72 Hours, 15 People, and 1 Film: How'd we do?

Last year around this time I told you what I learned working on a film for the Playhouse West 72 Hour Film Festival and I showed you the short we made.  I had such a great time, I formed a team and did it again this year with one small change: I directed the short.

So, the question is: did I learn from my lessons last year?  Mostly. 

But, there were some things I forgot and more lessons learned:

1. Having a huge cast can be a lot to handle in a 5 minute film.  I am proud to say that every member of my 13 person cast got a line and a close-up.  This was not easy to do.
2. Cat allergies are really rampant in this industry.  Seriously, we need zyrtec in every make-up bag.
3. Ladies like to wear very tall high heels.  When you have height differences of a foot between some of your actors, tall girls are going to have to do without them.  Oh, and they still make lots of noise on hardwood floors, in case you 're wondering.
4. Radio Flyer wagons with somewhat deflated tires are only slightly better at dollying than an office chair.  I would like to own some sort of real dolly by next year.
5. Next time I am aiming for a 4 page script.  This year we had exactly 5 pages and the first cut was still way too long.
6. Err on the side of too many takes.  (At some point during the shoot I turned into Ed Wood - "Was she is focus? did we get all her lines on camera?"-Me  "Yes, but, she fell over the table and knocked down a light."-Someone with more sense than me  "I'm sure we don't even see it.  Great, moving on!"-Me)  You and your editor will be so much happier with a wider selection.
7. I could have used a script supervisor: one too many takes unusable because of a glass being in the wrong hand, etc.
8. Once again, we created a film in a weekend.  So, why aren't we doing this at least once a month?

A few lessons still to be learned, but I am excited to say that our short won Best Comedic Short of the 72 Hour Film Festival!  You can watch it here: Little Bride Lie.