The 48 Hour Film Project is a worldwide competition/festival where filmmakers have 48 hours the write, shoot and edit a short film. They're given a line of dialog, a prop, and a character that must be included in the movie. They also randomly draw a genre for the film. Once everything is said and done, their film is shown at a local theater with the other local 48 Hour Film Project teams' films. The judges then pick the overall best film in the group and that team goes off to the national competition.
Okay, we got all that out of the way. Pretty straight forward stuff. Recently, though, I've been getting messages and invites to something called the 48 Film Project. Here, again, is a brief summary in my own words:
The 48 Film Project is a worldwide competition where filmmakers have 48 hours the write, shoot and edit a short film. They're given a line of dialog, a prop, and a character that must be included in the movie. They also randomly draw a genre for the film (unless you're given Free Choice, in which case you simply pick a genre). Once everything is said and done, their film is then placed onto the 48 Film Project's website where Pro Members and Judges pick the best overall film. It is then screened in Hollywood.
I was very confused at first. I thought it might be some sort of online-only off shoot to the 48HFP. Turns out, it's its own thing...and it sounds sketchy as fuck.
Now, to be fair, I do believe competition is a good thing. It can keep things fresh with a company by forcing them to lower their prices or come up with better deals than the other guy. This, though, this is not friendly competition. Here's why:
1. The Logo.
This is why I was confused at first. The logo for the 48 Film Project looks like a redesigned version of the logo for the 48 Hour Film Project. Seems very misleading, like if you find a knockoff digital Polex watch (which I have seen one before)
2. The Name.
Pretty self explanatory, I'm sure it's a little hard to keep up with which one I've been talking about in this blog. I understand that both are trying to accomplish the same thing, but again, it feels like it's trying to mislead and not create it's own identity to stand on, that it has to lean on a more established film festival.
3. Using Spambots/Fake Accounts For Promotion.
Aside from emails, the way I heard about the 48 Film Project was mostly from fake Facebook accounts. You know the ones, someone just created their account ten minutes ago, puts up one profile pic (that totally must be them and not just some random picture they got off the internet), and starts inviting people left and right to sign up for the 48 Film Project.
They try and claim that they're legit, but the tactics they use scream otherwise. Why use such a similar logo/name? Why all the spambots and fake Facebook accounts? It's not cleaver and just feels like they've got something to hide.
It's not just the shadiness that gets me. I feel that it loses a big part of the 48HFP for me: meeting local filmmakers. I really enjoy that part of the festival, talking to people about how they shot something or what kind of techniques they used, watching a film during the festival and going, "Oh, I know where that place is." To me, that's a lot of the charm of it. Getting dressed up, going to see a movie you, your friends, and family made over the weekend. Going to the after party, socializing. I feel like it would be extremely hokey to say that the whole event feels kind of magical, but I honestly can't think of another term for it.
Personally, I wouldn't blame anyone who enters the 48 Film Project. It could actually be on the up and up for all I know. Maybe there's some bit of information about it that I'm missing or just not seeing. Who knows. For me, though, I don't think I'll be entering this one.
Till Next Time, Space Monkeys!
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