After seeing DVMISSION regular Tippers Pritchard post a thread on Twitter offering advice on how to succeed at doing a 48 hour film challenge. We asked if he would turn it into a blog post for us and what follows is part 1 of 5 part series that we will be releasing over the coming weeks.
You can follow Tippers’ original Twitter thread HERE!
Don’t forget this year’s challenge is currently open to team registration and you can enter your team by following THIS link to Filmfreeway. Just submit to DVMISSION and name your project as your team name.
Part 3: Keep it Simple
Every year, I watch in awe with the unbelievable breadth of films created for this competition. With a few simple instructions, we all head off in different ways. The pool of creativity is vast and we’re all drinking thirstily from it!
But… one mistake that I often see (in my humble opinion) is trying to do too much. There are some ideas that are great, but are then shot in multiple locations, with complicated ideas. In 2 minutes, I genuinely don’t think you need more than one or two sets.
2017 – 1 set
2019 – 2 sets
2020 – 1 set (and a quick scene at the end on a sofa in the same location)
2021 – 1 set
2022 – 1 location
Plan ahead. Granted, you can’t plan much, but you can arrange a few locations and a good crew and then write around what you have. Use your Friday night. Use this time to really work on your story, script and shooting plan for the next day.
Here is the full version of Deception Point DVMISSION 2021.
Take time. It’s only 2 minutes. Take time to get your lighting right and make sure your acting and script are tight. Keep it simple. Don’t overcomplicate with lots of locations. That being said, I’ve seen teams use CGI to AMAZING effect, just wow…
Watch our Hammer Horror film from 2022.
With our Hammer Horror film, it looks like there are 9 sets – but it’s all in one location (Deadlocked Escape Rooms in Reading, which allowed a lot of variety with little work, and my house). I think I was home and done shooting by 3.30 pm and straight on to the edit. I actually went out for work drinks that evening – renegade. The point is, there’s more than enough time to make an interesting 2-minute short, including writing, shooting and editing if you keep it simple.
And finally, take a look at the full Dragons Shadow movie from 2019.
Quite simply – Don’t give yourself too much to do. A strong script will always be better than loads of fancy locations and camera angles etc.
All that being said, Sleepy Bandits added a CGI Killer Robot into their film (insane) and it was unbelievable – BUT, they weren’t relying on just a killer robot, they had great acting, a great script, great comedy and a strong idea, bastards.
By Tippers Pritchard
If anyone wants to collaborate outside of DVMISSION drop me a DM on Twitter @talktotippers.
