WIT NEWS ITEM | Behind the Scenes for WIT's Sci-Fi Weekend

Michael Kitces and Tyler Korba work with Jason Saenz during WIT's latest 48. Images courtesy of Ellie Lee.

BEHIND THE SCENES FOR WIT'S SCI-FI WEEKEND

POSTED 5.29.08

iLoveU2, WIT's official entry in to DC's 8th annual 48 Hour Film Project will screen tonight at the AFI Silver Theatre's Best Of 2008 presentation.

That's the short version of the story. The longer version has a few more plot twists, just like this year's film.

WIT's latest foray in to the world of weekend movie-making took place from May 2nd through 4th with a record-number one hundred seventeen DC-area groups competing. Team leaders packed the Warehouse Theatre on Friday night to draw their required character (Larry Gardner, a designer), prop (sauce) and line of dialogue ("I'll be glad when he's gone") for the big event.

Team producer and onesixtyone player Topher Bellavia drew Science Fiction as the team's genre. "I was psyched," says Bellavia. "I called (director) Tyler (Korba) on the phone and we decided to go for it after only a few seconds of discussion."


The team meets to come up with ideas on Friday night.

Brainstorming lasted well in to the night on Friday, with the group struggling to pin down a story. After a much needed break and a concerted effort to find the idea with the most fun, they landed on a winner: get about two minutes in, and break into song.

Turning that idea into reality would require the help of iMusical director Travis Ploeger. "I thought we were going to do an Outer Limits episode," recalls Ploeger with a laugh. "Since that would be the easiest thing to do with no budget, limited time, and lots of creative power, I thought I'd be contributing some weird synthy-stringy sounds to a soundtrack, and that'd be the end of it.

Boy, was I in for a surprise!"


Brian Coleman and Travis Ploeger during the group's Friday night brainstorm.

The basic plan of attack would divide the team in two; those working on the audio, and those shooting the video. It was decided early on to lip sync nearly all of the singing in the film in order to avoid any problems with location audio and take some of the pressure off of the cast. Ploeger would send a rough guide track to the video team on Saturday morning and work on the final version during the day while the rest of the group was filming.

"That rough track was key," says Korba. "If everything was going to sync up at the end of the weekend, we really had to treat it like our Bible and follow Travis's every move in terms of vocals."


Mike Bass and Tyler Korba discuss the first shot of the weekend with Jason Saenz.


Mikael Johnson and castmates play dead in the park.

Surprisingly, writing the song turned out to be one of the easier parts of the weekend. "Ninety percent of the lyrics took no effort at all to write," says Ploeger. "Ten percent of the lyrics were almost impossible to write. It's hard, sometimes, to find the 'perfect' lyric that fits the music, continues to tell the story we want to tell and is entertaining."

Adding to the sonic arsenal was audio engineer and musician Kenneth Gilbert, who had worked previously with WIT on their ADDY Awards projects. The group had originally planned to use Gilbert on Sunday to help design and mix their finished film, but once the musical train started rolling, he teamed up with Ploeger to help get the cast in the booth and flesh out the soundtrack.


Mike Bass prepares the cast for one of their dance moments in Meridian Hill Park on Saturday.

"I thought we did very well in general," says Ploeger of the two-pronged attack. "Everyone kept their attitude and energy very high and positive, and that sure helps. If we ever do a filmed musical again, we'll probably mimic much of the process we stumbled on this time around."

Shooting to a soundtrack presented a unique set of challenges for the group.

"We've gotten used to improvising on the set and really making things up as we go during the weekend," explains Korba. "This time, we had a song that we had to marry up with and lyrics that we couldn't change. I think that what sounded like a relaxing road map to follow on Friday night actually turned out to be a really big challenge for us."

Bellavia agrees. "Unlike last year, where everyone spent all of Saturday shooting in the same place, this year a lot of the time had the cast and crew spread out at different locations.

Another challenge for me was gathering up some extras at the last second, but we sent out a clarion call to our WIT volunteers and they answered. They are an awesome bunch of people."


Annie Drinkard and Brian Coleman prepare to meet their untimely ends.

Shooting highlights included a trip to Meridian Hill Park for a group dance number involving those volunteers. "There's something wickedly fun about making your friends prance around in a park, singing and dancing about how much they love their computers so all the park-goers can laugh at them," smiles Bass.

Filming went well in to Sunday. By the time the cameras stopped rolling, the group had shot more footage and used more locations than any of their seven previous 48 Hour Films. With so much material to work with, finishing the film on time was always going to be difficult.

"I was telling anyone who was around on Sunday morning that it was gonna be close," says Korba, who edited through the night on Saturday. "I hadn't realized until I sat down to match picture to scratch audio that lip sync would be such a challenge."


Michael Kitces and Mike Bass take a break from filming on Saturday night.

The team persevered, though, and with Bass corralling actors during the day on Sunday to shoot remaining footage, post-production eventually gained momentum. Gilbert worked fast to provide an audio finished track for the team that delivered about two hours before the film was due, and it appeared as though the weekend would have a happy ending.

"And then things got dicey," says Korba.

File formats weren't matching up. Exports were taking longer than expected. And the drive from the group's base of operations in Silver Spring to the drop off point in downtown DC was looking more and more daunting. Ultimately, the team would turn their entry in twenty minutes late.

"I was very bummed," says Ploeger. "This could've been my one shot at a witfilms 48 Hour movie musical!"

"It hurt for sure," agrees Korba. "Especially since we technically finished on time, and only turned in late. You start to look at the weekend and second guess all of the places you relaxed for a while... you keep thinking about all of the ways you could have gotten those twenty minutes back."

"In retrospect, I wish we had a lighting guru in our crew," offers Bass. "We spent a lot of time trying to light our indoor shots, and a lot of them had to be re-shot anyway. We would have saved so much time.

But I was mainly bummed that our audio and music team wouldn't be recognized for their awesome work. Travis and Kenneth certainly deserve some recognition."


Topher Bellavia prepares for his scene late on Saturday.


Catherine Deadman's overdose is admired. Colin Murchie works on the film's title.

The film screened at the AFI Silver Theatre one week after the competition began. As a late entry, it was ineligible for any honors aside from the coveted Audience Award, which was to be determined by viewer ballot. Among the other very talented groups vying for audience recognition in the same screening was River Run's The Dinner Party, which also featured WIT players on both sides of the camera.

iLoveU2 earned a solid reception, and several days later, the group was informed that they had won the night. The news came as a big relief after the disappointment of the team's missed deadline.

"Winning the Audience Award felt really good," says Bass. "Our film was 4th in the lineup and the first big "hurrah" of the night."

Ploeger agrees. "At least we know that the film works!"

But there was one more surprise to come. A week after being informed of their award, the group was notified that they had been selected as a Best Of film by virtue of the win. iLoveU2 will play as part of the 7PM lineup Thursday night at the AFI Silver Theatre along with the rest of the Audience winners and River Run's film. Several other teams with WIT talent will screen as well (click here to learn more), capping off a long weekend of hard work for all involved in style.

Tickets to the Best Of sreenings are available for purchase now, but typically sell out quickly. Buy yours now and show your support for DC's instant-film community!


Just one of Ellie Lee's fantastic production stills from the weekend...