Too Much Too Soon

This was originally an entry in the Sci-Fi London 2009 48 Hour Film Challenge. Nothing can save this film! but this cut includes some additional scenes, my attempt at a soundtrack and credits that didn't quite make the 48 hour deadline. With thanks to all who took part.

Team: Second Foundation
Title: Too Much Too Soon
Compulsory Dialogue: "Choose your spot and mark it with an X - it'll still be there on your return"
Compulsory Props: Three passports from three different countries.
Technical notes: filmed on mini-DV, CGI and titles produced in Cinema 4D, soundtrack mixed in eJay, original cut edited in Final Cut Pro, this cut edited in the Blender VSE.

Popcorn!

Too Much Too Soon premiered this morning at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus, along with a selection of other 48 hour competition entries, to muted applause and nervous laughter. I was kind of dreading this but actually it felt OK. It looked slightly better - on a full-size cinema screen - than I'd expected.

We weren't shortlisted, so I'll try and get the film onto YouTube in the near future. We were rushed for time so entered with a fairly minimal soundtrack - I may try and put together a slightly improved version if I get the chance too.

I enjoyed the selection of other entries I saw, including a few of the shortlisted films. General trends this year: lots of teleport effects, use of Canary Wharf or the Jubilee Line as substitutes for the future (we are guilty of these too), plenty of zombies, and everyone seemed to be using the same Now Thats What I Call Discordant Sound Effects CD. Quality varied but several films were extremely well produced, including a few with awesome soundtracks - overall the standard was higher than last year.

I know at least one other team was also ejected from Canary Wharf and there may be more - Wharf security probably fought a weekend-long running battle against amateur filmmakers. Also, we were pretty tired by the end but the two secret agents who spent the entire weekend running up and down the Westminster Station escalators must have been fairly knackered.

Watch out for the shortlist on the Sci-Fi channel, then all the films on the festival website in a month or so. There were some really funny entries - several of my favourites weren't shortlisted either. I'll post links to them when I can, for now I'll just say watch out for string and kettles.

48 hours to save the world - update 4

OK, it's half past five. Have been across London and back to deliver cgi sequences and help with the editing, although how much "help" I can be at this point may be unclear. Curiously, although there were about 100 teams at the briefing, we didn't run into any others during our location shoots yesterday night or this morning. I'm looking forward to seeing what other teams got up to.

48 hours to save the world - update 3

10.30 on Sunday night and I'm really tired now. We wrapped at about 2 this afternoon but I'm still trying to get the last few cgi sequences done while elsewhere the editing goes on through the night too.

48 Hours to save the world - update 2

Currently living on caffeine and working around technical hitches. We may or may not be half way through shooting at this point. For that matter we may or may not be on course to finish. Anyway, here's a shot from a sequence I'm working on:

48 Hours To Save The World - update 1

So far, so good. We got our title and dialogue at the briefing, and came up with a scenario (suitably post-apocalyptic), meanwhile the team is growing - as ever I'm amazed at people's willingness to give up their time! This time we should have decent sound and probably an original soundtrack. Have checked out the first location and got lots of stock footage, now waiting for the rest of the team to converge so we can shoot the first few scenes. It's going to be a rush, particularly as we're planning to include some CGI. More on that story later...