Best Of Jacksonville Screening

Belong was selected to be a part of the Best Of Jacksonville Screening which will take place Saturday, August 25, 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. at the San Marco Theater. The award winners will be announced during that screening.

Links To Articles

Here are some links to articles regarding the 48 Hour Film Project. Joe is quoted and even has a photo in one.

Florida Times Union 8/8/2007
First Coast News 8/3/2007
MetroJacksonville.com 8/9/2007

Belong

Michelle Marin as Tara in the short film Belong.

The short film “Belong” is the result of a collaborative brainstorming session involving members of the “NFocus” team as part of the 48 Hour Film Contest held in Jacksonville, FL. The idea behind the contest pits teams against each other who all must write, find actors and locations, edit and create music to complete a short film based on a genre drawn at the beginning of the contest. All in 48 hours. The NFocus team drew “Drama” as their genre and soon after, began the process of creating their story. As part of the team’s discussion they began to question what a person would value so much that they would willingly give up everything to have. Eventually, after word associations and personal stories, it was agreed that the need to “belong” was so profound in all of us that it shapes virtually every facet of our lives.

In the film, Tara, played by Michelle A. Marin, portrays a young woman who has finally discovered the whereabouts of her bottom dwelling, addict mother. Her decision to embrace her mom and her brokenness forces her to leave the world she knows.

Screening

Belong will screen, along with other films from the 48 Hour Film Project, on Tuesday, August 8, during the group A screenings at 6:45. The screenings will take place at the Main Branch of The Jacksonville Public Library, 333 N. Laura Street (the entrance for the auditorium is on the Main Street side). More information on the screenings can be found at www.48hourfilm.com/jacksonville.

If you attend the screenings, please take time to revisit our blog and provide us with comments on the film.

Thanks.

48Hour Production Photos

You can check out our behind the scenes photos, including some not yet seen, on our Flickr account at www.flickr.com/photos/nfocus48hourproject.

Coming Soon

Hey everyone. Keep checking back on the blog. Over the course of the next few days, we will be adding some cool stuff to the blog. Most likely, we will add the short film, some behind the scenes footage, and other cool things. Talk with you later.

Success

8:00 p.m. Sunday – We are headed home, traveling south on 95. My head hurts and I am tired. Our film was turned in just before 7:30 this evening. What a relief. We encountered some technical issues with the edit system during final playback to tape and that process took a lot long than it should have. Twenty-two of the twenty-six teams in the competition were able to finalize their project in time.

Considering the limited resources and time, we are very pleased with the final product. By the way, the name of the short film is Belong.

Michelle Marin the lead actress in the film really carried it well. Her performance in the opening scene is awesome. During the first take of that scene, as Joe and I looked into the monitor, I was almost moved to tears. We both kind of stepped back and just looked at each other.

The production crew worked really hard to obtain the quality images we needed. It was long, hard, hot and sometimes messy work. The shoots were also accompanied by the usual amount of joking around and ridicule by our director Joe. But they were all troopers.

The story, as you will soon see, tells the tale of one who is willing to stoop into the grunge of life and save someone, even someone who is broken. The NFocus team did a good job of creating a solid story and Joe did a good job of getting it down on paper.

Again, as with many of our projects, the film is toped off with an excellent musical score by Adam Davidson. Adam’s rendition of the old hymn “Lay Your Sins Upon Jesus”, which plays during the end credits, highlights the underlying theme of the film. Great job Adam!

Early on during, our pre-production for this project, we knew it was going to be critical to have a local person involved as an Associate Producer. Man, did that prove to be true. There is no way we would have been able to pull off this production in such a short period of time without someone who knew the area and could secure resources for us. Ennis, you are the man.

It was fun and extremely challenging, a great experience. Glad it’s over.

Awards for the project will be announced on August 25.

Rushing To Meet Deadline

1:35 p.m. Sunday - I have spent all morning and into the early afternoon getting a final edit done. Now that we have the final edit, we have begun adding visual effects, mostly a film look to the project. This what will take some time. We have to render out each effect. My best guess is 3 - 4 hours. If that is true we will have about 1 or 2 hours to get Adam's music tracks laid in and sweeten final audio. We will be pushing the deadline.

Meeting A Deadline

Jim editing.

10:00 a.m. Sunday - I woke up at around 7:30 a.m. and began the post production work. It is moving along nicely. We have some audio issues with a couple of the locations. We will just have to make it work.

Joe, and Adam have gone to get coffee and doughnuts for everyone.

Need Sleep

2:00 a.m. Sunday - It's late and I just finished getting all of the shots into the edit system. I'm tired. I'm going to try and get a few hours sleep and then get up and start cutting it together. Not sure that is the best decision, but I have too.

Rob, Joe, and Tyler are out getting 2nd unit stuff.

Post Production Begins

12:55 a.m. Sunday - With most of the principal photograph shot, I will now begin the majority of the post production process. I need to get the footage into the edit system and begin cutting the stuff we shot today. Adam is putting finishing touches on music. Rob, Joe, and Tyler are getting ready to head out and get some 2nd unit stuff of the city. We begin the push toward the deadline.

A Roller Coaster Ride

Inside the bar.

David staging equipment outside the bar.

Dawn and Michelle going over lines in the bar.

Extras in the bar scene.

Joe cleaning the bathroom.

Joe giving direction to Josh.

Shooting exterior of house in car.

12:35 a.m. Sunday - Wow it has been an up and down ride since we left the hotel this afternoon. It is to be expected that we would run into some trouble at some point. It happened during the shoot for the bar scene. It wasn't anything really bad. It is just that it was a very difficult location to shoot in. It was a perfect atmosphere for the scene, but it was cramped quarters and hot. We were also under some pressures to get this scene shot in a timely manner. Mostly it came from the fact we had a number of extras and they tend to get restless after a while.

The second location for the day was actually much better. We were fortunate enough to find a perfect bathroom in a city park. And the guys who watched over it were very helpful. Again, I must say that Ennis has been tremendously helpful in locating and securing locations. The bathroom was somewhat grungy and dirty. It was perfect. We cleaned it throughly and then made it look completely disgusting with some chocolate pudding and other creative elements. This scene will work well.

After wrapping the bathroom scene at around 7:00 p.m., we took a break for dinner and then headed to Dan's house for the exterior shots of our lead character existing the house and getting into a car. At around 10:00 p.m. we begin shooting the dialog between Tara and Jack in the car. Things went well there and Josh did a good job with his character of Jack.

I must say that one constant through out the day, other than Joe's ridicule of most everyone, was the performances of Michelle as Tara. She did a great job for us!

Brunch

Here's what Tyler looks like after a couple of hours sleep.

1:00 p.m. Saturday - We just finished eating Breakfast/Lunch at Cracker Barrel. While there, Rob continued working on securing talent for the rest of the scenes. We are planning on leaving the hotel around 2:00 p.m. Until then, Joe continues working on the script and I am tightening up the cut of the first scene.

Back To Work

11:00 a.m. Saturday - I wrapped up a rough cut of the first scene at around 8:00 a.m. this morning and took in a couple of hours of sleep. Joe is in the shower and getting ready to begin finalizing the rest of the script. The shots of scene one came out very good and cut together well. I am going to begin tightening the shots into more of a final cut for that section of the film, right after I get out of the shower.

Scene One Shot

Joe giving direction to talent during the first scene.

6:25 a.m. Saturday - We just returned to our hotel room, after finishing up shooting scene one. One of the biggest concerns you have on a project like this is working with talent that is unfamiliar to you. After some very good direction by Joe, our talent achieved what we were looking for. They did a great job. A really good performance by Michelle.

Another key component to the scene, of course was location. We were fortunate that Ennis at secured a perfect environment for the first scene, which would help set the tone for the film.

We are all tired. Joe and most of the rest of the crew is working on getting some rest. I am going to work on getting the footage from scene one into the edit system and put together a rough cut. Our plan at this point is to shoot the bar room scene at around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. At some time prior to that Joe will have to finish the script.

Heading Out To First Location

My cup of coffee at 2:00 a.m.

2:25 a.m. Saturday - Tyler and I just got back from Waffle House. While sitting at Waffle House, Tyler and I determined that the bars in the area must close at 2:00.

Joe is into page five of the script. We are getting ready to head out to our first location to shoot our first scene.

Page One Done

Adam working on music for the bar scene.

12:05 a.m. Saturday - Joe has just completed scene one of the script. We are only 2 1/2 hours from heading to our first location and shooting our first scene. Evidently the location of the first scene is in a not so favorable part of town, especially at 3:00 a.m.

Adam continues to work on music, specifically background (as though from a juke box) music for the bar scene.

First Call Times Set

11:00 p.m. Friday - With Joe having approximately one page of six done on the script, we have set call times to begin shooting our first scene at 3:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Talent and location have been lined up. We have also secured a bar for a scene to be shot tomorrow afternoon. Our plan is to spend three hours shooting the first scene which takes place in the kitchen of a modest home. Dialog will take place between a middle aged man and a young girl (19 years of age). During the day tomorrow we will also shoot some establishing and time sequencing shots. We still have to locate a public restroom stall for the all important final act.

Securing Talent

The process of securing talent for the project has been very interesting. It is around 10:30 p.m. and I just got off the phone with the casting agent who is helping us with the project. She happens to be in Los Angles for the weekend, but has talent in the Jacksonville area lined up on stand by for us. She located someone we needed to play the part of the mother in our film and I in turn called her and now have her secured for tomorrow's shoot. Crazy stuff.

The Process Has Begun

Joe working on script.

Adam working on music.

It is 10:00 p.m. on Friday night. Joe is working on the script and Adam continues to work on the music.

Rob, Laura, David, and Ennis have gone scouting possible locations. We have secured lead talent and a few others.

Secured Our Genre

Creative meeting in the office suite.

We headed down to Jacksonville Landing at around 5:00 p.m. grabbed some dinner and headed to Twisted Martini for the send off party for the teams. I was going to try and have some video of the event for you to view, but for some reason I am having trouble getting the video uploaded. I think it is our internet connection here at the hotel. I may have forgot to mention we are held up in an Extended Stay hotel about 6 miles south of downtown Jacksonville.

We were very fortunate to draw the 'drama' genre for our short film. Also, the elements that have to be included in our film are: Charles or Charlotte Braun the theft, a toilet seat, and the line 'Since when is this all about me'.

We have just come out of our creative brainstorming sessions and Joe has begun writing the script and Adam is beginning work on music.

Setting Up The Work Suite

Our 48Hour short film project has begun. We are taking part in the 48Hour Film Project in Jacksonville you can check out the project at http://www.48hourfilm.com/jacksonville.

We arrived at our hotel and have setup our working suite. Joe has an area for his laptop to write the script. I have an area setup for editing and doing all of the post production for the project. Adam has an area setup with his laptop and all of his gear for scoring and producing the music beds.