Making a film today is not an easy prospect. Take a look at any of the summer blockbusters in the theatres right now. How long do you think it took to transform the written word of the screenplay into the spectacle you watch on the big screen as you munch on overpriced and ridiculously stale popcorn? The fact is, it most likely has taken well over a year, and sometimes, multiple years, for a film to finally come to fruition at the local cineplex. Having attended scores of film festivals across the nation, I am a lot of the time appalled at what I see being presented as a completed “film,” but even more shocked when I talk to the filmmaker afterwards to ask how long they worked on their project only to hear, “a couple of years.” I remember vividly a film at one festival that involved a character being smothered by a plastic bag, and for some reason the filmmaker thought it was fine to keep the character’s wireless mic hot so you could hear the rustling of the plastic as it hit the mic instead of the dialogue in the scene. At an after party, I asked the filmmaker about it and they stated “I didn’t have time to fix it.” “How long did you have for post?” I inquired. “Nine months.” I was at a loss for words.

With the absolute explosion of film festivals across the world over the past few years, and with a weakening economy, unfortunately people have come out of the woodwork thinking that making a film and entering it into a local festival will instantly bring them fame and fortune and is simply achieved by taking a camcorder out one night with friends and seeing what happens. This is of course not the case. Filmmaking is an art form and takes extreme amounts of talent from all parties involved. There needs to be an incredibly strong screenplay that the director can establish a vision for and talented actors to bring it to life. There has to be a cinematographer who works seamlessly with the director to create a painting with light. There have to be a myriad of technical and creative people ranging from sound designers to lighting designers, from art directors to costume designers and make-up artists, all working in a synergistic frenzy to bring a unified vision to the screen. Filmmaking is directed chaos, and to be successful, needs to become an amalgamate of all of the creative passions involved. It is no wonder then that films can take years before they are finally realized.

In 2001 though, Mark Ruppert decided to push this process to the extreme to challenge filmmakers to bring out the best in their art form in the shortest amount of time. His idea? To make a film in just forty-eight hours. Thus began The 48 Hour Film Project, the most unique film contest of its kind, where teams have from 7 p.m. on a Friday evening to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday to deliver a completed four to seven minute long film. There is no part of the process that can be started beforehand, for the teams are given specific elements such as a character name and type, a line of dialogue and a specific prop that must be incorporated into their film. There is no leniency, if a film is delivered at 7:31 p.m., it is disqualified. “While the tight deadline may seem like an obstacle, ultimately it places the emphasis on creativity and teamwork, and gooses participants into making their films rather than just talking about them,” states Ruppert.

This year, The 48 Hour Film Project has expanded to include 80 cities worldwide, including for the first time such diverse locations as Beijing, Lisbon and Prague. Winners from each of the cities will then compete head to head in Filmapalooza, the finale festival, culminating at the NAB Show in Las Vegas in April 2010.

Director of Photography and Team Leader Chad Windham, who, along with Danny Nguyen, runs his Pugs & Peanut Butter production company, recently entered The 48 Hour Film Project in Dallas, TX, competing alongside twenty-six other teams. Taking place over the weekend of June 26-28, each team in Windham’s category was given the same set of required elements including:

Genre: Cop/Detective
Person: A person named Peter or Penny Knoll
Object: A weed whacker
Dialogue: “You’re not making any sense.”

From there, Windham’s team had to script, cast, shoot, edit and complete post production on their film within the forty-eight hour deadline. The result was KEYLESS ENTRY, a stylish, and damn funny, film that in no way looks like it did not even exist in any form the day before the competition began. Windham’s cinematography is second to none, with an incredible richness and framing that showcases his innate talent as an artist. Likewise, there are some great performances to be found by Scott Henderson, Lon Lawson, Stephanie Young and Prianna Staley who comprise the entire cast of the film.

Attempting to do a film in such a short amount of time is an incredibly daunting undertaking and the key to success is definitely found in building a strong team who are all passionate about film. As Windham states, “Stay organized and keep the team happy. Your team only needs one member to get bent and it really puts a damper on the whole project. First and foremost, it’s supposed to be fun. No one is getting payed and these guys are putting in a lot of their free time. We kept everyone fed and watered. It’s amazing what you can get people to do for pizza and Red Bull.” For teams in other cities who have yet to begin their journey, Windham advises, “Keep it fun. Keep it organized. Keep it simple.”

Windham’s team just learned that they won an Audience Choice Award for KEYLESS ENTRY and will find out if their film will be advancing on to Vegas at an awards ceremony that will be held this evening in Dallas.

The 48 Hour Film Project continues this weekend in Berlin, Louisville, Madison, Nashville, Providence, Richmond, Savannah and Tampa-St. Petersburg.

More information on The 48 Hour Film Project can be found by visiting them at: 48hourfilm.com

To watch KEYLESS ENTRY, please visit the Pugs & Peanut Butter website at: pugsandpeanutbutter.com