Bournemouth’s 48 Hour Film Contest
On the 17th November 2017 Aimee, Sarah, and I competed in the Bournemouth ‘Shooting From the Hip’ 48 hour film contest. It was an awesome experience for me as this was my first ever 48 hour film challenge (Aimee and Sarah had already competed in the previous year’s event). As such, there was loads of new things for me to learn and figure out over the weekend.
Context.
I missed out on competing in last year’s Shooting From the Hip due to other commitments but set myself the goal of at least taking part in one 48 hour competition while studying in Bournemouth. With news of Shooting From the Hip’s return, I asked my friends if they would like to form a group with me – to which they responded they were already going to partake and had a full group. Heckling ensued with me stating I would form my own group with better people and beat them in the contest. Little did I know this would actually be the greatest decision I would make.
I teamed up with Sarah Martineau and Aimee Webb, two students on my course and in my class. At the time, our friendship was new and starting out, but it was through working on the 48 hour film challenge that our friendship cemented itself and we got to know each other on a higher level.
Pre-Pre-Production.
Like everyone else, we were to go into the competition blind, not knowing our film’s title, prop, characters, story, or anything else related to the actual production. But there were things we could work on before the event to help in advance like roles, equipment, locations, and sleeping arrangements. Unlike other groups who booked out tonnes of kit from uni, our group were fortunate that Aimee and I already had a full arsenal of filmmaking equipment. No need to lug around or store unnecessary pelicases of gear, just decided between the two of us what we wanted and who’s we’ll use.
Arrival.
When we arrived at the bar, we mingled with the other contestants – mostly uni students, with some families and Bournemouth folk filling the gaps. Naturally we hazed our friends and got heckled in return on who would win, but ultimately had a good time with a chill drink and talked with people taking part – wishing them well in the process.
When all the groups had signed in and were present at the bar, the envelopes containing the titles of the films and the props to be used were announced. The title for our film was Fist Mouth and the prop we had to use (in any way we wanted) was a pair of black rubber gloves.
