Film Connection Apprentice Victor Cobb’s 48 Hour Film Project Crash-Course!

Victor Cobb, Film Connection apprentice who studies filmmaking with Steve Carmichael of Atlanta’s Radiant 3 Produtions, got one heck of a crash-course in filmmaking by taking part in this year’s 48-hour Film Project Atlanta. Putting it all together was all he needed to see just how vital it is to have industry connections, and a whole lot of can-do attitude!

Every 48 hour entrant is assigned a genre, prop, character name and one line of dialogue. From those few basic sketch lines, they’re expected to complete a 3-7 minute film within 48 hours. That said, for Victor, preparation for this whirlwind experience actually began months in advance.

“We decided that if we were going to create a quality film, we would need quality equipment which would cost us a pretty penny. That’s where Kickstarter came in.” Victor and his small team got a Kickstarter campaign underway, successfully raising a little more than $1900 to cover equipment and expenses.

Connections proved vital when it came to actually making the film. Victor teamed up with co-director Tommie Ingram. Ingram introduced him to Atlanta-based producer Sharon Tomlinson of Studio 11 Films. Tomlinson had the connections they needed to get the equipment, crew and castmembers including actor Carl Anthony Payne, who agreed to star in the project!

Because they had just 48-hours to see their project from start to finish, Cobb worked with a team of writers to finish the film’s script in thirteen hours. A shoot was scheduled immediately following screenplay completion. Cobb says, “Because we had two directors on set, myself and Tommie, we were able to shoot one scene while one of us set up another scene and prepared to direct it once the previous scene was wrapped. “We shot for the majority of the day. Our editor was onsite editing around the time the final scenes were being shot. Of course, the editor was up editing the film for us from the night of the shoot, right up ’til about an hour before the deadline the next day.”

As happens in “real life” and real filmmaking, the Cobb experienced definite challenges including losing team members just before the start of production and technical difficulties just hours before the film was due. Nevertheless, the two directors and the crew persevered and delivered on time.

Of the experience, Victor says:
“July 10 was the screening of our film, which turned out to look and sound amazing on the big screen. I must say there is no greater feeling than seeing something you created on a big screen for the enjoyment of others.” Even greater for the Film Connection apprentice was the sense of personal accomplishment derived from seeing his project from inception through to completion and all in 48 hours! “I had finally done it, I had finally directed my first movie. It was now a possibility. The sky was the limit now.”

Congratulations to you and everyone involved in your film Victor! We can’t wait to hear more!