Five Seconds into the Future of Invention
By Peter LloydNothing puts the spurs to invention like a good, solid, unrelenting, no-exceptions deadline. And perhaps nobody knows this better than the teams who compete every year in the 48-Hour Film Project competition.
Since 2001 teams from around the world have raced to conceive, write, shoot, edit, and present seven-minute films under this tight deadline. Most recently they entered from 30 cities in 17 countries.
The Pro Video Bandits came out on top of the Cincinnati, Ohio, competition last year and ranked among the top five 48-hour films in the world with their short Developing Len.
Developing Len tells the story of a garage-shop inventor, a tinkerer named Len, who creates a camera that shoots five seconds into the future.
The film is fun, no matter how long it took to shoot. But when you consider the Pro Video Bandits did it all in two days, it has to be called an amazing creative coup.
Last July, they gathered on a Friday evening at 6:30 PM to receive their competition instructions. There was no coming with pre-conceived ideas. Teams had no idea of what genre of film they would be required to shoot in the ensuing 48 hours.
In addition to the random genre they were assigned, the film they would have to submit under the 48-hour deadline had to meet other requirements, designed to preclude any kind of preparation. In last year's case, sealed instructions required them to include a factory worker named Len or Lynn, a fork, and the line, "What the hell is this?"
Immediately after receiving their sealed instructions, the Bandit team brainstormed a script outline in a few hours. The writers came up with a script by morning. Saturday was spent casting, scouting, locations, designing and building sets, finding and collection props, and so on. Then came the shooting and editing. By the Sunday, 6:30 PM deadline, they turned in their product—less than seven minutes long, scored, credited, and complete.
The Pro Video Bandits and four other winners have just moved on to the 48 Hour Film Project/Panasonic HD Filmmaker Showdown. This time they had to create a three- to five-minute holiday film featuring an ad executive named Drew or Dana, an article of' clothing that fits too tightly, and the line, "You've got to be kidding me!" That's what I say!
Certainly we can learn something about working under a deadline from from the Pro Video Bandits. "Even if it's uncomfortable to delegate, which it is for me, when you're under a deadline, you just have to. Otherwise, you won't get the job done," says Bandit art director Jim Tobergta. He says they also learned about setting priorities. "Deadlines teach you to figure out first what you can do. Then, if you have time, you might get to do some of what you'd like to do."
Finally, Jim learned that shorter work is more difficult to produce than longer work: "It's much more difficult to be succint." I hear you. I would have made this Workout shorter, but I ran out of time.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.