The World Wide Web Premier of our 48 Hour Film Project “The Last Author”

I’m proud to present our 48 hour film project, “The Last Author.” We had just 48 hours to conceive, write, shoot and edit an original short film. Each film had to contain three elements. A consultant named Tom (or Tina) Goodwin, a book, and the line of dialogue “When will she be here?” The genre we picked was sci-fi.

Synopsis: This sci-fi drama takes us to an Orwellian future. A dystopian society where everyone is connected and technology allows man to consume massive amounts of content in just seconds. Volumes of books, films and television are instantly absorbed. Over time, this has made mankind incapable of original creativity. All but one individual.

This is the story of Tom Goodwin, a technology consultant responsible for supplying content for the masses. A man who holds a secret that he is keeping. Someone he is protecting. But is it strictly for selfish reasons? Or is it because of feelings he’s too afraid to reveal.

The choices we make in life determine what, or whom, we truly love.

Homages

There are about six homages to sci-fi literature, TV or films. Can you spot them? One was already given to you. Can you catch the rest? Also, the technology displayed in this film is closer than you think.

A Bad News Bears Finish

Some of you are wondering about the magic question: did we win? Well, do you remember the 1976 comedy “The Bad News Bears“? It was a coming of age story about a broken down little league team that came from the bottom to make it all the way to the championships. In the final scenes of the movie, bottom of the last inning, the Bears were down 7 to 3 with bases loaded. The last boy was up, the problem kid Kelly Leak. If he got a grand slam, this underdog team that came out of no where would tie the championship game. He hits a high ball to the left field that drops near the back wall. Runner 1 comes in. Runner 2 comes in. Runner 3 comes in. The score is now 7 to 6. Kelly slides in to home and is called OUT! Even now I can feel for him. Well, uh, that was kind of like us.

None of us had ever done anything like this. We all had varying degrees of film experience. But we banded together with a singular purpose and made an amazing film. At the “bottom of the ninth” as the clock ticked away and I was saving our project out to a flash drive, with less than an hour to the deadline (and a possible 40 minute drive to the drop-off location), after 15 minutes of export time, the save bombed. The drive was formatted out of the box MS-DOS and my file name was too long (WHAT THE FRAK!). I reformatted and re-saved.

Films were due by 7:30 pm sharp Sunday evening, June 12. Late by 1 second and you were disqualified from jury voting. We got there at 7:39. As Maxwell Smart would say, “We missed it by THAT much.”

That lost 15 minutes alone would have saved us. But, truth is, there are any number of other decisions made along the way that could have saved those 9 minutes (e.g. a filter here, less pep-talking there, saving directly to my computer desktop first, etc.). Luckily, as I mentioned last week, our purpose wasn’t to win. It was to learn and have fun. And that we did.

But as the shy and introverted kid Timmy Lupus from “Bad News Bears” proclaimed at the end of the movie, “Just wait until next year!”

Next week I’ll share some of what we learned (Monday I’ll talk about lighting design). We’re also working on extensive behind the scenes that will be great for all filmmakers, 48 hour or otherwise. So stay tuned. Until then, dim the lights, and enjoy the show.

If you can’t see the video in your RSS reader or email, click here.

Here’s our terrific cast and crew.

Cast
Evelyn – Caroline Avery Granger
Tom Goodwin – Danny Williams
The Boss – Phil Stevens
Voice of Assistant – Clay Patterson
Oracle – Annette Buisman

Produced & Directed by
Ron Dawson

Written by
Ron Dawson
Megan Gruver
Zac Lovelace
Lewis Moats

Co-Producer
Tasra Dawson

Director of Photography
Robert Bryce Milburn

Line Producer/AD
Amy Stephenson

Edited by
Ron Dawson
Robert Bryce Milburn

Story Development Team
Ron Dawson
Tasra Dawson
Megan Gruver
Aaron Guiberteau
Zac Lovelace
Lewis Moats
Clay Patterson

Assistant Camera/Gaffer
Jena Jones
Pike Rincon
Phil Stevens

Behind the Scenes
Jena Jones

Art Department/Set Design
Ron Dawson
Tasra Dawson
Megan Gruver
Robert Bryce Milburn
Pike Rincon

Original Score
Ryan Fraley

Set Medic/Driver
John Guiberteau

Script Supervisor
Elizabeth Guiberteau

PA’s
Angie Guiberteau
Aaron Guiberteau

Set Photographer
Tasra Dawson

Special thanks to:
Whitestone Motion Pictures
The Decisive Moment
Joth Riggs
Shari Zellers