When 48 Hours Comes Down to Just 30 Seconds
By Teri Maddox, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
Jul. 13–Energy drinks, junk food and adrenaline helped a team of Southwestern Illinois College students win a St. Louis film contest recently.
The nine students had to write a script, act out parts, videotape scenes, score music and edit a seven-minute short in 48 hours. They turned in the DVD 30 seconds before deadline at Schlaffly Brewery and Tap Room.
The final hour was extremely stressful. Team leader Dylan Shaffer, 22, forgot the official envelope and had to drive from O’Fallon to his apartment in Belleville.
Other team members went ahead with the DVD but got lost in downtown St. Louis and feared they would run out of gas. Thom Murray, 21, of Belleville, jumped out of the car so fast, his shoe flew off in the parking lot.
"It was the most intense moment of my life," said Shaffer, a film-production student at SWIC. "I’ll admit it — and this can go on the record — I cried."
When all the dust settled, only 51 of 72 teams met the 7:30 p.m. deadline on June 8. That included two other SWIC teams that arrived 20 minutes early.
The films were screened at the historic Tivoli Theatre in University City, Mo., later in the month.
Shaffer and friends, working under the name Caffeine Tambourine Productions, won the best-film and audience-favorite awards for "Earl, Son of God," a short about a group of college students making a movie. Josh Miller, 19, of O’Fallon, was named best actor.
"It was kind of a coup for students from a public, two-year college, where you can take a class for $75 a credit," said Dan Cross, associate professor of theater at SWIC. "(They were competing) against students from Webster University and UMSL and also professional companies that make feature films."
The 48 Hour Film Project is an international competition designed to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers.
Caffeine Tambourine and about 70 other winners of city contests will proceed to the Filmapalooza finals in San Jose, Calif., next spring.
The grand champions will receive $5,000 and an opportunity to screen their shorts at the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival in France.
Caffeine Tambourine member Lindsay Goodin, 21, of Belleville, sees the St. Louis win as a sign of great things to come for Murray, Shaffer and Miller, all O’Fallon Township High School graduates who plan to pursue film careers.
"It was exciting to be around them," said Goodin, a SWIC music and theater major. "I just know that these guys are going to be famous someday."
Murray is Goodin’s boyfriend. He recruited her to act in "Earl, Son of God" and assist with production.
The team invited Cross to play God, adding comic relief by fashioning a long beard out of a woman’s blond wig.
The St. Louis contest began on a Friday evening at Webster. Officials held a lottery-style drawing to determine the genre for each team. Caffeine Tambourine ended up with "spy" movie.
Every short was required to include a magnet as a prop, a character named Earl and the line, "I’ve been there. You don’t want to go."
In "Earl, Son of God," team members portray themselves as college students competing in the 48 Hour Film Project. Disagreements lead to a split with Miller, who spies on his former friends and tries to sabotage their work.
"What makes it especially clever is that in both halves of the movie within a movie, they got the required prop, line and character," Cross said. "So they essentially got all the elements in twice."
Film credits list Shaffer as actor, director and co-writer; Annette Glotfelty as co-writer; Miller as actor and photography director; Murray as actor, editor and lighting director; Bathsheba Fournier as actor and still photographer; Denise Thomas as boom operator; Goodin as actor; and Patrick Cadaver and Johnny B as music directors.
Caffeine Tambourine filmed scenes in Shaffer’s apartment, Murray’s apartment, Miller’s house and on the SWIC campus.
Team members worked almost non-stop from Friday evening until 9 p.m. Saturday, when they went home to sleep four or five hours.
"(The contest) was sponsored by Monster energy drink, and they gave us a palette of it," Murray said. "Dylan had diet Pepsi, and I was going on beef jerky and Arizona green tea."
The team felt confident enough by noon Sunday to break for lunch at Chevys Fresh Mex, misjudging how long it would take to tie up loose ends. The frantic trip to St. Louis a few hours later made them wish they’d gone hungry.
Cross suspected "Earl, Son of God" would be named audience favorite after its first screening at the Tivoli. He thought it looked good technically, and people laughed in all the right places.
Cross was even more encouraged at the short’s second screening, which included the contest’s 15 semifinalists.
"It just brought the house down," he said. "People were howling. And then I realized it could get best in the city. It got the best response of any film in the contest."
The best-film award came with a $500 cash prize. "Earl, Son of God" can be viewed on Shaffer’s MySpace page at myspace.com/dylanjshaffer. Shaffer, Miller and Murray all are videographers available for hire.
Contact reporter Teri Maddox at tmaddox@bnd.com or 345-7822, ext. 26.
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