, filmed, edited, and scored it in one weekend. Booyah!

I’m so excited about our movie screening tonight for “Please Forward.” We have a lot of the cast and crew turning out to cheer and socialize. We even have T-shirts! The shirt design is the corporate logo of Chain Mail International, the business featured in the film. Bill even made the company website, where you can see a preview of the film and read the corporate history. The whole movie will go up this evening or tomorrow either there or at Tohubohu Productions. Both of my kids have roles, and I’m in it as an employee at the company party. Can you find me?

It’s fair to say that the idea for Tohubohu’s newest short film, “Please Forward,” came to me in a dream. Seriously.

In the days before the 48 Hour Film Project, Bill and Robin were joking about chain emails and then thinking how that concept would be interesting for the movie. But with our genre and required elements still not established, they didn’t want to go too far down that road. (In the 48 Hour Film Project, you pick your genre out of a hat and there is a required prop, character, and line of dialogue.) However, that night as I slept, I took that germ of a concept, mixed it with The Office, and a parody video, “Flutter.” I dreamed about a mockumentary about a business that starts all of those obnoxious chain emails. When I told Bill in the morning, he laughed, but not knowing what we’d have to use when we wrote our film, it didn’t make sense to work up the idea. We thought about writing it up afterward for our own film.

When Bill went to the kick-off party and drew the Holiday Film genre, the idea came back into play: What if we went with the mockumentary, but it was at the office Christmas party? On Friday night, Bill and Robin started off the brainstorming and script writing while I finished up the Drama Club performance with my fourth grader (she did an amazing job as a chicken). Back at home, Robin wrote up the script as Bill and I made suggestions, selected our cast, and made phone calls. I ran around the house finding Christmas decorations.

Saturday morning, we headed into Bill’s old office building, where he had gotten permission to film. It was a great set-up for us, offering lots of spaces for scenes, but also lots of room to wait around. Even with only one day to film, there’s a lot of waiting around in the movies. Both of the girls came to be in the Research & Development scenes, and also to help with the clapper board, set decoration, and general gofer jobs. I took calls from our cast and crew, made sure everyone was where they needed to be, picked internal locations, decorated and took down sets, made sure everyone had plenty of food (very important), arranged the order of filming for scenes, walked the actors through some parts, and made sure all the paperwork was in order. Bill just directed the movie. Slacker.

We had a great time during the day, with a pretty relaxed feel considering our tight schedule. The actors gave us some stellar performances. Really top notch. I may be biased, but my favorite scene is with my fourth grader, where the marketing woman is trying to get some ideas about the next generation of chain email users, but is having trouble working with a kid. I also love my seventh grader as a typical teen, texting instead of thinking about the marketer’s questions. The party scene was the most fun to film, and I do make an appearance there as an employee.

We wrapped up at 10:00 p.m. and Bill went into the office to work with the preliminary edit. In the wee hours of the morning he came back to the house for a few hours of sleep, and then went back to edit the film and add sound effects, music, and credits. Oh, and play with sound levels and color correction and technical film kind of stuff. I saw a rough cut at 2:00 and loved it. I reminded him to temper his technical perfectionism and get the film turned in early — no last-minute run for the doors at 7:00.

He did turn the film in with time to spare. Robin has seen it and really liked it. Bill went off with a couple of other directors for a mini-showing at someone’s house and got great feedback and lots of laughs. I can’t wait to show it to you... but it will have to wait until after our screening at the AFI Silver Theatre, Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The 48 Hour Film Project takes place in cities all over the country, so if you’re interested you might check the upcoming dates. While we work with a set team, many other groups need to fill positions in the weeks and days leading up to the competition. On the website, you can indicate your interest in joining a team, and there are often meet-and-greet events to help fill positions. It can be exhausting, but it’s a blast.

At our screening last night we were able to show “All Roads Lead Away” in high definition — which looked awesome — and get lots of compliments from fellow filmmakers. Unfortunately, we did not take home any additional awards. While I am immensely proud of our film, I’ve learned not to be surprised by the judging. Sometimes a quirkier, but less sophisticated film wins. Sometimes it’s about “wow factor” — like if you have a team filming in Moscow while a crew films in DC. Impressive. Sometimes good acting seems particularly enhanced by the inclusion of many, many f-bombs.

Most importantly to us, Bill was excited about how many other directors and teams wanted to talk about our film, our story, and our process. It’s all good. We’ll continue to submit the movie to other competitions and make plans for the next film. I’ll bet that Bill will be putting up the winners with the links later at the Tohubohu blog if you want to see what won. Thanks to everyone for their support.

The Best of the 48 Hour Film Project has been announced, and our movie, “All Roads Lead Away,” is among the finalists. We’ve known for a few days because they wanted to get the films in high definition (assuming they were shot that way). That means that we know — shhhh! — that we were actually among the top fourteen films selected.

Our movie will screen in the second group at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring. Tickets are available now, and will sell out. But if you’re nowhere near the DC area and are curious about the films in competition, Bill has found the films that are now viewable online. Watching even a few offers a real education about how hard it is to write, film, edit, and score a movie in two days. Check the list of finalists — with links to the films — at the Tohubohu Productions news blog. And if you haven’t watched “All Roads Lead Away” yet, written by Young Adult author Barry Lyga, well what are you waiting for? Go.

Since I’ve got editorial privileges over here, I thought I’d stick in a little notice to let readers know that the latest short from Tohubohu Productions, “All Roads Lead Away,” is now available for viewing over at our official website. Written by Barry Lyga, directed by yours truly and produced by MotherReader herself, the film is a great little road movie about a couple struggling to move on with their lives after losing everything.

So many people worked to make this movie happen (well, about 17, but thay all worked really hard), but I think one’s worthy of special mention here. MR’s too modest to ever brag about her own contributions, but I suffer from no such compunction — in addition to keeping the ship running, she was instrumental in our final casting, working out music licensing (i.e., she did it all herself), stepping in front of the camera when we lost an actress (though — ruthless bastard that I am — I did end up cutting her part from the finished film), helping provide a fresh eye for editing decisions, and perhaps most importantly, being a positive voice when it seemed like all I could do was see all our little shortcomings. (And it’s also worth noting that if she hadn’t attended last year’s Kidlitosphere Conference, I never would have met Barry in the first place.)

And, of course, she was right — despite all my fears, the audience reception at Friday night’s premiere was phenomenal, and really gives me hope that we’ll make the “Best of the 48 Hour Film Project” screening on May 29th. (And we’ve already submitted the film for consideration to the DC Shorts film festival, one of the premiere short-film festivals in the nation. No guarantee that it’ll get in, of course — they receive hundreds of submissions each year — but I’ve got a good feeling about it.)

So sit back, grab a tub of popcorn (or maybe just a bag — it’s not all that long a film), and give it a viewing. And if you like it, don’t forget to let us know (and spread the word)!

I’m still tired from the 48 Hour Film Project, and I wasn’t even that involved in yesterday’s work. The experience of making a film in two days is so intense that it takes a lot out of you. Our script by Barry Lyga was ambitious, and our filming went from our Saturday 8:30 a.m. call time until almost midnight. It was a very long day for the crew and our two lead actors, who really carried the piece. Well, three lead actors if you include the beat-up car which we considered the third star of the movie.

Barry gave us an amazing script, dramatic and contemplative. Bill and I selected two strong actors (Jennifer Massey and Joe Hansard) who could pull off the emotion of the film. We got to test the new camera car mount, to the delight of the cameraman. I kept asking for reassurance that the expensive camera was not, was NOT, going to fall off the hood of the car. After a last-minute location change, I was slotted for a small part in the movie — which ended up on the cutting room floor in the interest of meeting our seven-minute running time requirement. I’m still in the background helping a customer, and my hair is in a later office scene. Oh, the glamour.

Bill spent Sunday editing the film at his workplace, while I searched for music at home. I found the piece that we ended up using within a few minutes. Unfortunately, I then spent almost two hours continuing to search for music, finding almost nothing, and deciding to stick with my first choice. After Bill was forced to make some difficult decisions about editing, he sent me the film online so I could look at it. With my fresh perspective — having not spent the last six hours putting it together — I was able to suggest different places to cut, allowing some great moments to fit back in (though not my scene, alas). For later festivals, we may look at putting in a lost scene where the couple fights outside the car. It was a crew favorite as Jennifer screamed, “GET IN THE CAR!!!” with pure fury.

Our screening is Friday at 9:30 at the AFI Silver Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland. We’re really proud of it, and I can’t wait to see it on the big screen. If you’re in the area, you can order tickets online — but do so soon, because the shows always sell out. If you can’t get to the show, the film — “All Roads Lead Away” — will be available on our website sometime after the screening.

Incidentally, now you can see the trailer for Bill’s production of “Number One With a Bullet,” a short film about getting your book published — at whatever the cost. Seems like that film may be of some interest to the MotherReader crowd, don’tcha think?

Other than books and Girl Scouts and writing weak poetry, my other hobby is making short films. Actually it’s my husband’s hobby and I’ve been roped into it over the years. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

This weekend we’re back in the 48 Hour Film Project, the contest where you write, film, edit, and score a short film in two days. It’s madness, but it works for us. Last year we had the incredible Robin Brande to write our script and we produced the terribly sharp piece “You Pay Your Dues.” This year, Robin is in the middle of book writing, but her friend is between revisions. Her friend? Barry Lyga, author of The Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl and Boy Toy and all-around cool guy.

To keep the competing teams from coming in with completed scripts, each group picks a genre out of a hat and each city shares certain elements that have to be included in the film. We’ve drawn the Road Movie genre. The required elements are:

Character: Larry or Lori Gardner, designer
Prop: A sauce
Line: “I’ll be glad when he’s gone.”

Bill is on the phone with Barry as I write, and I’m heading out to the store momentarily to buy food for the cast and crew. Tomorrow my job is to prep the actors for the upcoming scenes and make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. And provide lunch. Think good film-making thoughts for us.

The short film Bill and I made featuring the writing of Robin Brande has been chosen for the Best of DC screening at the AFI Silver Theatre. While we originally thought that the only the top twelve would be featured in two repeat screenings, instead twenty-two films were selected. So, we’re in the top quarter. I was actually going to hold off on my film news until I had something more definitive to report, but eh, whatever. If you are becoming intrigued by the whole process of making a film in two days, stop by the Tohubohu blog for links to several of the films and participants. The WIT film — WIT standing for Washington Improv Theater — is particularly funny and the strongest competitor.

Speaking of two-day projects, the 48 Hour Book Challenge is a bit more than two weeks away! Start collecting your to-be-read pile of older elementary and teen books. Remember that there will be prizes for most books read, most pages read (if different), and most hours spend reading/reviewing. There will also be prizes given out to random participants just to keep it fun.

What kind of prizes? Well, I have received a T-shirt and hoodie from Threadless in my first non-kidlitosphere prize. Yeah to asking for what you want. I also have a signed Babymouse book from Jennifer Holm and a virtual pinky-swear for an original Babymouse drawing. Grace Lin will be contributing the Lissy’s Friends book and doll. Mitali Perkins throws in a signed Rickshaw Girl, as Gail Gauthier puts A Girl, A Boy, and A Monster Cat in the mix. Tanya Lee Stone promises the signed paperback of A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl, with a bonus reader’s guide.

If you have a picture book manuscript you’d like someone official to give a look-see, Bonny Becker will offer her assistance as a professional critiquer and writing advisor — along with her own middle-grade novel Holbrook: A Lizard’s Tale.

Prize baskets will also include assorted items of immeasurable worth, such as framed photography from A Wrung Sponge (I had to beg her, but it’s worth it), some special surprise item from China from Miss Rumphius, my famous paper bead necklace, and probably four other things that I’m forgetting.

I would still love more prizes, so if you’d like to contribute, look to the bottom of my blogroll for the ever-exciting Email MotherReader! button and send me a message.

Tonight the husband and I see our movie, along with eleven others, on the big screen. You can see it in the comfort of your own home on the computer screen. Watch it. I’d love to hear some responses; positive would be better of course (“You people are like movie making gods!”), but oddly original comments are also fun (“I like the way the lead looks like a cross between Niles from Frasier and Sting.”).

Author and blogger Robin Brande wrote our screenplay — in about three hours. My husband directed, edited, and fretted for two solid days. My job description as producer was, according to Bill, “to make sure everything happens that needs to happen, and get lunch.”

I think we all did admirably. Hope you agree.

Whew! I was going to post yesterday about our movie-making experience with the 48 Hour Film Project, but I was too tired to successfully string words together. Here’s how it went.

My husband, Bill, went to the kick-off event and drew our genre literally out of a hat. The required elements were given out to the hundred participating teams. And we were off.

Bill and I talked about our genre, “detective/cop,” and what he wanted to do with it. I wasn’t surprised when he wanted to go for a film noir feel. But I was a bit scared. We tossed around a few basic concepts, including placing some actors in the roles, and then called author and blogger Robin Brande.

Our call was the briefest of hellos — no small talk for this chick — and down to business. We told Robin our genre (she groaned) and the required elements. (The character: Roosevelt or Rosie Adams, President; The prop: A bracelet; The line: “That’s what I’m talking about.”) We talked about some things we’d been thinking in terms of style, actors, and settings. She said, basically, “Okay, I’ll call you back in an hour.”

After we hung up, Bill and I didn’t know what to do with ourselves. We’ve always had to help the writer brainstorm or actually write it ourselves. This... this... freedom was a little unnerving. We did have to make some calls, coordinate some logistics and such, but having time to do it was just... wild.

Robin checked in with the script, and she was right on track so she kept on going. We got a full script about 10:30, and we loved it. LOVED IT! Very sharp, very creative, very witty. We needed to make a couple of changes to keep with the locations we had, so she retooled that and we had an absolutely amazing script by midnight. A new record for us. Bill and I talked about the film schedule, costuming, call times, and needed props. Bill sent out an email to the team, and we went to bed.

We had the crew meet at our house at 8:00, but it was more like 9:00 when we had everyone we needed. We decided to film an office scene at my in-laws’ home. The set dressing and camera set-up took much longer than we thought, so we really didn’t start filming until 10:30. Not a stellar beginning. We were also filming some of the harder scenes, which also made it difficult.

But we’ve got great people on our team, and got through those scenes before a late lunch at 2:00. The crew took turns eating and setting up for the living room scene, which we also did at my in-laws’ house (they had taken the kids to the zoo by now). I ran the actors through their lines while the crew worked on lighting, and then Bill came in to direct that scene.

We left the house by 4:00 to do scenes closer to my home. My friend provided the front of her house when one of my locations fell through, and we did a few things there. Then we used the front of my house for a long scene involving five actors and finished just before it got dark. It was supposed to be a gardening scene, but since it was cold and lightly raining, we had to make some adjustments.

We sent home most of the team, and went inside to do voice-overs until about 10:00. It was a more leisurely session, though, involving pizza and joking. When the rest of the team went home, we sent our composer some music ideas and then went to bed.

Sunday was reserved for editing the film together, doing color and audio correction, adding the music and credits, putting in the title, and probably ten other things I don’t even know. This was mostly Bill’s show, with me there for moral support and to lend another set of eyes and ears to the film. We dumped out a backup tape at 5:30, so we’d have something, and Bill worked until 6:45. We arrived at the drop-off location a whole five minutes early, and turned in the final product.

I think you know a film is great when you’ve watched the same scene twenty times in editing, and it still cracks you up. That’s the case. The script was wonderful, we have some knock-out performances, and interesting camera work. We’re very happy with the results.

Our screening is this Thursday (Group F, 9:30 p.m.), and after that the film it will available online at our website. Let’s hope it’s a winner. The title for our film — involving a hardened detective, a sultry lady, a homeowners’ association, and self-help books — is You Pay Your Dues.

This weekend my husband and I, along with our fantastic team, are making a movie for the 48 Hour Film Project. Over these next two days we have to write, film, edit, and score an eight-minute film. We drew the genre of Detective/Cop movie. The required elements for Washington, DC, are as follows:

The character: Roosevelt or Rosie Adams, President (of whatever we choose)

The prop: A bracelet

The line: “That’s what I’m talking about.”

We’re going for film noir with a comedic, suburban twist. Author and blogger Robin Brande has already written us an amazing script by midnight our time, so we may even get some sleep before we spend all day tomorrow filming the thing. After the screening next Thursday (Group F, 9:30 p.m.), it will available online for all interested parties. Think good movie-making thoughts for us.

A while ago I read the book Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. Funny book. (Note that I linked to the old cover, not the horrible new cover.) In the book Georgia decides to trim her eyebrows a little and ends up shaving them off.

I immediately stopped reading, found my oldest daughter, and told her this: “At some time in your life, it will seem like a good idea to shave your eyebrows. Resist that urge. It is never a good idea to shave your eyebrows. Do you understand? Come ask me for help if you need to, but never, ever shave your eyebrows.” She nodded solemnly. I think she was six.

Every once in a while, something comes up to make me reinforce that message. Now, at ten years old, she says, “Got it,” and the conversation is over.

So, today a little article comes up in the Washington Post’s KidsPost that compels me to send a message to all of you. It is the third such article I have read recently, and so now I submit this as a public service announcement to parents everywhere.

If your family goes camping, please inform your child that if he/she should get lost and he/she should hear people in the woods, then please, for the love of Pete, GO TO THEM. THEY ARE SEARCHING FOR YOU.

Again, I fear we have freaked out our kids so much about bad people, that even when they are in danger, they wrongly think they are safer being lost than being found by a stranger. Please, parents, grown-ups in general, tell kids that most people are good. Avoiding conversations with strangers when you are alone is overall a safe thing. However, if you are lost in the wilderness, you are going to have to count on the laws of probability, which would say it is unlikely that you will be both lost and discovered by a murderer. Go to this site, print this out, and review with your child, before I hear yet another story of a child who hid from his rescuers.

And you know, while I am ranting about common sense (or teaching common sense), let me send a message to Tim Tate. An article in the Washington Post today tells how Tim Tate bought the opportunity to name the character for the D.C. 48 Hour Film Project (as opposed to the 48 Hour Book Challenge, the rules of which can be found here). He named the character after himself, and gave him his occupation, glass sculptor. Fine. But then to make it “fun,” he expanded the character title to gay glass sculptor extraordinaire. This nomenclature drew groans from the participants, but whatever. But then to be surprised that most of the films poked fun at him? Come on, dude. You called the character gay glass sculptor extraordinaire. Let me repeat, extraordinaire. That kind of title is going to call for an over-the-top kind of character, and that’s what you got. Now, I wish he would take a look at our film, where I think we handled the character very differently. We did choose to use the option of Tina Tate, but I think Tim might approve if he saw our film. So Tim, if you Google yourself and find this blog, watch our movie at Tohubohu Productions for a different take on it. Oh, and our character doesn’t die.

Advice recap: Don’t ever shave your eyebrows. If you are lost in the woods, go to the people looking for you. If you are going to make up an extreme character, don’t be surprised if people use it in an extreme way.

While you wait for the Mo Willems post (vote for your favorite opening, cause I’m waiting), peruse some ideas that I am tidying up.

If you followed my entrance into the world of film — short, quickly-made film, that is — you may wonder about the results of the contest. Well, we were not chosen for the second screening of the Best of The 48 Hour Film Project. Bummer. However, we know of another good film that didn’t make it, and, as the contest coordinators tell us, judging art is subjective. We learned a lot in making our film, we had a great time, and it’s the process that’s important. Or so the losers would have you believe. If you would like to see our film, particularly if you have high-speed Internet, pop by Tohubohu Productions.

If you followed my angst over my first grader’s trouble in school, you may remember that I raved about her vocal and musical ability. She made up a little song that we recorded and you can listen to it and know that I am not just making this up. She could be the next American Idol. Junior.

If you read about The Sex Lives Of Cannibals, you may be interested to know that I had an actual visitor from the small islands of Kiribati after putting up my post. I can only assume that someone has their “my blogs” space set up to search for references to Kiribati so he/she can check them out. So, apparently, even in the middle of nowhere you can get Internet access. I am writing Kiribati three more times so my South Seas visitor will have to come back. Kiribati! Kiribati! Kiribati!

If you read about Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, you’ll know that I loved the book. This fresh, funny book saved me from the doldrums of young adult books I had been reading. I liked it so much that I almost did another post about it (which I guess you could say I am doing now) complimenting the character development, the feel for kids’ language, and the use of New York City as more than just a backdrop. Usually when books take place in New York, it could be any city, but this author captures the flavor of living in New York and uses it for her story. She also linked to me in reviewing her book, and I think she called me funny... or entertaining... or I am just remembering it that way. The author has her own blog on her book and more, if you want to stop by with some virtual cookies.

If you read about my booktalking, for books like Lowji Discovers America, Sweet Tooth, Fashion Kitty, and The Liberation of Gabriel King, you may remember that I did these booktalks for the children’s staff of my library system. All over my county librarians are searching for these booktalks, finding my site, and leaving. I don’t think they realize that this is a blog of one of their own. So, if not: IT’S ME IT’S ME IT’S ME! I don’t list my name here, though it wouldn’t be hard to find with some of my links. Okay? Now come back already.

How was your weekend? Did you, for example, MAKE A MOVIE?

I will start at the beginning, for all those who wish to know how a group of ragtag cast and crew put together a short film in two days for the 48 Hour Film Project.

Bill (our director, not to mention my husband) and I went to the kickoff meeting at 7:00 on Friday night; a friend of ours (who had flown in from Chicago just to participate in this) met us there. When all the teams were present, we drew our genre out of a hat (literally). Each set of teams (ten to twelve per showing) drew a unique genre from a single group — so there would be one (and only one) of each kind during the screening. Each time “Musical or Western” was drawn, everyone cheered — either in support of the poor team that drew it, or in relief that it was now out of the hat for the rest of that set’s screening. As we talked during the drawing (we were in the “H” set), we talked about how the only one that would be really hard for us was “Drama.”

So, of course we drew Drama.

The “required elements” — all of which must appear in your finished film — for the D.C. contest were: A fire extinguisher (prop); “This is absolutely the last time.” (line); Tina or Tim Tate, Gay Glass Sculptor Extrordinaire (character). The audience groaned at that last one — the character is usually a little more conventional, like a photographer or rock star. We left the facility saying “What if it is the glass that’s gay, not the character? Like, ‘Doesn’t that glass sculpture look gay to you?’” Politically incorrect, perhaps, but probably no more so than sticking a caricature up on screen. We were off and running.

The three of us went to dinner, meeting up with another actor to write out the story. Unfortunately, our team had lost its original writer a few days before the event, so we had to team-write it.

Writing a seven-minute drama as a team is hard.

We were joined by another team member/actor at 11:00, and we were not nearly as far as we had hoped we would be. The five of us hashed out the story, and then the script until 4:00 in the morning. We went home to bed, only to get right back up at 7:00 to start filming at 9:00.

First problem Saturday morning: We were going to film the first scene outside, but there was loud construction going on two doors down. I made my first producer decision to film another scene inside and come back outside when the construction workers were at lunch. I walked over the construction site to confirm their lunch break. As soon as we finished that scene, I had everyone get set up outside and do run-throughs so we would be ready to go the minute the construction noise stopped. As our actors arrived, I briefed them on the scenes and background story, and I stood in for actors in scenes before they arrived. I went over their lines when they weren’t sure we were getting our point across. I made suggestions to the director about acting choices or additional lines (we were still rewriting on the fly). I kept track of which actors were arriving at what times and which actors needed to leave sooner. I made sure the sets were ready (we filmed in an actor’s townhouse and it needed some “girling up”). I kept us on schedule, making sure the actors were rehearsing their next scene while another scene was being filmed. And, of course, I did the only two jobs Bill was able to pin down for me as a producer — get the release forms signed and make sure we had lunch.

The previous paragraph was all about me (because I had shared my concern that I wouldn’t know what to do), but I don’t mean to imply that I was the only one keeping things together. Far from it. The actors were top-notch, bringing the emotion to the film that we needed from them — including some very hard... well, dramatic scenes. Our actors were incredible. Our crew was totally on the ball, knowing what we needed before we even realized that we needed it. Our director of photography had our vision in mind for every shot, and framed it all flawlessly. As we did different takes, our script supervisors made detailed notes, so that in editing we could just go back to the best take right away and/or incorporate excellent pieces from other takes. Our editor started logging and capturing footage the moment it was available, and even started cutting together preliminary versions of the scenes. And, of course, our director knew the vision from the start and gave the actors positive feedback and constructive suggestions to get the absolute best out of each scene.

Our long night in writing the script turned out to be a crucial investment in the filming the next day. With three of the six actors there for the writing, they knew exactly what to do when we started filming. They knew the back story. They knew the point each scene was trying to make. They had made up half the lines themselves. The actual filming, which we had thought could go late into Saturday night, was over by 8:00. The actors went home, the crew went home, and Bill went to the office to put together a rough cut of the film to have ready for the morning’s editing. As everyone left, some at different parts of the day, I was pleased and proud to hear every one of them say how much fun it was. Because it was fun. Given our limited filming time, things never seemed frantic. And while there were disagreements about dialogue, it never came to the point of real conflict. The whole thing was so calm and pleasant and fun.

On Sunday it was down to Bill and our editor to put the piece together. Oh, and add sound effects, music, credits, and a title. As Bill and I drove in, we worried that we had lost the storyline for one character (thanks to the continually evolving script) and that it might be difficult for an audience to know who everyone was. When some people turned up in Bill“ office (where we were doing the final edit) first thing that morning to actually work, we ran the film by them to get some opinions. People liked it, but weren’t nailing the relationships like we wanted them to. I suggested another scene that took place at the beginning, that would help set up the story and recreate a little of the lost storyline. Bill was afraid it was too obvious, but was willing to give it a try. So at 11:00 on Sunday morning, we scripted a new scene — that would also set up the so-far elusive title — and went out with two actors and the director of photography to shoot it. I was now, by default, a director.

(Just as I was directing my first scene, there was a little child-care crisis. Do you think Steven Spielberg has to put up with that crap? It was resolved, thanks to some very helpful friends, allowing me to see the film through to the very end.)

We added the new scene to the beginning, amidst some controversy among the team. It was a little “on the nose,” but in the end, we decided that was better then having the audience confused at the end of the movie. We realized that in a full-length drama, you have time to subtly establish the characters and back story. But in a seven-minute drama, not so much.

After the scene was filmed, my job was mostly supportive. Checking in on the process, looking at the cuts for a second opinion, and keeping track of the time. Most important was keeping track of the time. We had said that we were going to pretend the movie was due at 7:00 so we wouldn’t have a last minute rush, but we needed every minute and did end up making a last-minute rush to get the film turned in by 7:30. We made it, with a couple minutes to spare, and toasted each other with a beer before heading home to get some rest.

This morning, as I caught my reflection in the mirror, I realized two things. One, that my left eyebrow was a little over-plucked. But two, that I was looking at the face of a real producer. And it felt good.

The film is “Close Quarters” and will be available on the Tohubohu Productions website after the screening (at the AFI Silver Theatre) on Friday, May 12th. (Of course, if you’re in the area, and would like to see it sooner, you can always come out to the premiere itself — we screen as part of the 9:30 show. The more the merrier!)

I ask your indulgence as I write to exorcise my demons. Actually, in my youth I thought that the word was “exercise,” as if one was going to take the demons out for a jog. I think I like that way better.

This weekend I will serve as the producer for our film team’s participation in the 48 Hour Film Project, and I don’t know what I am doing. And I don’t say that in that modest way some people have, like “I don’t know what I’m doing. I just let the art speak through me.” No, I mean it in the “My exact duties and responsibilities are as yet unknown to me” way. So that’s a little worrisome.

My qualifications for this position are as follows:

1. I can corral children at birthday parties and other structured activities without breaking a sweat. Now this is untrue. I just sweat on the inside. If I can find a way to reproduce this effect on other people, I’ll be rich. Though I am still working on Advil to adopt my Preventative Advil method as a campaign, with no luck. It is possible, however, that taking charge of children and taking charge of actors is a pretty close fit. (Just kidding, actors)


2. I’ve participated in almost all of the films so far. This is true, but not as helpful as it might seem. I have suggested scenes, dialogue, and editing choices. I have also acted in a few. I have also hosted the crew as they took over my house, the hungry parasites. (Just kidding, crew)


3. I said that I would do it. By far the most important reason I am producer of this film, is my simple — some would say naive — willingness to do it. No one else wanted to, and so it fell to me. Most women when they marry expect to lose their husbands to golf or watching sports. But not me, no, my husband developed a penchant for making short films — and by making, I mean writing, filming, editing, and scoring — in two days. That iPod is feeling pretty well-deserved right about now. In fact, it seems like I was bought off rather cheaply. (Just kidding, Bill)

I’ll be off this weekend on this little adventure. This no-sleep, fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants adventure. Are we crazy? No. Bat-shit crazy? Oh, yeah.