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"Why
You Should Care", by Lost Dog, was created in
24 hours for the Minneapolis Film Race 2008 based on a theme assignment
(saving)
and a surprise element (knocking on a door).
"Why
You Should Care" took home Best Film in
Minneapolis along with 4 other awards.
FR:
Tell us about your team, Lost Dog.
Nat
Otto of Lost Dog (Otto):
We’re made up primarily of students from the
Minnesota School of Business Digital Video
Production program. We also had the help of
friends, as well as one of our instructors, Troy
LaFaye.
FR:
Break down the production schedule of “Why You Should Care”.
Otto:
We all met at the school about a half hour before
the contest started. Upon learning that the theme
was “saving” and the action was a “knock on a door”
we went to work brainstorming ideas. We spent an
hour or so getting nowhere, when we decided to do an
exercise where someone writes a sentence down,
covers all but the last few words, and passes it on
to the next person. Somewhere in this mess some
wrote about ninjas, and the whole “Save the Ninjas”
idea was born.
We
then went to the internet to get ideas for our basic
outline. One we had a short script in hand we
started brainstorming what sort of shots/situations
we wanted and began to storyboard everything. We
had everything planned out around 4am. One of our
group members, Spencer Peter, played the ninja so we
didn’t have to waste much time waiting for anyone to
wake up. We were filming around 7am in downtown
Minneapolis. We got most of the “Ninja in the city”
shots by 9am (including about 20 minutes of the
ninja just walking—to the camera, away from the
camera, close-ups on his face, feet, etc.—about any
angle you could imagine—and I think we used about 4
seconds of it).
We
then stopped at Burger King for breakfast and then
headed over to a house to film the indoor scenes,
where we were joined by Spencer’s girlfriend,
Stephanie (who played the mom), and another friend,
Luke Moran (who played the dad). After wrapping
there we got the park shots, and then split into two
teams—one to head back to begin editing, the other
to get a few more B-roll shots. We finished filming
the office shots while the film was being edited,
had our rough cut done about two hours before the
film was due, and then worked on adding music, sound
effects, tweaking the edits (and screwing a few up
that weren’t noticed until after it was turned in
and we had a full night’s sleep), and making the end
title graphics (thanks to David Combs and his talent
with Photoshop and After Effects.)
The
movie was turned in about 7 minutes before the
deadline. Interesting sidenote—the film was
originally titled “Why Should You Care,” straight
from a line of dialogue from the narrator, but when
I turned it in I was so tired I told them the title
was “Why You Should Care,” and it stuck.
J
FR:
What equipment and hardware/software was used during the
pre-production, production and post-production of
“Why You Should Care”?
Otto:
We
used a Panasonic DVC 60 and a standard boom mic for
filming, and a G5 iMac with Final Cut Studio 2
(mainly using Final Cut Pro) for the editing
process.
FR:
What was the most difficult part of the process?
Otto:
The group got along really well. The hard part was
keeping people energized around 2pm, after everyone
had already been up for about 30 hours. The other
hard part was trying to make good editing decisions
in the waning hours of the contest.
FR:
Any good behind the scenes stories?
Otto:
Nothing too amazing (except maybe the wrong title
for the movie that I mentioned earlier). The
biggest surprise was our actors. I was the lead
editor for the project and didn’t see some of the
scenes while they were being shot, such as the scene
where Luke Moran (the dad) is pinched by the Ninja
(Spencer Peter) and the fall he took to the ground
in the park sent me into reels of laughter. It was
something they came up with on the spot, and when I
saw it I knew we were on the right track.
FR: Did you plan on working ninjas into your film regardless of
the theme?
Otto:
No, we didn’t. After an hour of brainstorming
ideas took us nowhere, we did a writing exercise
where one person writes a sentence or two, then
folds over the paper so only the last few words are
visible. They then pass the paper on and the next
person adds to it, until everyone has written a
sentence on each sheet of paper. (With one piece of
paper for every member of the group.) Someone wrote
something about ninjas, and the film just sort of
took on a life of it’s own after that.
FR:
What were some of your favorite films from this year’s
Minneapolis Film Race?
Otto:
My favorite one was one that didn’t meet deadline,
Dial S for Savior. It was about a person who
calls to talk about their phone bill and ends up
talking to Jesus. Apparently it was mostly
improv'ed, and hilarious. But overall the talent
was great—it would be really fun to collaborate with
any group in the future.
FR:
What advice would you give to someone that wants to get
involved in the Minneapolis independent filmmaking
scene?
Otto:
We’re probably not the best people to ask. A la
Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith, our philosophy is why
do it if it’s not fun, and why do it if you can’t do
it with your friends. We’re just a bunch of friends
who set out to have a good time, and I think that
helped out quite a bit.
FR:
Do you have any ongoing or upcoming projects you would like
to share?
(feel free to include links)
Otto:
As I mentioned
before, we’re all students, so most of our energy is
spent on our classes. We liked the group that we
made “Why You Should Care” with, so hopefully we’ll
all get together again in the near future. Our next
project? Hopefully part two of Fritz Yeager:
Bigfoot Hunter. (Yes, he dies in the end, but we
don’t see that as an end, just a challenge.)
Youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4ilsMneM2I
FR:
Will you be back to defend your title in 2009?
Otto:
I think so. We had a great time doing it in 2008,
and hope to be back at it again next year.
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