Thirteen teams scouted locations and set up their shots all over Renton this past weekend to take part in the seventh annual Renton FilmFrenzy.
For the 50-hour film competition, teams were sent their CurveBalls – or items they must include in their film – at 5 p.m. on Friday and off they went to create their plots.
Last year’s winner, Brad Singley, said he and his crew were up until 2 a.m. crafting their storyline. It has to do with a man who keeps thinking people are waving at him, but really it’s the person behind him. That’s all Singley would share with the Renton Reporter.
“Everybody’s had that experience where you think someone’s waving at you and you go to wave back and they’re waving at the person behind you,” said Singley. “Our character has, um…maybe I’ll leave it at that.”
Singley’s crew had planned to shoot at nine locations on Saturday for their short film. It was their fifth time entering the FilmFrenzy and they moved through their scenes like old pros.
“Our strategy is keeping a tight schedule, so when we get confident we’re doing well with our schedule, you start taking longer each take,” he said. “And then it’s 5 o’clock and we still have to edit and do a lot of the work in post.”
Singley planned to used between eight and 10 friends from work, neighbors, church members and people from around the community.
“It’s just an expensive hobby that we’ve spent way to much on,” said Steven Heller, star of the film.
They’ve all known each other one to five years and seemed very comfortable taking direction from each other. It all starts with them making cardboard cutouts and then figuring out how to do stuff on the fly, said Heller.
One of their first shots of the day was the Renton High School nurse’s office. They needed a hospital-type scene and “scored” when they got permission to use that location.
“There’s a lot of things like this that have fallen into place,” said Heller.
The crew was finished with the nurse’s office and on to their next location on time. It’s quite a different pace from traditional film work, according to extra Dylan Paschke.
“This is nice because you actually get a product at the end,” he said. “In regular film work there seems to be a lot of negotiations and meetings and nothing ever happens. So this is pretty fun.”
Singley is a graphic designer; Heller makes phone accessories for a living. Paschke went to film school in London and helped with Singley’s production as an extra and with the lighting.
“I’ve had a lot of important meetings, but I haven’t made it to the stage where something gets the green light,” Paschke said. “This is more satisfying than that.”
On Sunday, 12 teams made the deadline to turn in their films; eight in the open category and four in student. This past week the films were sent to the judges, who will converse in a conference call this coming week to decide on the winners.
Hollywood judges have been selected for this year’s FilmFrenzy. Theo Dumont, co-founder, co-director of HollyShorts Film Festival and Dumont Marketing; Glen Reynolds, of Circus Road Films; Daniel Sol, co-founder of HollyShorts Film Festival and Aaron Wolf, of Howling Wolf Productions are all participating.
The public is invited to a free screening of all 12 films at 7 p.m., on Oct. 18, at the IKEA Performing Arts Center.
This Friday and Saturday, Oct. 10 and 11, is the BestFest. On Friday winning films from Crash Cinema competitions around the state will be screened from 7 to 10 p.m. at Renton’s Carco Theatre. Directors have been invited and it’s free and open to the public.
On Saturday, all the best multicultural films from festivals around the state will be screened from 7 to 10 p.m., Carco Theatre. Directors have also been invited to the event, which is also free and open to the public.
The Curvee Awards for the FilmFrenzy and the NW Film Honors is at 7 p.m., Oct. 24, at the Renton Pavilion Event Center.
