So tonight I went down to the ANZA club to be one of three judges for BLOODSHOTS: The 48 Hour Horror Film Challenge. Of the eight films submitted, six were turned in on time.
As hundreds of DV filmmakers the world over have already learned, making a short film in one weekend can be terrifying. Lack of sleep is just the beginning of your problems when you are trying to corral actors into repeating their performance with more energy at 5 in the morning and you know you have only got another 6 hours to get a final edit of your masterpiece put together.
Each film was given it’s own sub-genre of horror and weapon. All of the films had to incorporate a fannypack and the phrase “They may drink alcohol, but they’re still human.”
Below are the award categories. I would have added two more categories if I were in charge: Best choreography and best score. Hell’s Habit would have won best score, I’m sure of it. I’ve inserted links to youtube so you too can enjoy the films.
Best acting: Hell’s Habit by Mike Jackson (you know him, you love him). On Jackson’s team was Peter New and Sam Dulmage among others. They all did exceptional jobs. Though Soylent Red was very close, Hell’s Habit got extra marks for having way solid acting even though none of the characters really had lines, in a sense.
Best editing: Hell’s Habit. Soylent Red was runner up, if such a thing existed. A lot of the films had brutal editing. Again Habit stands out for the fact that they shot on super 8mm and as such they had huge technical constraints. Balsy!
Best death: Soylent Red for the ‘art imitates death’ motif. 13 Steps came close, and if you watch the video, you’ll see why.
Best subversive use of genre. What does this category mean? Your guess is as good as mine. The winner: 13 Steps.
Best use of prop (fanny pack). Though I was pitching for the origami fanny pack in Death Cart 2.0, the other judges shouted me down and the winner was 13 Steps.
Best use of required dialogue. This one went to Soylent Red who incorporated it into a song.
Best costumes: Hell’s Habit
Best screenplay: There was some discussion about what a screenplay was (it’s not just dialogue!). I am not sure but I think 13 Steps won.
The films that won no awards were Song of the Dead, which was was pretty dreadful in many areas but had some good death and gore in it. Overtime Bites was uh… a film.
Best film won $2000 worth of lighting equipment. Mike and Sam and the rest of the cats in Hell’s Habit truly deserved it. Way to go guyses!