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Films from scratch

Talking to two filmmakers about the three-day movie race

Kris Crews will participate in the 72-Hour Film Competition once again this year. Facebook photo

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Until last year, I had competed in every Tacoma 72-Hour Film Competition since the competition's meager beginnings with 11 teams in 2005. I watched it grow over the years, and become more and more of a "thing" - until my shameful outing in 2010 when I failed to complete my film. It's no joke, making a movie from scratch in three days. If you don't have a supreme ability to roll with the punches, the slightest roadblock is capable of derailing an entire production. Or, worse yet, it can result in a bad film. The horror.

On Thursday, April 21, 30 teams assembled at The Grand Cinema to receive this year's 72-Hour Film Competition requirements - elements that need to be included in every film. In each submitted work, someone must say, "What are you going to do about it?"; somewhere, there must be an egg; and at least one scene must take place on a dock or pier.

Now in its seventh year, the 72-Hour Film Competition also threw a curveball into the mix by requiring that one character possess super powers, a development that will doubtlessly shape many of the films to be screened on Friday.

I contacted two battle-tested and ambitious 72-Hour veterans, Kris Crews and Rick Gratzer. Their styles couldn't be more dissimilar, with Gratzer frequently embracing silliness and Crews leaning in a more psychedelic direction. I wondered how they responded differently to the challenge of making a five-minute-or-less film in three days.

"The only real problem I ran into was the pier location," says Gratzer of this year's competition. "I had gone to check it out Friday in the middle of the day and was like, ‘Oh, this is great. There's no one here and it looks cool and everything,' without thinking about how we're going to be (shooting there) on Saturday, and it's going to be, like, 70 degrees outside. So we got there, and there were about 200 people there. Didn't think that far ahead."

Gratzer says this was an uncharacteristically easy shoot, despite the bad luck with the location. He even says this is the shortest film he's ever submitted to the competition, clocking in at around 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Traditionally, Gratzer's films - like most other films in the competition - pushed it as close to the five-minute limit as possible.

As far as the requirements go, there are generally two camps at the 72-Hour: those who build their films around the requirements, and those that awkwardly jam them in.

"When I first started out (in the festival), I had the idea that I would do whatever I want, and screw whoever didn't like it," laughs Gratzer. "I feel like the fun now is taking the requirements and seeing how to fit them in as best you can."

Crews, meanwhile, ran into some classic roadblocks during the 72 hours, including time constraints of actors (including Jeremy Gregory and members of the local band A Leaf) and difficulties getting editing done in time.

"We edited until 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, then continued until the end of our time on Sunday, and we didn't even review the final edit by the time we turned it in," says Crews. "There are things that are funny, like funny mistakes in the movie that, a lot of times, people just dismiss totally, which is great. It's kind of like an Easter egg hunt, if you were to sit and watch it and look for the little things that we messed up. ... It doesn't really take away from the film that much, but it drives me crazy."

As is the case with every installment of the 72-Hour Film Festival, there is bound to be a grab bag of good films and bad films. The Grand Cinema Executive Director Philip Cowan tells me, though, this year's is the best batch so far. I, for one, would be excited to see him proved right.

72-Hour Film Competition Viewing Party


Friday, May 6, 7 p.m., $11–$15
Rialto Theater, 310 S. Ninth, Tacoma
253.591.5890

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Comments for "Films from scratch" (2)

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Marguerite said on May. 05, 2011 at 1:11pm

This is one of the funnest activities I've participated in. My team last year had so much fun making our movie, (We got an honorable mention!) and we were sad not to be able to do it this year. I can't wait to do it again next year, it was a really fun, creative time!

Our Video- www.youtube.com/watch?v=7upCYs-pnW8

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chris w said on May. 05, 2011 at 4:57pm

Can't wait til tomorrow night! With 30 films, the night really can go anywhere.

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