 | 
acting homepage | fan news | acting résumé | biography | headshot
For immediate release
contact: Craig Richards act@craigrichards.com
"Surrender" Is Entry in National Film Challenge
 tart writing a screenplay on Friday at 7:00 p.m., then rehearse, shoot, edit, score and deliver a completed short film the following Monday.
 
That's exactly what a small handful of talented people accomplished a couple weekends ago in Bend, Oregon as part of the National Film Challenge by the same folks who created the now-famous 48-Hour Film competition held at various film festivals around the country.
Early this summer while shooting a series of promos for a BendFilm advertising campaign, I asked cinematographer Sharon McNeill if she'd heard of 48-Hour Film and if she would consider participating in such a project. She was intrigued enough to research this novel approach to guerilla filmmaking and a couple short months later, had organized with three of her associates Tammy Sanderson, Jenn Hoffman and Jenette Huffman into an ad-hoc production team named Women Warriors and asked me if she could count on me to participate in the project.
We knew the final cut could only be eight minutes in length, but the rules of the National Film Challenge specified that we would only know the film's genre and various other required elements on Friday evening. We also knew that 84 other film crews around the country were excitedly making preparations by scouting possible locations and assembling their teams of actors for what promised to be a frenzied weekend.
Our own cast of talented actors included Rebecca Pinard, Jason Graham, Bob Doyle and introduced the adorable Lillian McNeill.
Friday, 7:00 p.m. - We were notified of the required elements in our film: The assigned genre was "fantasy" and must include a ping-pong ball, the line "Are you gonna eat that?" and the character "T. Griffin Sanders, Jetsetter." We were off and running!
By Saturday at 1:00 a.m., a rough story idea had been crafted and by our scheduled 9:00 a.m. production meeting, a hot new script was in the hands of all concerned.
 Played by Craig Richards, T. Griffin Sanders is a successful high-stakes real estate developer willing to risk everything but his heart until, during an unexpected delay in his otherwise manic schedule, he is caught in a wide-awake daydream that shows him what is possible if only he would surrender to love.
We shot scenes entirely digitally at some beautiful locations in and around the City of Bend and, by Sunday morning, editing had begun using some of the most sophisticated technologies currently available.
On Monday, our completed film entitled "Surrender" was routed to National Film Challenge headquarters as an official entry and, on December 8, 2003, the winners will be announced!
We plan to reassemble our team to shoot additional scenes and re-edit "Surrender" for exhibition at other film festivals around the country.
Enjoy your own private screening of the entire eight-minute romantic fantasy "Surrender" anytime – just click here. (This 10.5Mb movie may take a while to download depending your internet connection.)
# # #
|
|
| |
