V48HOURS 2010 – A Furious Filmmaking Competition

Building or Joining a Team

When you decide to enter V48HOURS, you can do so in one of two ways.

You can either register and build a team, or join a team. If you have suggested to a bunch of friends you should take part, and they all think you should do it and you are comfortable being in charge you should register a team.

Alternatively - you might want to take part, but don't want to be in charge or don't know anyone at all who wants to help you; in which case you can look at joining a team.

Don't let lack of numbers daunt you into not registering a team or let inexperience convince you to not take part. There have been great shorts made over the years with teams of only 2 or 3 people, and great shorts made with entirely first time crews.

However, don't underestimate what it may take to make the sort of film you would like. Films often have large crews for good reason - there really is a lot to do, and joining up with more experienced people one year can be a good head start to making your own team next year.

Either way - finding and being part of a good team of people who are ready to work together is the most important part of having a good V48HOURS experience.

One final word of warning, building a team is not all about the weekend of the competition. If you don't feel like running around madly trying to organise people for the weeks leading up to the competition, and possibly following up with people after the competition (to make sure they got thanked properly, and get to the heats, and get a copy of the film etc.) you may be better off joining another team to take part.

Advice on both Joining a Team and Building a Team is below.

Joining a Team

Joining a team is a bit easier for many first timers. At the bottom of this page is a list of many of the different roles people can take when working on a film.

Have a read of them, figure out what you might like to do, then talk to your friends and ask if they know of any one who is taking part and needs a hand.

You can even jump on the Forums and see if there is anyone looking for assistance.

If posting on the forums to join a team then remember, much like the real world, the internet is filled with strangers. If you are joining a team of people you have never met before, it's a good idea to introduce yourself first, (somewhere public is always safest) and have at least one meeting before the weekend if possible and to treat everyone with respect. At the end of the weekend, they'll no longer be strangers, and hopefully everyone has had a great time.

Building a Team

When assembling your team to tackle V48HOURS you have a couple of things to decide.

Big team or small team? The size of your team is going to have the biggest impact on the scale of your production; V48HOURS teams can and have ranged from 2-3 people total to 50 plus in a team. This may or may not include actors.

If 50+ sounds like a lot - well you are right, it is a lot, and it can become really messy involving that many people. On the other hand it could also lead to a really smooth shoot, where everyone gets plenty of sleep - but only if the team is very organized and can move like a well oiled machine.

If 10 people sounds like a lot, then you probably haven't thought about all the things that need to be done over the weekend. A list of potential roles that can come up when making a film is included below.

If 2-3 sounds like way too little, you are probably right, but some very small teams have done some amazing things. It's about how well you manage resources when you have very small teams.

The only hard and fast recommendations are "Don't get more people involved than you can afford to feed." and "Don't get less people than you need."

Ultimately as Team Leader, you need to think about what is going to be the most fun way for you to meet the challenge. This could either be lots of delegation (getting your friends to help you) or mucking in and having a stab at every crew position (doing almost everything yourself). Doing everything yourself is hard to keep efficient, more than one thing may need to be worked on at once. But you might have a more enjoyable experience than with a monster crew.

Who do I need? Ok - who do you need to make a short? Here is a check list based on the various roles that are generally taken up when people make films.<br/>

You should go through this and put the name of the person doing each job next to the list. The same name can appear more than once, but every time that happens you should make a note of whether it will impact how quickly you can work, and how many hours you will have to stay up (i.e if you are directing, and editing, you won't be able to capture footage while shooting - so you may want to get someone to do that for you - an assistant editor.

Also, a cameraman who also has to set up the lights himself, will have less time to set up/check the camera.) You may not need everyone on the list, such as graphics or visual effects, but it's good to think about ahead of time who you'll need.

Below are a list of roles that can each be assigned to one team member, or each team member may want to manage more than one role.

Producer/Team Leader (Manages all aspects of production, ensuring that releases are signed, forms are filled in, everyone gets fed, everyone knows where they are going, people have everything they need, people know where the nearest hospital is etc - the sort of multi tasking, watchful eye over everything, in many places at once, eyes in the back of the head role often attributed to benevolent higher powers and mothers.)

Production Assistants (To do everything that the Producer/Team Leader needs to be done)

Runners (To drive, run, chase after everything on behalf of the Team Leader and assistants)

Catering & Unit (those people responsible for feeding the crew throughout the shoot)

Location Manager & Scouts (people responsible for finding and securing locations to shoot in, getting releases for those locations etc)

Safety Officer (Person responsible for ensuring that the set is a safe and hazard free environment at all times.)

Writer (writes the script)

Director (is in charge of answering everyone's questions about how things should look/sound/feel, and making the film reach its potential in every way)

1st Assistant Director (Includes keeping the director on time, and keeping track of what's been done and what still needs to be done.)

2nd Assistant Director, 3rd assistant Director (roles can include managing extras, getting cast on set on time, organizing on set communication - generally all tasks to help insure that schedules are kept and the director isn't left waiting around.)

Continuity (Watches what's happening in case something changes/happens that will stuff up the edit and makes notes. e.g points out if an actor accidentally puts on a jacket they weren't wearing in the last scene, writes down how long takes are, if something happens during the take that might make it unusable etc.)

Casting Director (Person responsible for securing the cast on behalf of the director)

Director of Photography (Responsible for getting the picture set up correctly in front of a camera and ensuring said camera is capable of recording that picture)

Camera Department

Camera Operator (Responsible for getting the picture in front of the camera into the camera correctly)

Camera Assistants, Clapper/Loaders, Focus Pullers (Responsible for various parts of the operation, set up, loading, focusing, and pack down of the camera. Clapper Loaders are also responsible for keeping the slate - which is a visual record of what is about to be recorded so that the Editor can watch the video and keep track, and also resynch sound in non synchronized recording - not often required in video)

Lighting & Grip Departments

Gaffer (Responsible for lighting the scene so that it looks the way the Director of Photography wants it to look, and ensuring no one gets electrocuted or any fuses get blown!)

Best Boys, Lighting Assistants, etc. (People to assist the Gaffer set up and move the lights, who know how to not get electrocuted or blow fuses)

Key Grip, Dolly Grip, etc (Responsible for ensuring the camera and crew can physically be in the right place, move in the right way, etc when shooting. Dolly Grips responsible for smooth movement of camera on track or wheels. More esoteric grip roles include mounting the camera securely onto vehicles, cranes, etc.)

Sound Recordist (Responsible for getting the sound recording equipment set up to get sound that is already or can be put in synch with the picture - also responsible for recording any wild or on set sounds that are needed that may not be in synch - like Atmos tracks)

Boom Operator (Get's the Microphone as close to possible to the actors without having it shot, generally by having it on the end of a long pole)

Art Director (Responsible for getting the things in the picture looking right - Make Up, Props, Wardrobe, Sets etc.)

Set Designers, Dressers & Builders (People responsible for making sure the physical environment and sets required are correct) Make Up, SFX Make Up etc (People responsible for ensuring that the beautiful faces look beautiful, the scary faces look scary, and that people don't look too shiny, sweaty, or pale under the harsh bright lights)

Wardrobe (People responsible for sourcing/making garments for actors to wear, helping actors getting in and out of said garments, keeping garments safe and secure at all times when they are not being worn etc.)

Props Department (People responsible for all objects used in the film that aren't Wardrobe or Set, specialist props people include Armourers who may supply weapons).

Animal Wranglers (People responsible for all animals used in the film)

Special Effects (SFX) Co-ordinator/SFX Technicians (Managing the physical implementation of practical effects work - generally things like practical explosions and large physical effects work, flipping cars, collapsing buildings etc. Done in camera rather than in post)

Stunt Co-ordinator (responsible for practical human stunts)

Stunt Team (Team of Stunt Players to do stunts in place of actors).

Post Production

Editor (Person responsible for putting the video elements and the sound elements together and getting it out onto your tape at the end.)

Assistant Editors/Tape Loggers/Digitizers etc (People for managing the footage as it comes in and getting it into your workflow. i.e digitizing the tapes into your computer).

Colourist (Responsible for creating the look and feel for the short by applying changes to the colour grade to the short.)

Sound

Sound Designers/Foley Artists (Create original Non Synch sound to be used in the sound mix, from the sounds of massive explosions and tidal waves to the sound of doors closing and cars windscreen wipers)

Sound Mixers (People responsible for getting the sound levels correct for playback once the edit has been completed)

Music Department

Composer - (Responsible for composing original music to match the short.)

Musicians & Sound Engineers (responsible for playing and recording the necessary score for the short film)

Music Supervisor - (Co-ordinates the licensing of additional musical works not created specifically for the work, for shorts this role generally falls to the producer)

Visual FX Department

VFX Supervisor (Responsible for creating all Visual FX for use in the film)

Animators, Modellers, Rotoscopers, etc. (Many and varied specialist roles for implementing post production visual fx).

You scared yet? Remember take on as much or as little as you think will be required. There's always next year remember.

Once you have got it in your mind who you will need, it's time to get prepared.