Local Movie Making Team Competes In '48 Hour Film Project'

There are a lot of things that take about 48 hours. Getting a package in the mail, driving across the country, but what about making a movie? For a group of Oklahoma filmmakers, that was just the challenge they were looking for. 

“It’s crazy, its high stress, people are zonked out of their minds. We’ve all lost a billion brain cells, but that’s the fun part of it,” said Scott Lancaster, producer of the film. 

The 48 Hour Film Challenge is a competition of movie crews from around the world. Each group is given just 48 hours to make an entire movie. Start to finish. 

“Really you don’t even know what to write until you draw your topic, your genre,” said Michael Gotcher, director of the film. 

“You have Friday at 7 p.m. the drawing and you get the text that says you have the choice of silent or road film,” said Lancaster. 

From that drawing, the team has until 7 p.m. on Sunday to complete the movie and have it submitted. 

A crew of about 35 people took over Lancaster’s home, turning it into a movie set for the weekend. 

“We’re doing stuff out here, with 25 people and a massive amount of camera equipment, tripods, stands, lights, and everything sticking out everywhere, and they’re in there writing for what about three hours?” said Lancaster. 

To keep things fair, the night of the drawing, each team is given a required prop to be used in the movie, a required line in the movie and required character in the movie. 

“Of course, there’s lots of nodding off, you can feel your eyes bleeding, you feel your brain cells dying but you know you just keep going,” said Lancaster.  

“Scott looked over at me one time, and he goes I can’t feel my feet,” said Gotcher.  

There are thousands of entries into the competition from all over the world. The winners will gather at the Cannes Film Festival.  

“You have to have a love for this. All in all, you have to love all aspects of this,” said Lancaster.  

Local movies will be screened on Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Oklahoma City Community College. Tickets are $15. 

For information about the 48-hour movie challenge visit www.48hourfilm.com