20 short films, each made in 48 hours for Sci-Fi-London 2012

May 23, 2012 1:09 PM

Sci-Fi-London put on another 48 hour film challenge this year, challenging film teams to make a short based around a given title, a snippet of dialogue, a short list of props, and an optional "scientific" theme. After two days in April, over 380 shorts had been made, and the winners have now been announced and and their short films posted on Sci-Fi-London's Vimeo account. 17 more shorts below the break.

The other shortlisted films presented to the jury were:
Rising Tide by Banterdillos
Nothing More Than Thunder by Super Awesome
The Travels Agent by Timesluts
Spectrum Shift by Shaven Ape (NSFW semi-nude bits)
Eradicate by The Vogon Poets
Choose by Bokeh Pictures
Dead Air by Brighthelm

The runners-up:
Back Story by Heller Do
Backwoods by Tree Babies
Hands To The Wheel by Laymen
He And I Can Travel by Blind Aura (not [yet] online?)
Inconsistent Results by Midnight Ash
Leyman’s Curse by Kindred Spirit
Sunrise by Flock Of Condors
The Bond by The Sticky Bandits
The Correct Angle by The Why Men (currently a private video)
The Other You by Intoxy Films

posted by filthy light thief (7 comments total)

For anyone (like me) who was slightly confused about the title/dialogue/prop/theme thing, it appears that it's different for each team.
posted by Joh at 1:46 PM on May 23, 2012

I'd suggest the winner, Future, Inc, but the rest aren't as good. (It's got a bit of charm, most of the rest just are exercises in sci-fi-esque lighting and camera work, rather than thought provoking ideas.
posted by Catblack at 1:55 PM on May 23, 2012

My apologies for my earlier dismissive comment. These are quite good for 48 hour films. I still prefer the mind expansion one gets with short form written science fiction, and my bias prompted me towards my previous comment. I still suggest the winner, as linked above.
posted by Catblack at 2:58 PM on May 23, 2012

Joh, thanks for the clarification - I'm not sure if all 300+ teams got different sets of props, titles, and dialog clips, but from what I've seen they're all different.

Catblack - they're also short, between 3 and 5 minutes each. Little tastes of a film-making teams abilities. Generally not mind-blowing, but a bit of fun.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:26 PM on May 23, 2012

Catblack, do you have any good links for 'short form written science fiction'? I'm interested.
posted by batou_ at 5:11 PM on May 23, 2012

For very short stories, I quite liked 50 Short Science Fiction Tales, edited by Isaac Asimov and Groff Conklin.
posted by D.C. at 5:28 PM on May 23, 2012

I did this once, a few years back.
I won't link the video because it is SPECTACULARLY BAD.

I would strongly recommend anyone to try it though because it is incredibly difficult to do.
The title/prop/line thing is in place so that you can't have much of a preconceived idea for the piece. You really do need to write, film, edit and submit in 48 hours. We used all 48 hours fully. We were editing up until 6am when we needed to submit it by 8 on the other side of London.
You really do get a great understanding of how difficult it is to film anything.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 6:43 AM on May 24, 2012 [1 favorite]