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Short Films.

Team MITCIT, 2005, 5 min.

Participant (no prizes!) in the "48 Hours" film-making competition, New Zealand, 2005.

48 Hours = "Write, Shoot, Cut, Survive": 48 hours to make a movie.  John Calder rounded up a team from "Manukau Institute of T echnology Computer and Information Technology" er um call it "MITCIT".  Come 7pm on a Friday night 15 May 2005, we received this mission ...

  • Genre = "Film Noir"
  • Must include a character named "Bodil de Resny" described as an "Animal Lover"
  • Must include line of dialogue: "Please don't do that".
  • Must include prop: a banana.
  • Additional draw for a sponsor prize if a red scarf is featured.

We filmed mostly in one classroom (NR220 for those who know MIT) using the project to try out the bluescreen technique with a blue bedsheet.  Graphics whizz Ian Lopez created the backgrounds to composite in.  The result highlights both the potential this has in accessible production with mini-DV, but also the difficulties.  Lighting technique, choice of screen material and room layout are critical.

We had trouble with sound.  Our usual microphone was unavailable so we had to change mics at the last minute - always a recipe for problems.  This version is fixed-up after the competiton by calling the actors back for some post-dubbing.

Camera is Canon MVX25i (known in the USA market as "Optura 40").  Great media camera: results projected on the big screen in a commercial cinema in my opinion looked good and close to equalling the movies using pro 3-chip cameras.