Fly Filmmaking Challenge Insanity

Welcome to the world of the professional dare.

by Della Campion

In its 5th year, the Seattle International Film Festival’s Fly Filmmaking Challenge is an annual stress test in limits given to three selected local filmmakers. This year SIFF, in collaboration with the Northwest Film Forum, Women in Film, and IFP Seattle, threw down the glove to directors Matt Daniels, Dayna Hanson and Lisa Hardmeyer. The challenge to each of them: 5 days to shoot, and 5 days to edit a short film.

As if the time constraints weren’t enough to keep things lively, SIFF placed a couple of
“flies in the ointment” just to keep things interesting: Each director was asked to choose at random-literally out of a hat-their main character. Additionally, each short was to contain one randomly chosen SIFF sponsor in their film (these turned out to be local icons Jones Soda, the Space Needle, and Cupcake Royale). SIFF gave the directors the opportunity to work with a Northwest screenwriter to produce the scripts, but each chose to write their own.

“The filmmakers chosen this year pushed the limits more than they ever have in the past,” said Amy Dee, producer of the Challenge for SIFF in her introduction to the June 13 screening at the Egyptian. “They were so engaged in the program and so interested in what they were doing. They were constantly asking me how they could push the limits to make their films better.”

ON SCREEN’s Della Campion caught up with director Matt Daniels after the screening to talk about his experience with the Challenge. Daniels’ film Numb (http://www.thinklab.com/numb), the surreal story of a little girl who becomes the star of her mysterious uncle’s puppet show, mixes live action with animation to create an otherworldly, storybook effect.

OS: Have you done the Fly Filmmaking Challenge before?
MD: No, this is the first year – it’s a one-time thing.

OS: Tell me about the timeline.
MD: I’ll give you some very rough dates to let you know how the process worked. We met in December/ January and we were told that we would be participating in this. Soon after we were asked to draw a character from a hat and a sponsor from a hat, so at that point we were free to start writing the story. We shot the stories in late February/early March. A couple of weeks before shooting we were assisted in finding a cast. Stephen Salamunovich, a local casting director, provided that service, and then we had our cast a couple of weeks out and were able to rehearse and lock down our locations and work out all the details that go along with making a film.

OS: Were there other restrictions for the filmmaker, besides the filming schedule and the “flies in the ointment”?
MD: The type of camera you can use…there were really quite a few. In a way it’s good to have those restrictions when you’re working on a project – it helps you to get focused early on.

OS: Did you use film or digital?
MD: We all used digital. I shot on a Panasonic HVX 200 video camera. I believe the other two films used the JVC video camera – all HD.

OS: What about post production? Did you have a more leisurely pace for that?
MD: We had two days rest [after shooting], when we could start to log footage and take notes, although they were technically “days off.” We had 5 days to edit; we were always restricted to 10-hour days. While shooting we had no more than 10 people on set at any time and while editing we had not more than 3 people touch the project at any one time, in a day. We chose to do a lot of animation in the film, and in doing so, we put even more restrictions on ourselves by saying that we have to do the editing in 2 days, so we can animate for 3 days.

OS: Was all of post-production considered the ‘editing process’?
MD: Almost. They said they’d give us 5 days to edit and then we had about 2 days to do some other finishing things that were provided by other local businesses. Technically, 12 days after we started shooting, we had to hand in our finished film. Then a couple of weeks later it’s taken to Modern Digital who did the color correcting and titles for us. A couple of days after that it’s taken to Bad Animals who does the final sound mixing.

OS: Was everybody given a start date and an end date for this 10 day window?
MD: Yes, exactly. At the very beginning we’re handed the calendar; this is where you start shooting…this is where you end…

OS: Did you sleep at all during those 10 days?
MD: It was tough. I’ve actually worked on two other 48-hour films that were sort of like an exercise for this in a lot of ways. Having five whole days to shoot and then five whole days to edit, I definitely pushed myself a lot harder than I did on the 48-hour films.

OS: What would you do differently, if you had the opportunity to do it again?
MD: Oh so many things, really. I really like the direction we took for the story. Doing it again I would just hope to have more experience and keep getting better at telling stories. Learning how to shoot exactly what we need, learning how to write so that the moments are always, you know, just hitting just at the perfect times – that the pacing is just right. So really, I don’t have any regrets. The only thing that I can say is that I want to do it more and get better.

OS: What advice would you give for someone who would be doing the Challenge next year?
MD: Have fun. Why not challenge yourself? Think a little bit bigger than you’re used to thinking. You’re probably going to have more resources than you did on your last project. Figure out ways to use those resources effectively, and push it. Shoot fast.

Fly Filmmaking Challenge

Jila Bazrafkan

One small chunk of time, one big task, the Seattle International Film Festival’s Fly Filmmaking Challenge remains a popular program with festival-goers. Nominated by local arts organizations, this year’s participants, Lisa Hardmeyer, Dayna Hanson, and Matt Daniels, were given five days to shoot and five days to edit a 10-minute long film. The three local filmmakers met their objective, premiering wonderfully varied projects to an expectant SIFF audience May 28th at the Egyptian Theatre. The time and budget constraints of the challenge remain a consistent hurdle every festival; what changes are the “flies in the ointment.” This year each filmmaker selected two items from a hat to write their film around: a character (an out of town uncle, the perfect hostess, or security guard) and a sponsored product placement item (a Cupcake Royale cupcake, Jones Soda, or the Space Needle).
Hardmeyer’s first narrative film, The Bridge is based on a haunting true-life experience; for her, the outcome remains unknown. Two characters meet in existential crisis. One goes over the edge. Lurking behind the film is the question: what kind of influence did one have on the other? Hardmeyer clarifies her aim in making the film, “I didn’t write the movie to know the ending. I wrote the movie to explore the beginning.”
Hanson’s film, The Rainbow, is also a narrative first for its director. Hanson has previously made experimental and short dance films as well as producing a documentary directed by Rainbow actor, Linas Phillips. Featured in this film is a Metro bus, a feat of procurement of which Hanson says, “It often pays to make things more difficult.” Shot with JVC HDV 250, the film is a multi-layered exploration of the main characters’ struggles with loss.
Matt Daniels’ contribution, Numb, is a partially animated fairytale that rivals Tim Burton in atmospheric mystery. A young orphan girl goes to live with her eccentric uncle. Unknown to her is the true nature of her new residence. To achieve the visual style of the film, parts were shot with Vaseline around the edge of the lens. It was then further darkened and blurred in post. Daniels reports that the special effects were made using a combination of Adobe After Effects, Cinema 4D, and Photoshop.
Speaking on the time limitation, Hanson says it was surprising how much could be shot in five ten-hour days. Having trimmed her 20-page script to ten minutes of screen time, she plans on expanding Rainbow into a feature next winter. Hardmeyer similarly had too much material, “The challenge of Fly Film is to get them to time.” Her continued plan for The Bridge is to make it into a longer short, adding back some cut scenes. Matt Daniels, however, says that Numb will stay in its current form. After participating in 48-hour film festivals, “Five days to shoot was fine.” He adds, “It’s really easy to get tired after five days of total shooting.”
While the Fly Filmmaking Challenge is a way to bring a few local filmmakers into the spotlight, the whole Seattle film community gets involved in the effort. Hardmeyer, after listing a slew of people (including John Keister for writing some stand-up comedy material) who made her film possible said, “I feel so indebted.”
The three films will be shown at SIFF again at the Egyptian Theatre on Wednesday June 13th, 4:30 pm.